KR100644887B1 - Heat Assisted Data Writing Apparatus for SPM Data Storage and Writing Method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a nano-information storage device using a heat assist device and a method for recording the information. The present invention relates to a nano-information storage device header including a plurality of cantilever arrays and a Z-axis sensor, a medium on which information is recorded, and a media. And a scanner for moving in a predetermined direction, wherein the media is divided into sectors by the number of the cantilevers, and each sector includes an information recording unit for recording information, a heating unit for heating the information recording unit, and the information recording unit and the heating unit. It characterized in that it comprises a support substrate for supporting the portion.

In addition, the information recording method in the nano-information storage device using the heat assist device of the present invention comprises the steps of: a) receiving a command to record information, selecting a corresponding sector of the media and heating the selected sector; b) detecting whether the temperature of the heated sector has reached a predetermined temperature; And c) applying information to the cantilever heater to record on the media.

SPM, AFM, Nano information, Storage, Cantilever

Description

Heat Assisted Data Writing Apparatus for SPM Data Storage and Writing Method             

1 is a block diagram of an atomic force microscope.

2 is a block diagram of a general nano information storage device.

3A is a plan view of media in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

3B is a cross-sectional view of a sector in media in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a cross-sectional view of the nano-information storage device using the heat aid according to an embodiment of the present invention.

{Description of major symbols in the drawing}

100: nano information storage header 110: cantilever array

112: cantilever probe 113: cantilever heater

120: Z-axis sensor 200: media

210: Sector 220: Information Record

230: heating unit 231: heater sensor

232: insulator 233: media heater

234: heater control unit 235: signal input line

300: Scanner

The present invention relates to a nano-information storage device using a heat assist device and a method for recording the information, in particular SPM (Scanning Probe Microscopy) nano-information storage device is a device for storing information using a cantilever array used in SPM, The present invention relates to an SPM nano-information storage device and an information recording method capable of inputting / outputting information to be recorded / reproduced through media.

 1 is a block diagram of a general atomic force microscope.

Referring to FIG. 1, an atomic force microscope uses a small rod called a cantilever manufactured by micromachining instead of a tungsten needle. The cantilever is 100 mm long, 10 mm wide, and 1 mm thick, so small that it can be easily bent up and down by fine force. The tip of the cantilever also has a pointed needle, which is very sharp, with the size of a few atoms like the STM probe. When the probe approaches the sample surface, a force (pulling force) or a pushing force (repulsive force) is applied between the atoms at the tip of the probe and the atoms at the sample surface according to the distance between them.

In atomic force microscopy in contact mode, repulsive force is used. The magnitude of the force is very small, such as 1-10 nN, but the cantilever is also very sensitive and is bent by the force. In order to measure the bending of the cantilever up and down, a laser beam is projected on the cantilever and the angle of the light reflected from the top of the cantilever is measured using a photodiode. This will measure the needle tip as fine as 0.01 nm. If the tip of the needle is fed back to the actuator and the cantilever of the atomic force microscope is bent constantly, the distance between the tip of the probe and the sample becomes constant so that the shape of the sample can be measured.

The principle of atomic force microscopy now applies to nano-exposures and data storage devices.

However, since a sensing device using a laser and a photodiode requires a complicated and sophisticated device, a method of integrating and detecting a piezo-resistive sensor on a cantilever has been proposed (US005386720A, US005266801A). Cantilever technology, which incorporates such piezoresistors, is easier and simpler to fabricate than photodiodes, opening the possibility of data storage using cantilevers.

A cantilever array that senses information in the SPM nano information storage device to perform a read operation and performs a write operation is called a SPM nano information storage header.

The SPM nano information storage device may have various types of recording / reproducing methods. In the present invention, the tip is heated by a heater integrated in the cantilever, and the heated tip is used to physically heat the media above the glass-transition temperature. It is an improvement of IBM's Millipede's recording method, which applies an indentation and recording method.

Referring to FIG. 2, the device is conventionally composed of a nano information storage header 100, a media 200, and a scanner 300 that can move on the x, y, and (z) axes. The nano information storage header 100 includes n x m cantilever arrays 110 and z-axis sensors 120. Such devices and recording methods are described in detail in The "Millipede"-Nanotechnology Entering Data Storage (IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NANOTECHNOLOGY Vol. 1, No. 1 (2002) pp. 39-55).

Currently, Millipede can read quickly but not write quickly. In the case of Millipede, information recording media uses polymers such as PMMA or SU-8. In general, polymers such as polymers are so large that their molecules run before themselves, that is, before the entire movement of a macro-brown polymer, the local movement of some part of the micro-brown movement occurs. The transition to the glass state is called the “glass transition temperature” (Tg) The specific temperature range in which the physical properties of the material in the glass state change only the physical properties such as specific heat, expansion rate, compression rate, etc. are recorded. At this time, Millipede uses a resistive heater built into the cantilever tip to heat the tip, which in turn pressurizes the PMMA (or SU-8) by heating the media locally at or above Tg. Physical deformation results in concave holes of tip size.

As such, the time required to perform the write operation using only the header of the cantilever header is roughly the time required to heat the heater and the tip, and the time required for the write operation while heating the media more than Tg at the same time. This time is so long that fast write operations cannot be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a nano-information storage device and an information recording method thereof having improved write time, which are devised to solve the above problems.

In order to achieve the above object, the nano-information storage device using the heat assist device of the present invention includes a nano-information storage device header including a plurality of cantilever arrays and a Z-axis sensor, a medium on which information is recorded, and the media. And a scanner for moving in the direction of the medium, wherein the media is divided into sectors by the number of the cantilevers, and each sector includes an information recording unit for recording information, a heating unit for heating the information recording unit, and the information recording unit and the heating unit. It characterized in that it comprises a supporting substrate for supporting.

In the present invention, the heating unit preferably comprises a media heater for dissipating heat and a heater sensor for sensing the temperature of the dissipated heat.

In the present invention, the heating unit preferably further includes an insulator for distinguishing each sector formed in the media.

In the present invention, the heating unit preferably detects the temperature of the heat emitted from the media heater by the heater sensor, and further comprises a heater control unit for controlling the temperature of the media heater.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the heater control unit is adjusted to be constantly smaller than the transition temperature of the information recording unit.

An information recording method in a nano information storage device using a heat assist device of the present invention comprises the steps of: a) receiving a command to record information, selecting a corresponding sector of media and heating the selected sector; b) detecting whether the temperature of the heated sector has reached a predetermined temperature; And c) applying information to the cantilever heater to record on the media.

In the present invention, the final attained temperature in step b) is preferably lower than the transition temperature of the media.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In adding reference numerals to components of the following drawings, it is determined that the same components have the same reference numerals as much as possible even if displayed on different drawings, and it is determined that they may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention. Detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations will be omitted.

3 is a plan view and a cross-sectional view of a media according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3A is a plan view of the media, and FIG. 3B is a cutaway cross-sectional view of a portion of each media.

In the above embodiment, the media 200 is divided into a predetermined sector 210, and the sector 210 includes an information recording unit 220, a heating unit 230, and a support substrate 240.

The embodiment schematically shows an apparatus for heating the media 200.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the media 200 is divided into sectors 210 corresponding to the number n x m of the cantilever provided in the nano information storage header 100. Each sector 210 has its own signal input line 235. Therefore, assuming 10 sectors are provided in one column, 10 signal input lines are required. The signal input line is connected to a heater control apparatus to be described later.

Referring to FIG. 3B, a cross section A-A 'of each sector 210 shown in FIG. 3A can be seen. Each sector 210 includes an information recording unit 220, a heating unit 230, and a support substrate 240, and the heating unit 230 includes a heater sensor 231 and a media heater 233. . Each sector is partitioned by an insulator 232. The information recording unit 220 is preferably formed of a general polymer.

4 is a cross-sectional view of the nano-information storage device using the heat aid according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the above embodiment, the nano information storage device using the heat assist device further includes a heater control unit 234.

The embodiment schematically shows an apparatus for controlling the temperature of the media heater.

Referring to FIG. 4, the nano information storage device using the heat assist apparatus further includes a heater controller 234 in the configuration described with reference to FIG. 3B. The heater control unit 234 is connected to the media heater 233 and the heater sensor 231.

In general, when the cantilever probe 112 is in contact with the media and the cantilever probe is heated by the cantilever heater 113, heat is released to the medium 200 through the cantilever probe 112, wherein the probe temperature and the media temperature The rate of temperature rise is very slow because must rise simultaneously.

However, when recording the information on the media 200, if the media 200 is raised to a predetermined temperature in advance, it will be able to save the information recording time. To this end, a command to record information is first selected to select a corresponding sector 210 of the media, and the media heater 233 of the selected sector 210 is driven. At this time, the heater sensor 231 generates a signal when the media temperature reaches the desired setting temperature Tc (this temperature should be smaller than Tg) to adjust the power transmitted by the heater controller 234 to the media heater 233. . At the same time, information is applied to the cantilever heater 113 ('0' does not heat the heater, and '1' heats the heater) and writes it to the media.

That is, when a command for recording information is first performed in order to record information in the probes of the cantilevers 111 of each of the nano information storage headers, the media heater 233 is first heated by the media heater control unit 234 to perform the recording. Heat 200 to a temperature lower than the glass transition temperature to a certain temperature (the temperature of the media is maintained at Tc, where Tc < Tg).

At this time, before the write operation is performed with the cantilever probe 112 by the media heater 233, the media is heated to Tg or less in advance, and until the media is heated to Tg or more during the time required to perform the conventional write operation. This has the advantage of saving time.

As described above, it has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, but those skilled in the art various modifications and changes of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention described in the claims below I can understand that you can.

In general, if the cantilever probe is heated by the cantilever heater while the cantilever probe is in contact with the media, the heat is released to the media through the cantilever probe. slow. However, as described above, according to the present invention, the recording speed can be made faster.

Claims (7)

A nano information storage device comprising a nano information storage header including a plurality of cantilever arrays and a Z-axis sensor, a media on which information is recorded, and a scanner for moving the media in a predetermined direction. The media is divided into sectors by the number of the cantilever, and each sector includes an information recording unit for recording information, a heating unit for heating the information recording unit, and a support substrate for supporting the information recording unit and the heating unit, The heating unit comprises a media heater for dissipating heat, a heater sensor for sensing the temperature of the dissipated heat and an insulator for distinguishing each sector formed in the media. delete delete The nano-information of claim 1, wherein the heating unit further comprises a heater control unit configured to detect a temperature of heat emitted from the media heater by the heater sensor and to control a temperature of the media heater. Storage. The nano-information storage device using a heat assist device according to claim 4, wherein the heater control unit adjusts the temperature so as to be smaller than a transition temperature of the information recording unit. delete delete

Images