A novel high speed, high capacity electron-beam recording technique using nano technology in a Hard Disk Drive form factor is described. The e- beam source is a carbon nanotube (CNT) emitter and can be gated at rates up to several gigahertz. The planned recording media is Phase Change with sub-nanosecond response times, and data read-out by Secondary Electron Emission is anticipated. The key parameters for generating the recording beam are described and a preliminary design is discussed in which the CNT based ReadiWrite head replaces the magnetic head in a standard Hard Disk Drive (HDD). The technique sidesteps limits associated with HDD technology and potentially provides far higher recording densities and higher data rates than possible with conventional magnetic-recording. The NS3 NanoTech Disk (NTD) approach may provide a path forward for HDD's to the low nanometer mark scale.
William S. Oakley