The millipede, a very dense, highly parallel scanning-probe data-storage system

Ultrahigh storage densities of up to 1 Tbit/in
²
. can be achieved by local-probe techniques to write, read back, and erase data in very thin polymer films. The thermo-mechanical scanning-probe-based data-storage concept called Millipede combines ultrahigh density, terabit capacity, small form factor, and high data rate. After illustrating the principles of operation of the Millipede, we introduce a channel model for the analysis of the read back process, and compare analytical results with experimental data.