Advanced Storage Technology Workshop

22-23 July 1999

Data Storage Institute

Singapore

 

The Advanced Storage Technology Workshop was held at the new Data Storage Institute building on 22 and 23 July 1999.  This event was jointly organised by the Department of Electrical Engineering of the National University of Singapore (NUS), Data Storage Institute (DSI) and the Nanoscale Science Laboratory of the University of Cambridge.  Since July 1998, the three-party collaboration was initiated to work on patterned media, tribology, probe microscopy and instrumentation.  The workshop was an effort to bring together researchers in the same field to discuss recent advances in information storage technology.

 

 

Speakers: (from left) Assoc Prof TC Chong, Dr R Cowburn, Prof D Lambeth, Prof K Goto, Dr M Yanagisawa, Dr S Hsu, Dr M Welland, Prof T Suzuki, Dr Chung Shi, Dr B Marchon, Dr J Gimzewski.

 

The workshop attracted over 150 participants mainly from Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and USA.  It covered current changes in technology in the following topics: Patterned Media, Tribology, Optical Data Storage, and Molecular Engineering.  The opening address, delivered by A/Prof Chong Tow Chong (Director of DSI), stressed the importance of keeping updated with the development of technology as it changes ever so quickly.  The main objective of the workshop was to gather researchers to discuss technical issues and the underlying physics; as well as to establish a greater understanding in each other’s work.

 

The workshop highlighted the problems related to storage technologies as storage density and data retrieval rates increase.  These were presented in the form of seminars given by renowned researchers.  The talks and speaker list include:

 

OPTICAL DATA STORAGE

·         Recent Developments in Magneto-Optical Recording by Prof. Takao Suzuki, Toyota Technological Institute, Japan

·         New Ultra High Density Optical Disk Head with High Data Transfer Rate Using VCSEL Array by Prof. Kenya Goto, Optical Disk System of JSPS Tokai University, Numazu Campus, Japan

·         High-Density Optical Recording by A/Prof Chong Tow Chong, Data Storage Institute, National University of Singapore

 

 

Assoc Prof TC Chong (Director, DSI) making the opening speech.

 

TRIBOLOGY

·         Tribochemistry Study of the PFPE Lubricant Decomposition Mechanisms and Lubricant Thickness Effect on Hydrogenated Carbon Overcoats by Dr. Charanjit Singh Bhatia, IBM Almaden Research Center, USA

·         Hard Disk Lubrication by Dr. Stephen Hsu, National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA

·         HDI Tribology: Towards Zero Spacing by Dr. Bruno Marchon, IBM Almaden Research Center, USA

·         Key Issues for In-Contact System by Dr. Masahiro Yanagisawa, NEC Corporation, Japan

·         Tribo-Electric Effect at Magnetic Head and Disk Interface by Dr Chung Shih, Seagate RMO, USA

 

MOLECULAR ENGINEERING

• Working with Designer Molecules from Outside and the Inside by Dr James K Gimzewski, IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, Switzerland
• Prospects for SPM for Data Storage and Methods for Nanoscale Patterning by Dr. Mark E Welland, University of Cambridge, UK
• Highly Oriented Advanced Storage Media by Prof. David N Lambeth, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

 

PATTERNED MEDIA

·        Layer Engineering, Microstructure Control and Thermal Stability Study for Hard Disk Thin Film Media by Dr. Wang Jian Ping, Data Storage Institute

·        Magnetic Nanostructures for Ultra High Density Data Storage by Dr. Russell Cowburn, University of Cambridge, UK

 

The panel discussions at the end of each session resulted in an exciting forum for exchange of views and ideas.  The workshop was brought to a successful close by Dr. Mark Welland from the University of Cambridge, who promised that we can look forward to a second joint workshop to be held in Cambridge in eighteen months’ time.