This research has paved the way for new methods to securely erase magneto-optic disks. These new data storage media are becoming harder to erase. The media storage industry demonstrated a growth in media density by approximately 20 percent per year prior to 1988. Since that time, industry has undergone a revolution in achieving very high storage capabilities and has achieved an astonishing 60 percent storage increase per year and is on track to reach the above target goal by the year 2000. Synthetic diamond is extremely efficient for heat conduction.
Excessive heat is one of the most common reasons for electronic equipment failure.
The Laboratory has evaluated thermal images comparing functioning integrated circuits mounted on ordinary ceramic substrates to the same integrated circuits mounted on synthetic diamond substrates. To accomplish this goal, the connections between computers and throughout large networks may have to be via fiber optic cable, and the internal communication paths in the computers may be optical as well.