US Patent 7449256 - Surfactant coated nanoparticle memory

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7449256.html

This patent from Seagate Technology teaches a new type of ultrahigh density memory storage using the surface tension of coated magnetic nanoparticles to produce the 0 and 1 bit states.

1. A system, comprising:

a recording medium including a substrate and having adjacent said substrate both a surfactant coated nanoparticle and a non-surfactant coated nanoparticle, wherein said surfactant coated nanoparticle and said non-surfactant coated nanoparticle are magnetic, said surfactant coated nanoparticle representing a first bit of recorded information and said non-surfactant coated nanoparticle representing a second bit of recorded information;

a write element adjacent said recording medium; and a read element adjacent said recording medium.