Science9.03.2017
IBM stores data on a single atom
IBM has created the world’s smallest magnet using a single atom, and used it to store one bit of data.
“Currently, hard disk drives use about 100,000 atoms to store a single bit,” said IBM.
The ability to read and write one bit on one atom creates “new possibilities for developing smaller and denser storage devices”, said the company.
IBM said an example of the smaller drives could be a credit-card-sized device which can store “the entire iTunes library of 35 million songs”.
The breakthrough in storage technology was made possible by IBM’s Nobel prize-winning scanning tunneling microscope.
“Future scanning tunneling microscope studies will investigate the potential of performing quantum information processing using individual magnetic atoms.”
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