12 atoms and 1 bit what do you get?

[Slacker]

IBM achieves highest data density: one bit in 12 atoms | Electronics News


No really what does this mean? How does it change the game?

 

[lupus]

It doesn't change much right now but if they figure out a way of making this tech into a hard drive the amount of data that it could hold would be incredible.

 

[nickmannawar]

My reaction: hmmm... 5 seconds later: Wait WHAAAAAT!
It's a lot cooler when you think about how small an atom is

 

[lupus]

It's incredible but currently too impractical to use :-( it will be years before hard drives will be commercially available

 

[nickmannawar]

It's incredible but currently too impractical to use :-( it will be years before hard drives will be commercially available

sadface

 

[office politics]

allow people and businesses to store 100 times more information in the same space.

that is the primary drive behind this. i would expect 10 year lag time to find a entry product in the consumer market.

this enables the possibility of 100 TB drives. or slimmer hard drives.

however, what are power requirements? cooling?

how does it react to shock?

can it be used in cpus, too?

 

[lupus]

I think it is still very early in development so not a lot is known about it other than its possible to store 1 bit of data with 12 atoms.

 

[nickmannawar]

this enables the possibility of 100 TB drives.

That's just awesome...