The Future Of Data Storage: Plastic

Feb. 2, 2004
The next generation of memory storage is almost here—and it's smaller, simpler, and made from common plastic. Using a polymer material known as PEDOT, which is clear and conducts electricity, engineers at Princeton University and...

The next generation of memory storage is almost here—and it's smaller, simpler, and made from common plastic. Using a polymer material known as PEDOT, which is clear and conducts electricity, engineers at Princeton University and Hewlett-Packard developed a combination of materials that could yield a single-use memory card for permanently storing data.

This card would be smaller, faster, and easier to use than a compact disc because it doesn't require moving parts like a laser or CD motor drive. It would include a grid of circuits whose connections all contain a PEDOT fuse. Applying high voltage to specific contact points would blow particular fuses and leave a mix of working and nonworking circuits. These open and closed connections would become permanently encoded on the device, acting as ones and zeroes.

Based on early tests, 1 million bits of information could fit in a square millimeter of paper-thin material. A cubic centimeter would hold more than 1 Gbyte of data, or about 1000 high-quality images. Such a device would act like a conventional memory chip—it plugs directly into an electronic circuit, and there are no moving parts.

For more, go to www.princeton.edu.

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