Description:

High density AFM data storage is achieved at IBM in Zurich with the "Millipede" concept using a 32x32 array of tiny cantilevers (1024 total).  Each tip can be addressed individually by a time-multiplexing system adapted from DRAM technology, and can write to and read from a polymer storage medium. A single cantilever, part of an atomic force microscope (AFM) setup, can write data with a density of 400 to 500 Gbit/in2, some 10 times greater than is possible with current magnetic hard drive technology. It does this when the heated cantilever bores a small (30-40 nm) conical depression or dent in the polymer sample directly beneath.

The background image shows a rendering of the cantilever tips of the "Millipede" above a polymer writing surface.  The lower inset image shows the actual cantilevers as seen from above.
 

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