Instead of using heat to support an increase in storage density, the researchers said they can target ultrasound waves at a "highly specific region" and hold a tiny region of a material to be bent or stretched. The advantage of sound is that its impact can be more easily contained while heat tends to spread beyond a target area.
"We’re near the peak of what we can do with the technology we now use for magnetic storage," said Pallavi Dhagat, an associate professor in the OSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. "There’s always a need for approaches that could store even more information in a smaller space, cost less and use less power." Dhagat said that sound waves could improve storage density in SSD devices.
"This technology should allow us to marry the benefits of solid state electronics with magnetic recording, and create non-volatile memory systems that store more data in less space, using less power," said Albrecht Jander, also an associate professor of electrical engineering working on the research.
There was no information on a working system using this technology, but hopefully it won't be long.
