The limits of pushing storage density to the atomic scale are explored with a memory that stores a bit by the presence or absence of one silicon atom. These atoms are positioned at lattice sites along self-assembled tracks with a pitch of 5 atom rows. The writing process involves removal of Si atoms with the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. The memory can be reformatted by controlled deposition of silicon. The constraints on speed and reliability are compared with data storage in magnetic hard disks and DNA.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0204251,
title = {Atomic Scale Memory at a Silicon Surface},
author = {R. Bennewitz and J. N. Crain and A. Kirakosian and J. -L. Lin and J. L. McChesney and D. Y. Petrovykh and F. J. Himpsel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0204251},
year = {2009}
}