Message-Id: <mailto:199508240053.TAA27877@library.wustl.edu> Date: Wed, 23 Aug 1995 17:51:00 PDT From: Brian Schottlaender <mailto:ECZ5BRI@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU> Subject: New technology to replace CD-ROMS To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB
Colleagues--Jennifer Brasher requested further information re: the HD-ROM technology developed at Los Alamos. With Lee Jones' permission, I am pleased to forward the following.
--Brian Schottlaender UCLA mailto:ecz5bri@mvs.oac.ucla.edu -------------------------TEXT-OF-FORWARDED-MAIL-------------------------------- Forwarded message: >Date: Thu, 13 Jul 1995 12:23:09 CDT
>Sender: "(ASEE) Engineering Libraries Division Network" <mailto:ELDNET-L%UKANVM.BITNET@cmsa.Berkeley.EDU>
>From: "C. Lee Jones" <mailto:leejones@lhl.lib.mo.us>
>Subject: Are CD-ROMS obsolete (FWD)
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Important Development
>
>LANL ION BEAM STORAGE HOLDS 180 TIMES MORE INFO THAN CD-ROMS June 23
>SCIENCE & ENGINEERING NEWS HPCwire
>ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
> Los Alamos, N.M. -- Four sets of encyclopedias could fit on an inch-long
>steel pin using a new information storage technique invented at Los Alamos
>National Laboratory. And future civilizations should be able to read the
>information etched onto the pins 5,000 years from now, without interpretive
>devices that convert computer data into language or pictures.
>
> The High-Density Read-Only Memory, or HD-ROM, uses a unique ion beam to
>inscribe information on pins of stainless steel, iridium or other materials
>that are built to last. An HD-ROM holds about 180 times more information than
>a comparably sized Compact Disc Read-Only Memory, or CD-ROM, today's cheapest
>data storage medium. Storage costs of HD-ROM are roughly one-half percent of
>CD-ROM costs.
>
> The HD-ROM should find immediate application in archival storage and
>data-intensive supercomputing, said developers Bruce Lamartine, a physical
>chemist in Los Alamos' Materials Science and Technology Division and Roger
>Stutz, a database and graphics engineer in the Nonproliferation and
>International Security Division. Other potential data storage uses are land
>and bank records, maps of oil deposits and seismic characteristics,
>surveillance maps for defense, astrophysical catalogs, other scientific
>data, audio and video masters and important cultural documents.
>
> "The HD-ROM marks a complete departure from existing data storage
>technologies," Stutz said. "For the first time, a non-magnetic, non-optical
>data storage system can be made from truly robust materials."
>
> HD-ROM materials are hard, non-malleable, non-flammable and don't react
>easily with chemicals. Since the medium isn't magnetic, electromagnetic
>fields can't destroy the data on HD-ROMs, unlike computer hard drives.
>Information is written into the HD-ROM using a specially modified, focused
>ion beam micromill developed by Lamartine. The writing process, called
>sputter etching, removes material by atomic collisions in the region of the
>ion beam.
>
> The Los Alamos process is unique because the ultrahigh vacuum environment
>-- about as empty as outer space -- is the key to high data density. Data
>are not smeared as is the case when writing at higher pressures. The device
>routinely writes features as narrow as 150 billionths of a meter, a distance
>equal to about 560 atoms.
>
> A computer controls the ion beam micromill, much like a dot-matrix
>printer. It can etch binary features, such as those written on CD-ROM and
>other computer data media, as well as letters, numbers or graphical images.
>These varied formats can coexist on the same HD-ROM.
>
> While writing is done in a vacuum, the reading can be done in air. A
>souped-up version of a commercially available atomic force microscope reads
>the inscribed data. Interpreting the data is another concern. Computer data
>come in the form of a stream of binary values expressed as tiny magnetic
>domains on a computer disk, or as aberrations in the shape of the grooves
>on CD-ROMs.
>
> "Interpreting computer data visually is as difficult as understanding
>Egyptian hieroglyphs without the Rosetta Stone," Stutz said.
>
> To interpret this unformatted, unpunctuated stream, the reader needs
>embedded protocol information that provides a code for the stream of bits.
>This bit-stream interpreter resident in magnetic storage media is today's
>equivalent of the Rosetta Stone, Stutz explained.
>
> The HD-ROM requires no bit-stream interpreter. For binary data, the HD-ROM
>can describe in a human-readable format the instructions needed to read the
>data. For letters, numbers or graphics, the reader can recover visually
>apparent characters directly.
>
> "Recent articles have predicted that in 10 years, commercial magnetic
>media may be able to store as much as five billion bits of information on a
>square inch," Lamartine said. "HD-ROM technology already has demonstrated
>storage nearly five times as large, and densities of 400 trillion bits per
>square inch are possible."
>
> The advent of digital records was a momentous discovery because huge
>amounts of information could now be stored in tiny spaces. But digital
>storage media are much more vulnerable than stone tablets or even printed
>documents. Magnetic fields, oxidation, materials decay and various
>environmental factors can erase digital information.
>
> "HD-ROM is virtually impervious to the ravages of time whether from
>material degradation due to thermal or mechanical shock or from the
>electromagnetic fields that are so destructive to other storage media,"
>Lamartine said.
>
> The high cost of storage forces many organizations to discard valuable
>data. Stutz said NASA often is forced to get rid of satellite data and
>images that aren't immediately useful, even though the information might be
>of great future value. Among other organizations that would benefit from a
>low-cost, highly durable data-storage medium are the Federal Bureau of
>Investigation, the Library of Congress, astrophysics agencies and financial
>institutions.
>
> Stutz said the technology ought to be in pictures. In fact, he and
>Lamartine already have talked to film industry representatives about how
>to use the ion beam writer to preserve movies from Hollywood's golden age.
>
> Lamartine and Stutz have applied for patents on the HD-ROM, the ion beam
>micromill, the process of micromilling and their method for speeding up the
>rate at which the etched information can be read. They are actively seeking
>commercial partners who want to turn their invention into a product.
>
> For more information, contact Jim Danneskiold of Los Alamos National
>Laboratory at 505/667-1640, 667-7000 or <mailto:slinger@lanl.gov>.
>
>
>*****************************************************************************
> H P C w i r e S P O N S O R S
> Product specifications and company information in this section are
> available to both subscribers and non-subscribers.
>
> 912) Avalon Computer 915) Genias Software 905) MAXIMUM STRATEGY
> 934) Convex Computer Corp. 930) HNSX Supercomputers 906) nCUBE
> 921) Cray Research Inc. 902) IBM Corp. 932) Portland Group
> 907) Digital Equipment. 904) Intel Corp. 935) Silicon Graphics
> 909) Fujitsu America 916) MasPar Computer
>
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>
>C. Lee Jones Phone: 816-926-8742
>President Fax: 816-444-9076
>Linda Hall Library
>5109 Cherry Street E-Mail: mailto:leejones@lhl.lib.mo.us
>Kansas City, Missouri 641140 Home Page: http://www.lhl.lib.mo.us
>