Data Storage at the Nanoscale : Advances and Applications

This book compiles the cutting-edge research progresses of nanometer-scale data storage by several famous Chinese scientists in the information storage field. The main topics covered include optical memory, random access memory, and magnetic and hybrid memory. Emphasis has been put on more practical techniques for data storage developments and applications. The book presents the authors’ thoughts on information storage in the present and the future. It provides the basic knowledge and techniques related to data storage at the nanoscale that will be useful for students, researchers, and engineers in this field.

In the big data era, data storage is one of the cores in the whole information chain, which includes production, transfer, sharing, and finally processing. Over the years, the growth of data volume has been explosive. Today, various storage services need memories with higher density and capacity. Moreover, information storage in the big data applications should be green, safe, and long life. The storage density of memories was largely enhanced in recent years because of the rapid development of nanotechnology. The minimum feature size of optical, magnetic, and electrical memories is already at the nanometer scale. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary cooperation of nanotechnology can facilitate the development of data storage technology to achieve higher operation speed, lower power consumption, and increased retention time. This book compiles the cutting-edge research progress of nanometer-scale data storage. The main topics covered include optical memory, random access memory, magnetic memory, and hybrid memory. The text emphasizes more practical methods for data storage development and applications.