R Bennewitz et al 2002 Nanotechnology 13 499 doi:10.1088/0957-4484/13/4/312
R Bennewitz1,2, J N Crain1, A Kirakosian1, J-L Lin, J L McChesney1, D Y Petrovykh1 and F J Himpsel1
Show affiliationsThe limits of pushing storage density to the atomic scale are explored with a memory that stores a bit by the presence or absence of one silicon atom. These atoms are positioned at lattice sites along self-assembled tracks with a pitch of five atom rows. The memory can be initialized and reformatted by controlled deposition of silicon. The writing process involves the transfer of Si atoms to the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope. The constraints on speed and reliability are compared with data storage in magnetic hard disks and DNA.
68.47.Fg Semiconductor surfaces
68.37.Ef Scanning tunneling microscopy (including chemistry induced with STM)
Issue 4 (August 2002)
Received 29 April 2002
Published 4 July 2002
R Bennewitz et al 2002 Nanotechnology 13 499