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Super disc to store 1,000 times more data than a DVD |
TOKYO: A Japanese research team has
found a material that could be used to make a low-price super disc with data
storage capacity thousands of times greater than a DVD, the lead researcher
said.
The material transforms from a black-colour metal state that
conducts electricity into a brown semiconductor when hit by light, according to
Shin-ichi Ohkoshi, chemistry professor at the University of
Tokyo.
The material, a new crystal form of titanium oxide, can switch
back and forth between the metal and semiconductor states at room temperature
when exposed to light, creating an effective on-off function for data
storage.
It is "promising as a material for a next-generation optical
storage device", Ohkoshi said on Monday.
A material that changes
colour with light can be used in storage devices as colours reflect light
differently to contain different information. His team has succeeded in creating
the material in particles measuring five-to-20 nanometres (a five-billionth to
20-billionth of a metre) in diameter.
If the smallest particle is
used, the new disc could hold more than 1,000 times as much information as a
Blu-ray disc, provided that matching data-writing and reading equipment are
developed.
A single-layer Blu-ray disc can hold five times as much
data as a conventional DVD.
Titanium oxide's market price is about
one-hundredth of the rare element — germanium-antimony-tellurium —
that is currently used in rewritable Blu-ray discs and DVDs, Ohkoshi
said.
"You don't have to worry about procuring rare metals. Titanium
oxide is cheap and safe, already being used in many products ranging from face
powder to white paint," the professor said. Ohkoshi said it was not known when a
disc with the material would be manufactured and put to practical use, adding
that he would start talks with private-sector companies for
commercialisation.
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