Project abstract:

To meet the storage requirements that are growing at an exponential rate, the magneto-optical (MO) storage technology offers the most promise with expected area density over the 100Gbits per square inch in the next 5 to 10 years. The partners of the MAMMOSIL project (4 industrials, 1 university and 1 research centre) have decided to take part in the MO emerging technologies by developing a high-density MAMMOS (Magnetic Amplifying Magneto-Optical System) media. This project will allow the European companies to follow the MO technological roadmap through the development of a high-density MAMMOS disc and related prototype drive, working at blue wavelength and high numerical aperture optics to achieve 40Gbytes on a 120 diameter disc, and investigation of a very high-density MAMMOS disc for near-field optical system, based on the emerging Solid Immersion Lens (SIL) technology, to achieve the expected 100Gbytes on a 120 diameter disc in the next 6years.

Objectives:

1. development of a high-density MAMMOS disc and related prototype drive, working with blue wavelength diode and high numerical aperture optics to achieve at least 40 gigabytes (GB) on a 120 diameter disc;
2. investigation of a ultra-high-density MAMMOS disc for near-field optical system, based on the Solid Immersion Lens (SIL) technology, to achieve in more long term over the 100 GB (up to 150 GB) on a 120 diameter disc.

Work description:

The MAMMOSIL project includes two main technical steps :

1. to investigate and develop the high-density MAMMOS disc for far-field optical system, working in the blue wavelength and with high NA to achieve 40Gbytes/side of capacity;
2. to investigate, through simulations and basic experimentation, the very high-density MAMMOS disc for the near-field SIL-based optical system achieving capacity over the 100GBytes/side.

The MAMMOSIL consortium involves : optical storage disc manufacturer, optical recording systems manufacturer, University skilled in magnetic and optical date storage simulations, Research Centre skilled in optical data storage technologies, optical disc testing equipment manufacturer, Substrate mastering equipment manufacturer.

Milestones:

• A MAMMOS Disc for far-field optical system, working at 405nm (blue wavelength) and with high 0.85 NA optics. This MAMMOS disc will achieve the 40 GB per side (120 mm diameter disc) of capacity;
• The related Dynamic Tester system;
• The related Electron Beam Mastering system;
• The related Prototype Drive (Optical Recording System);
• Specifications Proposal for an ultra-high-density MAMMOS disc working in near-field SIL-based optical system, with capacity up to 150GB per side.