Patent ID: 7355955

Claim:
A nanoscale digital data storage device comprising: a storage medium having a polymer layer deposited on a first substrate, for writing and reading digital data to and from; and a cantilever chip having cells, wherein each of the cells comprises: an opening at a center portion of the cell; a cantilever formed across the opening and having an electrically resistive platform having a tip formed on a surface thereof and emitting heat according to an applied current, and a leg connecting the platform to a second substrate of the cantilever chip; at least one horizontal address line for applying current to the cantilever; and a vertical address line for conducting current outside of the cantilever, wherein the tips in the cantilever chip are in contact with the storage medium at predetermined bit positions during data writing, and the cantilever chip applies a relatively low current to a tip when the tip writes bit 1 and a relatively high current to the tip when the tip writes bit 0 .