Abstract

Direct surface modification using atomic force microscopes (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopes (STM) has been extensively explored over the past several years to write data bits with diameters under 50 nm.^1,2 This research has shown the feasibility of reaching a storage density of 1 Tbit/cm². One problem that these ultrahigh-density memory-storage systems share is a slow access rate. We introduce a new method that can potentially achieve both ultrahigh density and high data throughput by massively parallel optical read and write.

© 1995 Optical Society of America