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Presented By:
By Gordon A. Shaw, Jeremy S. Trethewey, A. David Johnson, Walter J. Drugan, and Wendy C. Crone

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In this seminars, we examine the feasibility of using thin-film NiTi shape-memory alloys (SMAs) for thermomechanical data storage as an alternative to the polymer thin film used as the data storage medium in the IBM Millipede device.'8' NiTi is a potentially more robust and rapid storage medium than the polymer films currently used for thermomechanical data stor¬age. For example, the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) medium documented by IBM is prone to charring at the tem¬peratures necessary for device operation (around 350 °C).'9' At the shape-memory effect's normal operation temperature (around 70 ° C), NiTi is largely impervious to normal environ¬mental effects once its passive oxide layer has formed, and the shape recovery over millions of cycles has been document-ed.'10' In addition, its lower operating temperature requires less power for operation. SMAs do not require heating for the write operation to be carried out, as do the polymer films, and since SMAs have a much higher thermal conductivity and lower heat capacity than PMMA,'11' erase operations can be conducted more rapidly.

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http://mandm.engr.wisc.edu/faculty_pages...CrAM05.pdf