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Pioneer Develops Electronic Data Storage Technology

Pioneer Corp has announced that in collaboration with the Tohoku University Research Institute of Electrical Communication it has developed a new type of electronic data storage technology.

The data-recording density of hard disks and other magnetic memory devices has an upper limit of around 1 terabit per square inch. But using the new system, Pioneer has already demonstrated an ability to record and read data written at a density of 1.5 terabit per square inch, and it believes this can be increased to as much as 100.

The new system records data bits to a substrate made from lithium tantalate using a needle sharpened to a tip just 1 nanometer wide. The needle can carry either a positive or a negative charge, and when it is brought near the substrate it causes the material near the tip to take on the opposite charge.

Pioneer plans to develop the technology for applications in data storage.