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Nanotech To Replace Disk Drives Within Ten Years?
Ian Lamont writes "An Arizona State University researcher named Michael Kozicki claims that nanotechnology will replace disk drives in ten years. The article mentions three approaches: Nanowires (which replace electrons/capacitors), multiple memory layers on silicon (instead of a single layer), and a method that stores multiple pieces of information in the same space: 'Traditionally, each cell holds one bit of information. However, instead of storing simply a 0 or a 1, that cell could hold a 00 or a 01. Kozicki said the ability to double capacity that way — without increasing the number of cells — has already been proven. Now researchers are working to see how many pieces of data can be held by a single cell.'"
That is the highest precision ever achieved in a binary digit.
... .. . .. . . ... .
You see periods are a lot smaller than zeros and spaces - which could be used as 1s - don't take any space at all.
Sounds like a two-bit technology to me.
A cell that can hold two bits holds four times as many possible values as a cell that can hold one bit.
[0] [1]
[00] [01] [10] [11]
Of course, two one-bit cells hold the same number of values.
[0][0] [0][1] [1][0] [1][1]
Two one-bit cells = one two-bit cell. Twice the capacity. Not that the article is terribly clear-- if their "miracle device" can really only hold 00 and 01, they've just invented a crappy new notation for binary.
The original generic sig.
instead of storing simply a 0 or a 1, that cell could hold a 00 or a 01.
I'm sure it will be even better once they figure out how to make it store 10 and 11.
Gives new meaning to, "but this one goes to 11"
There are no karma whores, only moderation johns
"Our" not "Are" sorry, nitpicking :P