Super-sizing disk space

Researchers in Glasgow University have made a radical development that could significantly increase the amount of data that can be stored in computers, iPods, USB keys and other storage devices. The researchers have reduced the size of a computer switch to the molecular level, five times smaller than existing computer switches, which could increase storage capacity by 150,000 times. This enable 500,000 gigabytes of disc space to be squeezed into a microchip about the size of a €2 coin. Millions of music tracks, videos and other data could be stored on tiny devices.

The switch comprises two clusters of molecules positioned just 0.32 nanometres apart. Experts say they can fit 1 billion transistors (or switches) on to the size of an existing chip - five times the current capacity. Transistors, or switches, are the building blocks of computers: all digital data is stored in strings of ones and zeros; each digit corresponds to a switch being turned on or off. The storage capacity of a device therefore depends on the size of each switch.