TY - JOUR
T1 - Probe-Based Mechanical Data Storage on Polymers Made by Inverse Vulcanization
AU - Mann, Abigail K.
AU - Tonkin, Samuel J.
AU - Sharma, Pankaj
AU - Gibson, Christopher T.
AU - Chalker, Justin M.
PY - 2024/12/16
Y1 - 2024/12/16
N2 - Big data and artificial intelligence are driving increasing demand for high-density data storage. Probe-based data storage, such as mechanical storage using an atomic force microscope tip, is a potential solution with storage densities exceeding hard disks. However, the storage medium must be modifiable on the nanoscale. While polymers are promising storage media, they face challenges with synthesis, erasing temperatures, and stability. Here, a low-cost and robust polymer system is reported that allows repeated writing, reading and erasing. The polymer is made by inverse vulcanization, providing a network of S─S bonds that can be broken and re-formed repeatedly. This property is leveraged in mechanical indentation to encode information, and thermal S─S metathesis and polymer re-flow to erase. Exquisite control of indentation depth is possible over 1–30 nm. This control enables data encoding not just as a function of the presence or absence of an indent, but also indentation depth. This ternary coding increases the data density four-fold over binary coding. Furthermore, the coding can be done at room temperature which is rare for mechanical information storage. The low cost, ease of synthesis, and dynamic S─S bonds in these polymers are a promising advance in polymer storage media for probe-based data storage.
AB - Big data and artificial intelligence are driving increasing demand for high-density data storage. Probe-based data storage, such as mechanical storage using an atomic force microscope tip, is a potential solution with storage densities exceeding hard disks. However, the storage medium must be modifiable on the nanoscale. While polymers are promising storage media, they face challenges with synthesis, erasing temperatures, and stability. Here, a low-cost and robust polymer system is reported that allows repeated writing, reading and erasing. The polymer is made by inverse vulcanization, providing a network of S─S bonds that can be broken and re-formed repeatedly. This property is leveraged in mechanical indentation to encode information, and thermal S─S metathesis and polymer re-flow to erase. Exquisite control of indentation depth is possible over 1–30 nm. This control enables data encoding not just as a function of the presence or absence of an indent, but also indentation depth. This ternary coding increases the data density four-fold over binary coding. Furthermore, the coding can be done at room temperature which is rare for mechanical information storage. The low cost, ease of synthesis, and dynamic S─S bonds in these polymers are a promising advance in polymer storage media for probe-based data storage.
KW - atomic force microscopy
KW - inverse vulcanization
KW - polysulfide
KW - probe-based data storage
KW - sulfur polymer
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85212205624&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP200100090
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP230100587
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/FT220100054
U2 - 10.1002/advs.202409438
DO - 10.1002/advs.202409438
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85212205624
SN - 2198-3844
JO - Advanced Science
JF - Advanced Science
M1 - 2409438
ER -