SINGAPORE: Scientists in Singapore have developed a
process that can increase the data recording density of hard disks
six times - by using salt.
The process isw pioneered by Dr Joel Yang from the
research institute of Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology
and Research (A*STAR).
He said adding sodium chloride or salt to a
developer solution used in existing processes produced
highly-defined nanostructures without the need for expensive
equipment upgrades.
Dr Yang worked with National University of Singapore (NUS) and the
Data Storage Institute (DSI) researchers for this project.
A*STAR said the discovery is akin to packing clothes in a suitcase
for travel - the neater you pack them, the more you can
carry.
The scientists used nanopatterning to closely pack more of the
miniature structures to hold information in the form of bits, per
unit area.
With this process, a hard disk drive that holds one Terabyte (TB)
of data today could in the future hold six TB of information in the
same size.
- CNA/ck