Dinky dent technique promises data storage gains

The polymer is made from low-cost materials including sulphur and dicyclopentadiene using a process called inverse vulcanisation. Data indentations are made and read at the nanometre scale using an atomic force microscope and a scanning probe instrument. Precise control over the depth of indents delivers a four-fold increase in data density compared to simple binary coding.

Short bursts of heat can then be used to wipe data and return the material to a writable state. According to the Flinders team, the new material could provide a sustainable alternative to hard disk drives, solid-state drives and flash memory in future. The work is published in Advanced Science.

“This research unlocks the potential for using simple, renewable polysulfides in probe-based mechanical data storage, offering a potential lower-energy, higher density and more sustainable alternative to current technologies,” said first author and PhD candidate Abigail Mann, from Flinders’ College of Science and Engineering.

According to senior author Professor Justin Chalker - who leads the lab where the material was developed - the development comes at a time when new data storage solutions are desperately needed to keep pace with digital advances.

“The age of big data and artificial intelligence is increasingly driving demand for data storage solutions,” said Professor Chalker. “New solutions are needed for the ever-growing computing and data storage needs of the information era.

“Alternatives are being sought to hard disk drives, solid-state drives and flash memory which are constrained by data density limits – or the amount of information they can store in a particular area or volume.”

The concept of storing data as indents on the surface of materials has been previously explored by tech companies such as IBM, LG Electronics and Intel. While potential was demonstrated, the energy requirements, costs, and complexities of the data storage materials created barriers to commercialisation. According to the Flinders team, its material solves some of these challenges.

“The low cost of the building blocks (sulphur and dicyclopentadiene) are an attractive feature that can support future development of the polymer in data storage applications,” said Chalker Lab PhD candidate Samuel Tonkin.