| 摘要 |
A new form of rotating media disk drive is described. Data storage densities of many gigabits per square inch can be obtained at low cost. Data is stored in localized regions of electric charge that are stored within a thin dielectric layer that is coated upon both sides of an electrically conductive platter, rather than in magnetic domains that are stored in thin magnetizable films that are coated upon both sides of platters. Data is stored three-dimensionally, in electric dipoles whose axes are perpendicular to the plane of the platters, rather than in magnetic dipoles that lie along the surface of a platter. Data is read and written via ungated field emitter tips rather than with transformers and magnetically sensitive elements. The read/write head is built from the read/write head chip that contains field emitter tips and other elements. This chip is an active CMOS or other circuit whose active area is parallel to one side of a platter, rather than having a single, passive write element and a single, passive read element with external control circuits and amplifiers. The read/write head chip is formed in a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer, with the tips and other microelectromechanical elements being formed in the top, silicon membrane, on isolated islands or pillars, and the supporting circuitry being formed in the base silicon wafer. Each read/write head chip is attached to the end of the arm of an actuator, in a manner similar to that used in magnetic disk drives. Individual, ungated field emitter tips are electrically isolated from one another and connected to, and intimately integrated with, analog and/or digital circuitry in the read/write head chip, rather than being electrically connected to many other tips and divorced from active circuitry in their immediate vicinity that controls them, as in flat panel displays. Multiple tips can be used to increase the data rate of the disk, and to provide spares to improve the reliability of the disk.
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