WO1998054726A1 - Nanometric writing and erasure combined with supersensitive reading without erasure - Google Patents

Nanometric writing and erasure combined with supersensitive reading without erasure Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1998054726A1
WO1998054726A1 PCT/US1998/010697 US9810697W WO9854726A1 WO 1998054726 A1 WO1998054726 A1 WO 1998054726A1 US 9810697 W US9810697 W US 9810697W WO 9854726 A1 WO9854726 A1 WO 9854726A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
excitation
nanoswitches
array
tip
nanoswitch
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1998/010697
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Aaron Lewis
Original Assignee
Aaron Lewis
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Aaron Lewis filed Critical Aaron Lewis
Priority to US09/423,357 priority Critical patent/US6292382B1/en
Publication of WO1998054726A1 publication Critical patent/WO1998054726A1/en

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B82—NANOTECHNOLOGY
    • B82B—NANOSTRUCTURES FORMED BY MANIPULATION OF INDIVIDUAL ATOMS, MOLECULES, OR LIMITED COLLECTIONS OF ATOMS OR MOLECULES AS DISCRETE UNITS; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT THEREOF
    • B82B1/00—Nanostructures formed by manipulation of individual atoms or molecules, or limited collections of atoms or molecules as discrete units
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B11/00—Recording on or reproducing from the same record carrier wherein for these two operations the methods are covered by different main groups of groups G11B3/00 - G11B7/00 or by different subgroups of group G11B9/00; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B11/002—Recording on or reproducing from the same record carrier wherein for these two operations the methods are covered by different main groups of groups G11B3/00 - G11B7/00 or by different subgroups of group G11B9/00; Record carriers therefor using recording by perturbation of the physical or electrical structure
    • G11B11/007—Recording on or reproducing from the same record carrier wherein for these two operations the methods are covered by different main groups of groups G11B3/00 - G11B7/00 or by different subgroups of group G11B9/00; Record carriers therefor using recording by perturbation of the physical or electrical structure with reproducing by means directly associated with the tip of a microscopic electrical probe as defined in G11B9/14
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B7/00—Recording or reproducing by optical means, e.g. recording using a thermal beam of optical radiation by modifying optical properties or the physical structure, reproducing using an optical beam at lower power by sensing optical properties; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B7/12—Heads, e.g. forming of the optical beam spot or modulation of the optical beam
    • G11B7/135—Means for guiding the beam from the source to the record carrier or from the record carrier to the detector
    • G11B7/1387—Means for guiding the beam from the source to the record carrier or from the record carrier to the detector using the near-field effect
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B9/00—Recording or reproducing using a method not covered by one of the main groups G11B3/00 - G11B7/00; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B9/12—Recording or reproducing using a method not covered by one of the main groups G11B3/00 - G11B7/00; Record carriers therefor using near-field interactions; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B9/14—Recording or reproducing using a method not covered by one of the main groups G11B3/00 - G11B7/00; Record carriers therefor using near-field interactions; Record carriers therefor using microscopic probe means, i.e. recording or reproducing by means directly associated with the tip of a microscopic electrical probe as used in Scanning Tunneling Microscopy [STM] or Atomic Force Microscopy [AFM] for inducing physical or electrical perturbations in a recording medium; Record carriers or media specially adapted for such transducing of information
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B9/00—Recording or reproducing using a method not covered by one of the main groups G11B3/00 - G11B7/00; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B9/12—Recording or reproducing using a method not covered by one of the main groups G11B3/00 - G11B7/00; Record carriers therefor using near-field interactions; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B9/14—Recording or reproducing using a method not covered by one of the main groups G11B3/00 - G11B7/00; Record carriers therefor using near-field interactions; Record carriers therefor using microscopic probe means, i.e. recording or reproducing by means directly associated with the tip of a microscopic electrical probe as used in Scanning Tunneling Microscopy [STM] or Atomic Force Microscopy [AFM] for inducing physical or electrical perturbations in a recording medium; Record carriers or media specially adapted for such transducing of information
    • G11B9/1409—Heads
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01Q—SCANNING-PROBE TECHNIQUES OR APPARATUS; APPLICATIONS OF SCANNING-PROBE TECHNIQUES, e.g. SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY [SPM]
    • G01Q80/00—Applications, other than SPM, of scanning-probe techniques

Definitions

  • This invention deals with the area of high density optical memories which can be extended to nanoswitches and nanoswitch arrays.
  • the essence of the invention is electrical, chemical,
  • the invention also can be readily extended to the formation of nanoswitches and nanoswitch arrays.
  • a method and a device that permits the erasable recording of information in nanometric dimensionalities using a scanned probe tip. The changes are then sensed by the supersensitive capabilities of the force sensing attributes of the tip. Subsequently the written information can be
  • the invention allows the separation of the writing and the erasing operation from the supersensitive reading operation.
  • the invention can also form supersensitive nanoswitches and nanoswitch arrays.
  • Fig. 1 illustrates a cantilevered tip in contact or near-contact with a material
  • Fig. 2 illustrates a nanoswitch utilizing the features of the invention.
  • the invention consists of a method and a device that permits nanometric recording, reading and erasing of changes in a material using the multifunctional capabilities of a tip of a scanned probe microscope. The same principles could also be used to produce supersensitive nanoswitches and nanoswitch arrays.
  • the method and the device consists of a tip 1.1 connected to a cantilever 1.2 which is in near- contact or contact with a material 1.3.
  • a tip is chosen having the capability of emitting a spot of light, of acting as one electrode to impose an electrical field on the material, of delivering material through a hollow orifice force sensing element, of imposing heat on the sample while simultaneously imposing a magnetic field, or of imposing or a force on the material.
  • the tip also has the ability to monitor the change that it has imposed using its supersensitive force sensing capabilities.
  • the material alters its charge characteristics, its volume, its light emission characteristics, etc., and then this change is detected with supersensitive force sensing attribute of the tip.
  • the object is to bypass problems of erasure of the written material and to use the most sensitive aspect of the tip for detection of the written material.
  • the material also would have the capability of having its alteration erased by one or more of the attributes of the tip unrelated to the reading attribute of monitoring the change imposed by the excitation using the supersensitive force sensing.
  • the tip could deliver light in a very local region using near-field optical microscopy and this would change the volume or the charge properties of the material that would be detected by the force sensing capabilities of the same tip.
  • the volume or charge change would be stable until a second pulse of light would be imposed on the same pixel to erase the volume change that was generated in the material by the first pulse of light.
  • the tip could produce an electrical pulse that would then cause a volume change or an electrical change, such as a volume change or a change in surface charge, in the material which would be sensed by the supersensitive force sensing capabilities of the same tip.
  • This approach separates the excitation from a supersensitive detection event and permits detection of the change without erasure. It also permits a reversal of the volume change with the reverse of the excitation process and therefore permits erasure of the alteration.
  • Such a device reaches an ideal of super-resolution read, write and erase memory.
  • An example of a material that could be used in this scheme would be a film of a protein that could change its volume with one or another of the excitation mechanisms.
  • a specific example of such a protein is bacteriorhodopsin which can change its volume with light.
  • Such a system also has the potential of changing its charge characteristics with excitation that may also include electrical excitation.
  • Another example would be a tip that was capable of heating and imposing a magnetic field on a magnetic material that would then change the force that it would impose on the tip.
  • An example of how to generate such a tip is based on a recent study [G. Fish, O. Bouevitch, S. Kokotov, K. Lieberman, D. Palanker, I. Tutovets and A. Lewis, Rev. Sci. Instr. 66, 3942-3948
  • the method and the device consists of a tip 2.1 connected to a cantilever 2.2 which is in near-contact or contact with a material 2.3.
  • a tip is chosen having the capability of emitting a spot of light, of acting as one electrode to impose an electrical field on the material, of delivering material through a hollow orifice sensing element, of imposing heat on the sample while simultaneously imposing a magnetic field, or of imposing a force on the material.
  • the material alters its charge characteristics, its volume, etc. and then this change is detected with the supersensitive force sensing attribute of the tip.
  • the change in the position of the cantilever with the material alteration results in the cantilever making contact with another point 2.4.
  • the material also would have the capability of having its alteration erased by one or more of the attributes of the tip related or unrelated to the excitation attribute.
  • the microfabrication of arrays of such nanoswitches can be envisioned. 6. Advantages Over Prior Art
  • nanoswitches could be constructed in this way in which the tip excites a structural change in a material and this structural change alters the position of the cantilever that allows it to either be in electrical contact with a point or to be out of contact with this point.
  • arrays of nanoswitches of the type described in this invention could also be microfabricated and these arrays could be used in a variety of applications including neural network implementations.

Abstract

A method and device for nanometric recording, reading and erasing of changes in a material using the multifunctional capabilities of a tip (1.1) of a scanned probe microscope. The tip is in near-contact with a material (1.3) to impose a field or force and to monitor the change it has imposed.

Description

Nanometric Writing and Erasure
Combined With
Supersensitive Reading Without Erasure
1. Field of the Invention
This invention deals with the area of high density optical memories which can be extended to nanoswitches and nanoswitch arrays. The essence of the invention is electrical, chemical,
thermal, magnetic and/or optical excitation of a material by a scanned probe microscope tip. The material changes one of its characteristics as a result of the excitation in a way that can be sensed
by the supersensitive force sensing capabilities of the scanned probe microscope tip and can be reversed at will with the same nanometric tip. The invention also can be readily extended to the formation of nanoswitches and nanoswitch arrays.
2. Background of the Invention
Scanned probe microscopes can potentially write and read information with nonometric precision and high density. A recent study has shown [S. Hoen, H.J. Mamin and D. Rugar, Appl. Phys. Lett.64,267 ( 1994)] that one of most sensitive ways to read information is by measuring an alteration using the force sensing capabilities of the scanned probe tip that imposed the change. However, this study also highlights the fact that using the approach of this study, which involved simply heating the surface and imposing a local structural change, it is not possible to reverse the process and make a write, read and erase cycle. The present invention focuses on an approach that indicates how such a write, read and erase cycle could be completed. This also leads to nanoswitches and nanoswitch arrays.
3. State of Prior Art.
There is no invention in the prior art that describes a process for write, read and erase high density memories or ultrasensitive switches that were able to use the supersensitive capabilities of force sensing of the imposed change using scanned probe techniques.
4. Summary of the Invention
A method and a device that permits the erasable recording of information in nanometric dimensionalities using a scanned probe tip. The changes are then sensed by the supersensitive capabilities of the force sensing attributes of the tip. Subsequently the written information can be
erased with one of the attribute of the same probe. The invention allows the separation of the writing and the erasing operation from the supersensitive reading operation. The invention can also form supersensitive nanoswitches and nanoswitch arrays.
5. Description of the Invention The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 illustrates a cantilevered tip in contact or near-contact with a material; and Fig. 2 illustrates a nanoswitch utilizing the features of the invention. The invention consists of a method and a device that permits nanometric recording, reading and erasing of changes in a material using the multifunctional capabilities of a tip of a scanned probe microscope. The same principles could also be used to produce supersensitive nanoswitches and nanoswitch arrays.
5.1 Write, Erase and Supersensitive Reading in Ultrahigh Density Optical Memories The method and the device consists of a tip 1.1 connected to a cantilever 1.2 which is in near- contact or contact with a material 1.3. A tip is chosen having the capability of emitting a spot of light, of acting as one electrode to impose an electrical field on the material, of delivering material through a hollow orifice force sensing element, of imposing heat on the sample while simultaneously imposing a magnetic field, or of imposing or a force on the material. The tip also has the ability to monitor the change that it has imposed using its supersensitive force sensing capabilities. As a result of one or more of these excitation methods the material alters its charge characteristics, its volume, its light emission characteristics, etc., and then this change is detected with supersensitive force sensing attribute of the tip. The object is to bypass problems of erasure of the written material and to use the most sensitive aspect of the tip for detection of the written material. The material also would have the capability of having its alteration erased by one or more of the attributes of the tip unrelated to the reading attribute of monitoring the change imposed by the excitation using the supersensitive force sensing.
In one example the tip could deliver light in a very local region using near-field optical microscopy and this would change the volume or the charge properties of the material that would be detected by the force sensing capabilities of the same tip. The volume or charge change would be stable until a second pulse of light would be imposed on the same pixel to erase the volume change that was generated in the material by the first pulse of light. In another example the tip could produce an electrical pulse that would then cause a volume change or an electrical change, such as a volume change or a change in surface charge, in the material which would be sensed by the supersensitive force sensing capabilities of the same tip.
This approach separates the excitation from a supersensitive detection event and permits detection of the change without erasure. It also permits a reversal of the volume change with the reverse of the excitation process and therefore permits erasure of the alteration. Such a device reaches an ideal of super-resolution read, write and erase memory. An example of a material that could be used in this scheme would be a film of a protein that could change its volume with one or another of the excitation mechanisms. A specific example of such a protein is bacteriorhodopsin which can change its volume with light. Such a system also has the potential of changing its charge characteristics with excitation that may also include electrical excitation.
Another example would be a tip that was capable of heating and imposing a magnetic field on a magnetic material that would then change the force that it would impose on the tip. An example of how to generate such a tip is based on a recent study [G. Fish, O. Bouevitch, S. Kokotov, K. Lieberman, D. Palanker, I. Tutovets and A. Lewis, Rev. Sci. Instr. 66, 3942-3948
(1995)]. Although this study did not envision this invention, the techniques in this paper could be used to generate a tip with a magnetic material within the hollow tube of a tapered, cantilevered capillary that could be used to either impose heat and a magnetic field on a magnetic surface in order to write or erase and could monitor with the tip the change in the magnetic surface. The above are simply some examples of a variety of combinations of excitation, the reversal of excitation and super-sensitive reading using force sensing. 5.2 Nanoswitches
The method and the device consists of a tip 2.1 connected to a cantilever 2.2 which is in near-contact or contact with a material 2.3. A tip is chosen having the capability of emitting a spot of light, of acting as one electrode to impose an electrical field on the material, of delivering material through a hollow orifice sensing element, of imposing heat on the sample while simultaneously imposing a magnetic field, or of imposing a force on the material. As a result of one of these multifunctional attributes of the tip, the material alters its charge characteristics, its volume, etc. and then this change is detected with the supersensitive force sensing attribute of the tip. The change in the position of the cantilever with the material alteration results in the cantilever making contact with another point 2.4. The material also would have the capability of having its alteration erased by one or more of the attributes of the tip related or unrelated to the excitation attribute. The microfabrication of arrays of such nanoswitches can be envisioned. 6. Advantages Over Prior Art
No combination that would allow for writing, supersensitive reading and material erasure has been found as of yet and no nanoswitches of the type we envision in this invention have been devised. 7. Applications
One principal application is of course very high density optical memories. However, in addition to this, nanoswitches could be constructed in this way in which the tip excites a structural change in a material and this structural change alters the position of the cantilever that allows it to either be in electrical contact with a point or to be out of contact with this point. In addition, arrays of nanoswitches of the type described in this invention could also be microfabricated and these arrays could be used in a variety of applications including neural network implementations.
What is claimed is:

Claims

Claims
1. A device in which a material that can be altered in nanometric dimensionalities using a cantilevered element of a scanned probe microscope that has multifunctional capabilities, the alteration can be sensed by the supersensitive force sensing capabilities of the same probe and the alteration can be erased by a variant of the excitation process or by some other process with the same and/or another probe.
2. A device as in claim 1 in which the excitation is optical.
3. A device as in claim 1 in which the excitation is electrical.
4. A device as in claim 1 in which the excitation is chemical.
5. A device as in claim 1 in which the excitation is thermal.
6. A device as in claim 1 in which the excitation is thermal and/or magnetic.
7. A device as in claim 1 in which the excitation is pressure.
8. A devices as in claim 1 in which the movement if the cantilever of the tip by the force of the material alteration causes a part of the cantilevered element to come in contact with a point that could complete a circuit thus turning the device into a nanoswitch.
9. A device as in claim 8 in which the excitation of the nanoswitch is optical.
10. A device as in claim 8 in which the excitation of the nanoswitch is electrical.
11. A device as in claim 8 in which the excitation of the nanoswitch is chemical.
12. A device as in claim 8 in which the excitation is thermal.
13. A device as in claim 8 in which the excitation is thermal and/or magnetic.
14. A device as in claim 8 in which the excitation is pressure.
15. A device as in claim 8 which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
16. A device as in claim 9 which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
17. A device as in claim 10 which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
18. A device as in claim 11 which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
19. A device as in claim 12 which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
20. A device as in claim 13 which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
21. A device as in claim 14 which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
22. A method in which a material that can be altered in nanometric dimensionalities using a cantilevered element of a scanned probe microscope that has multifunctional capabilities, the alteration can be sensed by the supersensitive force sensing capabilities of the same probe and the alteration can be erased by a variant of the excitation process or by some other process with the same and/or another probe.
23. A method as in claim 1 in which the excitation is optical.
24. A method as in claim 1 in which the excitation is electrical.
25. A method as in claim 1 in which the excitation is chemical.
26. A method as in claim 1 in which the excitation is thermal.
27. A method as in claim 1 in which the excitation is thermal and/or magnetic.
28. A method as in claim 1 in which the excitation is pressure.
29. A method as in claim 1 in which the movement of the cantilever of the tip by the force of the material alteration causes a part of the cantilevered element to come in contact with a point that could complete a circuit thus turning the device into a nanoswitch.
30. A method as in claim 29 in which the excitation of the nanoswitch is optical.
31. A method as in claim 29 in which the excitation of the nanoswitch is electrical..
32. A method as in claim 29 in which the excitation of the nanoswitch is chemical.
33. A method as in claim 29 in which the excitation is thermal.
34. A method as in claim 29 in which the excitation is thermal and/or magnetic.
35. A method as in claim 29 in which the excitation is pressure.
36. A method as in claim 29 in which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
37. A method as in claim 30 which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
38. A method as in claim 31 which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
39. A method as in claim 32 which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
40. A method as in claim 33 which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
41. A method as in claim 34 which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
42. A method as in claim 35 which is part of an array of nanoswitches.
PCT/US1998/010697 1997-06-01 1998-06-01 Nanometric writing and erasure combined with supersensitive reading without erasure WO1998054726A1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US09/423,357 US6292382B1 (en) 1997-06-01 1998-06-01 Nanometric writing and erasure combined with supersensitive reading without erasure

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
IL12096197A IL120961A0 (en) 1997-06-01 1997-06-01 Nanometric writing and erasure combined with supersensitive reading without erasure
IL120961 1997-06-01

Publications (1)

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WO1998054726A1 true WO1998054726A1 (en) 1998-12-03

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Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4773060A (en) * 1984-12-03 1988-09-20 Hitachi, Ltd. Optical information recording device
US4956817A (en) * 1988-05-26 1990-09-11 Quanscan, Inc. High density data storage and retrieval system
US5038322A (en) * 1988-09-21 1991-08-06 U.S. Philips Corporation Method of and device for sub-micron processing a surface
US5144581A (en) * 1989-02-09 1992-09-01 Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. Apparatus including atomic probes utilizing tunnel current to read, write and erase data
US5237529A (en) * 1991-02-01 1993-08-17 Richard Spitzer Microstructure array and activation system therefor
US5547774A (en) * 1992-10-08 1996-08-20 International Business Machines Corporation Molecular recording/reproducing method and recording medium

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4773060A (en) * 1984-12-03 1988-09-20 Hitachi, Ltd. Optical information recording device
US4956817A (en) * 1988-05-26 1990-09-11 Quanscan, Inc. High density data storage and retrieval system
US5038322A (en) * 1988-09-21 1991-08-06 U.S. Philips Corporation Method of and device for sub-micron processing a surface
US5144581A (en) * 1989-02-09 1992-09-01 Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. Apparatus including atomic probes utilizing tunnel current to read, write and erase data
US5237529A (en) * 1991-02-01 1993-08-17 Richard Spitzer Microstructure array and activation system therefor
US5547774A (en) * 1992-10-08 1996-08-20 International Business Machines Corporation Molecular recording/reproducing method and recording medium

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