FLUORESCENT MULTILAYER DISC (FMD)

A breakthrough in optical data storage ------------------------------------------------------------------

LIST OF CONTENTS
1) ABSTRACT 2) INTRODUCTION 3) BASICS 4) INTRODUCING FMD 5) FLUORESCENT MATERIAL 6) FLUORESCENT MULTILAYER 7) FM DISC PRODUCTION 8) MEDIA DEVELOPMENT a) HOT EMBOSSING b) PHOTO POLYMERISATION 9) MEDIA MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY PRE-MASTERING AND MASTERING PROCESS a) REPLICA MANUFACTURING b) PIT FILLING c) REPLICA INSPECTION d) LAYER BONDING e) DISC DECORATION f) EDGE SEALING 10)

1 2 3 4 5 5 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 11

FMD ROM(READ ONLY) TECHNOLOGY 12

a) LIGHT SENSITIVE MATERIAL b) PIT FILLING PROCESS

12 13

11)

FMD WORM(WRITE ONCE,READ MANY) TECHNOLOGY 13

a) THERMAL BLEACHING b) PHOTO CHEMICAL REACTION

13 13

12)

SECURITY 14 PARALLEL READING 14 SNR ANALYSIS 14 COMPARISIONS 16

a) OPTICAL STORAGE(DVD AND CD) b) MAGNETIC STORAGE(HARD DISC DRIVE) c) SOLID STATE STORAGE(FLASH MEMORY CARDS) d) COMPARISION OF CD,DVD,FMD

13)

14)

15)

16 18 19 21

16)

FMD HARDWARE 21 FUTURE FM HARDWARE 21 APPLICATIONS 24 ADVANTAGES 24 DISADVANTAGES 25 CONCLUSION 26 27

17)

18)

19)

20)

21)

22) REFERENCES

ABSTRACT:
Compact discs were a revolutionary product at its time and influenced many spheres of human activity. People started recording music of high quality which didn't get worse with the time as it happens to be on tape or vinyl. As soon as CDs appeared in computer industry they immediately became an undoubted helper both for users and for programmers. The latter were able to increase volume of their program products by adding video and audio elements etc. Later discs were used for digital video (VideoCD). But technologies are progressing. Data are growing faster and faster. A usual CD is far not enough (640 MBytes). So, there appeared DVD technology. Of course we are happy with those 17 GBytes that can be kept on one DVD disc, but this is a limiting point. So we need a completely new method of storing information on portable data medium. And at last, the company Constellation 3D demonstrates a new format: FMD (Fluorescent Multilayer Disk) which can soon become a leader.

INTRODUCTION:

Figure 1: Fluorescent multilayer disc. Today the need for digital storage capacity is on increase, with a rate growth of 60% per annum. There is strong requirement for more storage facility for the amenities like the storage area networks, data warehouses, supercomputers and e-commerce related data mining as the volume of data to be processed is ever rising. The arrival of high bandwidth Internet and dataintensive applications such as high-definition TV (HDTV) and video & music on-demand, even smaller devices such as personal VCRs, PDAs, mobile phones etc will require multi-gigabyte and terabyte capacity in the next couple of years. This ever-increasing capacity demand can only be managed by the steady increase in the areal density of the magnetic and optical recording media. In future, this density increase is feasible only by taking advantage of the shorter wavelength lasers, higher lens numerical aperture (NA) or by employing near-field techniques. This increase is best achieved with optical memory technologies. Fluorescent multiplayer disc (FMD) is a three dimensional storage that can store a large volume of data and is also capable of increasing the capacity of a given volume with an aim to achieve a cubic storage element having the dimensions of writing or reading laser wavelength. The current wavelength of 650 m should be sufficient enough to store up to a Terabyte of data. Fluorescent Multi-layer Disc (FMD) is a new data storage format currently being developed by a company called Constellation 3D (C3D). FMD is an optical format, similar in size and appearance to regular CD-ROMs and DVDs. However, the real advantage that FMD technology promises over it's rivals is that although a CDR may hold 700 MB of data, and a

DVD-ROM 4.7 GB, initial reports from C3D claim that it may be possible to produce FMD discs with up to 140 GB of data, greatly eclipsing it's nearest rival.

THE BASICS:
A fluorescent multilayer disc (FMD) is a multi-layer, readable and re-writable disc with the same diameter and thickness as a CD or DVD. Its transparent nature is one of its most recognizable features (Fig. 1). FMD will provide an optical-storage solution for the data needs of high-performance computer and multimedia applications. This can be done using existing redlaser technology yielding 150 GB discs. When blue lasers become cost-effective, FMDs with nearly one terabytes of capacity and 1 megabits per second (Mbps) data rate will be feasible (C3D Web site, 2002).

Figure 2: C3Ds FMD.

Figure 3: transparent FMD.

INTRODUCING FMD:
In the mid-1990s, a team of scientists with backgrounds in physics, chemistry, optics and electronics conducted ambitious experiments focused on designing photosensitive materials for a fundamentally new kind of optical data disc. The result was the creation of a paradigm-breaking optical medium based on fluorescent multilayer (FM) technology. This technology, unlike any other optical media before, shares enough in common with existing media to become available product in todays market. The scientists realized this and formed a company in New York City, Constellation 3D, Inc. (C3D), to realize their commercial invention. Upon seeking and later receiving sufficient capitalization, they created versions of FM media and drives in their laboratories. Subsequent demonstrations helped raise more capital and enabled the business to attain a NASDAQ listing (stock symbol, CDDD) in November 2000. Since then, C3D has continued to refine its technology and has achieved working demonstrations using DVDs pit density and MPEG-2 encoding. The company has over 120 allowed or pending patents on FM technology. It will seek revenue from licensing agreements with partners in every storage-related industry (C3D Web site, 2002). The company C3D was founded in 1995. The company is aimed at developing progressive technologies in the field of data storage and in production in the sphere of consumption and education. Constellation 3D provides revolutionary solutions in the sphere of data storage and it positions itself that all their announced products must set the pitching highefficiency technologies of data keeping. The company has opened their offices in New-York, Florida and California, and some laboratories in Israel and Russia. The company possesses over 60 patents. The first generation of disc productions from Constellation 3D will be a family of 120 mm multi-layer FM-discs with capacity up to 140 GBytes and with read speed up to 1 GBytes/s. It's interesting to compare them with DVD that keeps up to 17.4 GBytes. New discs will be capable for example to keep up to 20 hours of compressed movies in HDTV format.

FLUORESCENT MATERIAL:
The fluorescent material arguably, the main ingredient of FMD technology converts incident (incoherent) laser light into incoherent fluorescent light. C3D has several material formulations. The most-developed material is used in read-only discs. Writable (recordable) and re-writable formulations (and their corresponding drives) have also been demonstrated using proprietary photo-chromic compounds (Sandler, 1999).

FLUORESCENT MULTILAYER:

Figure: showing multiple data layers of FMD.

Figure 4: Fluorescent multilayer. Figure 3.2 shows how the laser beam strikes and get deflected from the surface of a Fluorescent Multi Layer Disk.

Figure 5: Laser beam reflecting from FMD. Multilayer, fluorescent discs address the problem of signal degradation by offering a unique solution. Specifically, each data layer is coated with a proprietary fluorescent material (dye). When the layer is struck by the laser beam fluorescent light is emitted. This light is

different in wave- length than the incident laser light, being slightly red-shifted and incoherent in nature (Fig. 6). The emitted light is not affected by data or other marks and moves through adjacent layers without being distorted. In the read system of the FMD drive, the light is filtered; this allows only data-carrying fluorescent light to be received, lessening the effect of interference and stray light. Unlike reflection-based systems (DVD), the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) degrades much more slowly with each additional layer. This remarkable ability will permit a single disc with as many as 100 layers.

Figure 6 From Figure 6 it could be seen that the laser beam of same wave length falling on the fmd surfaces get deflected in different wave lengths. Note that this technology allows preventing a problem of multiple inference between layers since the reflected light is not coherent; it passes through layers without any difficulties and is easily defined by a receiver. Let's talk about it a bit in depth. In usual optical discs (CD/DVD) with increasing number of informa-tional layers a signal gets worse. It's explained by the fact that these technologies use a reflected signal, it means that there is necessity in mirror surfaces. That's why in DVD technology an external layer is made to be semitransparent in order to allow a laser to reach an internal one.

Figure7

And a signal while passing an external layer leaves a part of its energy because of reflecting. Signals reflected from both layers interfere because of their coherence; it results in losses of useful signal. Increasing number of layers aggravates an effect of multiple interference between the layers what makes reading more complicated. Improving detector-receivers can solve the problem, but it is possible only in laboratory. In case of fluorescent discs the quality of the signal gets worse much slower with increasing number of layers. Look at Figure 8.

Figure 8: Graph showing the signal worsening in DVD and FMD.

According to FMD-ROM developers, even with a hundred layers a useful signal will be acceptable

Figure 9: several plastic (polycarbone) layers connected to each other.

As you can see in the Figure 9 a disc consists of several plastic (polycarbone) layers connected to each other. A layer contains surface structures (pits), which are filled with fluorescent material. When reading a laser focuses on a certain layer and excites its fluorescent elements, and then a photo detector catches this radiation.

FM DISC PRODUCTION:
Many stages of their production are put on the basis of CD and DVD manufacture. However, some alterations are to be made here. In particular, they concern form of surface structures and methods of filling with fluorescent material. Besides, there is no technology of sputtering of aluminum layer what reduces the number of steps. Mastering process is very similar to that of CD/DVD.A few words on a process of manufacturing CD discs. As a storage device they use a glass plate covered with a thin photoresistive layer. A laser beam, intensity of which is modulated with digital information, gets into photoresist causing markings that correspond to bits of digital code. After that the photoresist is developed and covered with a metallic layer. This Master-copy after recording contains digital information in the form of pits. Then they make an exact negative copy by a galvanic way which later serves as a press-matrix. This negative can already be used for CD manufacture. But in order to save this single matrix they produce several intermediate copies (negative), and then several pressmatrix (the same way) which serve for stamping CDs. After recording of data on an informational surface in vacuum a thin layer of aluminum is sputtered. Outside, the metallic layer is lacquered in order to prevent mechanical damage. In FMD technology an exact copy of pit is of vital importance since later it's filled with fluorescent material. That's why these two technologies differ. Here, a master-copy is a nickel matrix (a stamp). It is a negative copy, like in CD-technology. A FM disc consists of several layers; hence the process contains several steps: informational layers are produced separately and then they are combined together.

MEDIA DEVELOPMENT:

Figure 10:

The FMD media is composed of several bonded polycarbonate substrates. Each substrate contains surface structures (pits) that are filled with a proprietary fluorescent compound (Fig.10). According to Ingolf Sandler of C3D, a major design goal in the development of CD/DVD replacements using this technology, was to allow a simple and cost effective upgrade for existing manufacturers of optical devices (1999, p.1). C3Ds FMD technology allows the use of existing facilities, with only minor changes (i.e., addition of fluorescent compound). Compared to DVD, there are fewer process steps per layer since a reflective, metallic layer is not needed. For the astering process, each layer of an FMD requires a data-containing metal stamper, similar to CD/DVD. Unique to FMD, two replication processes have been developed:

HOT-EMBOSSING:
Using hot metal stampers, thin polycarbonate sheets are embossed on both sides. After the sheets cool, the embossed pits are filled with fluorescent dye. After the dye is cured, the individual sheets are stacked and bonded together under pressure. The result is a storage media having multiple layers: a Fluorescent Multilayer Disc (Sandler, 1999).

PHOTO-POLYMERIZATION (2P) PROCESS:

This method, in which layers are sequentially replicated by creating thin replicas, will eventually allow FMD to incorporate up to 100 layers (Sandler, 1999).

MEDIA MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY:

Fluorescent media manufacturing process described here utilizes many processes that are typical for CD and/or DVD manufacturing. However, fluorescent media requires many proprietary polymers and compositions that were exclusively developed by Constellation 3D Inc. Company intends to make these materials available to media manufacturers through its selected industry affiliated partners. Further developments related to increase of data storage capacity to the level of multi-hundreds of gigabytes per disc, will require adoption of other disc manufacturing technologies currently under internal development.
PRE-MASTERING AND MASTERING PROCESS:

Pre-mastering and mastering processes are very similar to those utilized by CD/DVD industry. However, certain modifications of mastering process will be required (namely glass master and stamper preparation). These modifications are mainly related to pit geometries that are designed to facilitate reliable pit replication and pit filling

Replica manufacturing:
Manufacture of one informational layer lies in manufacture of plastic film with definite optical characteristics. Replica manufacturing involves preparation of circular substrates made of

low birefringence plastic film (polycarbonate, PMMA or other films with appropriate optical characteristics). Film thickness is between 25 to 30 microns. Prior to usage, substrates are die or laser cut to appropriate diameter (media dependent, see above). Prepared substrate is placed over radial bead of photo-polymer deposited onto nickel matrix top surface (stamper). During spinning process photo-polymer evenly spreads between stamper surface and plastic substrate. Subsequently, UV curing hardens photo-polymer and now substrate can be separated from top surface of stamper. Substrate contains precise pit geometry. Precision of pit replication exceeds quality of injection-moulded substrates (such as CDs or DVDs)

Pit filling:
During pit filling, fluorescent dye-polymer evenly spreads over entire replicas informational side by utilizing of spin-coating process (similarly to CD-R dye application). After dye-polymer is UV cured, certain chemical bleaching process is applied to achieve the desired signal contrast ratio of pits and lands

Replica inspection:
Each replica is optically inspected to verify proper dye-polymer filling of pits. Such inspection is achieved by observing of emitted light from entire area of data pits by utilizing of CCD camera. At this stage replica is optically inspected for various physical defects such scratches, inclusions and alike.

Layer bonding:
Layers or replicas are centrally bonded onto optical spacer (0.6 mm thick polycarbonate or PMMA substrate), by utilizing capillary bonding method well known to DVD industry. Since replicas are thin and thus more pliable, formation of air bubbles in the bonding layer is minimized. Requirements to centricity of informational layers are similar to DVD discs (or +/25 micron).

Disc decoration:
After multiple replicas are bonded on the top of optical spacer (see above), additional support/protection substrate is bonded on the stack top. These decorated elsewhere substrates are made of solid colour inexpensive plastic materials.

Edge sealing:
In order to prevent layer separation by physical contact, disc outer edge is sealed with UV curable photo-polymers typically used for protection of CDs and DVDs [In other words manufacture of one informational layer lies in manufacture of plastic film with definite optical characteristics. The film is 25 to 30 micron in width. The film which will

get information soon is either stamped or cut out with a laser. After that the film is installed on an external surface of a nickel matrix that carries a negative copy of produced informational layer. While rotating, photopolymer matter is evenly brought in the space between stamp surface and plastic film. Later, when the photopolymer matter becomes hard the film gets detached from the stamp surface. The base plate now contains pits of definite geometry. A pit's geometry is better in terms of quality than that received when manufacturing matrices for CD or DVD since those technologies use a process of stamping of pits. When a layer with the required position of pits is ready, they are filled with fluorescent material (it covers evenly the whole informational side). After that the surface is processed chemically in order to reach necessary contrast of pits and flats. Then, in order to check the copy for different defects, photo-elements get excited and the whole picture is analyzed with the help of CCD cameras. After that the layers are "stuck" to the base plate 0.6 mm in width. And all this is covered with a protective layer which can be used for graphics decoration. In order to prevent a physical contact with informational layers on the edge of the disc this area is filled as well with polymeric material, like in CD or DVD technologies. ]

FMD ROM (READ-ONLY) TECHNOLOGY:

The fluorescent material, used in FMD ROM media, must adhere to the following requirements (Magnitskii, 2000): 1. Compatibility with substrate material 2. Absorption wavelength must be the same wavelength found in commercially available, lowcost semiconductor lasers used in CD/DVD player 3. Emitted fluorescent light must be wavelength-shifted by 50 nm (minimum) to allow easy separation of incident and signal light 4. High conversion efficiency 5. Refraction index close to that of the polycarbonate 6. Stability over an extended period of time 7. Response time=1 nsec

LIGHT-SENSITIVE MATERIAL:
The photo-polymer composition (PPC) consists of monomers and oligomers.With the addition of a photo-initiator, operating under a specific-range radiation, the polymerization process is initialized. PPC functions as the substrate for the data carrier, oxazine-1, methylene blue, and methylene violet while other red dyes function as the photo-initiator (Magnitskii, 2000).

PIT-FILLING PROCESS:
The working surfaceof a polycarbonate disc is a plane with billions of pits (0.5m in diameter), positioned with a specific order. These pits can be filled with liquid monomeric or oligomeric materials that convert to hard polymer substances when placed under UV light. The substances fill the pits and overflow to form a thicker layer on the media surface. The greater the difference between the layer thickness in the pit to that on the surface, the better the contrast.

FMD WORM (WRITE ONCE, READ MANY) TECHNOLOGY:

In addition to the requirements for ROM media, writable (recordable) media require the following: 1. A write process in which the write laser is able to turn the fluorescence on or off 2. A standardized level above which the fluorescent material is changed by the power level of the write laser, and below which the material is unchanged during read-only operation To meet these requirements, two procedures have been developed:

THERMAL BLEACHING:
In this procedure, the material is initially fluorescent. The incident write laser heats the material, destroying the fluorescence. The write parameters are similar to CD-R; thus, a standard 15mW optical-writing laser works just fine in an FMD-R drive. Also developed are materials that can be used with red, green and blue lasers (Magnitskii, 2000).

PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTION:
Materials used in this class are not initially fluorescent. When the material is struck by the write laser, a photochemical reaction occurs creating fluorescence. Since no heat is required in this process, the write-power needs are low. This allows the possibility of using inexpensive light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Using LED arrays, huge quantities of data can be written in parallel, allowing smaller FM technologies (cards) to become viable. C3D has successfully demonstrated materials sensitive to green and violet wavelengths (Magnitskii, 2000). Record devices don't differ much from read ones. The only difference lies in a bit different laser form allowing both reading and writing. Besides, we should note that it's possible to combine WORM and ROM on one storage device! For example, imagine a 20-layer disc with 10 layers already recorded and 10 left for a user.

SECURITY:
FMD will offer an extraordinary amount of security. In addition to complying with the newest and most sophisticated encryption technologies, FMDs unique dye chemistry will offer much greater control over access to intellectual property. In the digital cinema realm, for example, FMDs capacity allows for digital watermarking of each frame (there are 24 frames per second). Dyes can even be customized to work exclusively with FMD players used in cinemas, rendering stolen copies inaccessible to those using consumer drives. As for protection from mass-duplicating pirates, dyes can be designed to last only for a specific number of plays or limited amount of time (Cohen, 2001). One can easily see that FMDs security options will be useful beyond cinema. Governments, businesses large and small, and consumers will all benefit from them.

PARALLEL READING:
This technology allows parallel reading; it means that a sequence of bits is recorded not along a track but deep into layers. That's why we receive three types of data reading: successive, successive-parallel and parallel. [A sequence of bits is recorded not along a track but deep into layers. Reading process is carried out with the help of a photosensitive element (an array of (CCD cameras). Using CCD arrays as a photosensitive element, opens new opportunities for parallel reading with high data rate. Megapixel CCD arrays with frame rate of several KHz provides the data rate up to Gbit/s. The CCD array based on time delay integration (TDI) technology is capable to read low intensity signal with data rate of about of several tens MHz For average data density the corresponding data rate is 10 Mb/s. Note, that mechanical velocity is 450 times less than in DVD player. Standard demand for reading in DVD format SNR > 20 dB is satisfied even for velocity 100 mm/s with corresponding data rate 0.1 Gbit/s. The imaging of fluorescent marks provides the spatial resolution twice higher than for reflected signal because of non-coherent nature of fluorescence.]

THE SNR ANALYSIS:

The individual fluorescent marks can provide the signal of about 1 mW. This level of signal is acceptable for reading by PIN diode with data rate corresponding to 1X DVD format. For data rate corresponding to 2X, 4X DVD and higher data rates the electronics noise is dominant. The application of ADP photo-sensor with amplification 10-40 times is highly advantageous Parallel and sequential-parallel reading by using CCD matrices of different types provides the high data rate and higher spatial resolution as compared with reflective technology. For parallel and sequential-parallel reading the dominant part of the noise is so-called shot noise. Generally and practically the data rate transfer for parallel reading can be much higher. The

relatively simple extension to parallel and sequential-parallel reading (and writing) is one of the main advantages of fluorescent memory. The principle of the device with sequential-parallel reading is shown in Figures 11 -13

Figure 11: Image of DVD-encoded fragment of FMD/FMC

Figure 12: Twenty times magnified image of fluorescent pits with DVD-encoding imaged by CCD-camera

Figure 13: Eye-pattern of HF-signal from each element of photo-array

COMPARISONS:
In order to appreciate the virtues of FM technology, comparisons must be made with other existing and soon-to-be-released formats. Today, there exist three basic storage technologies: magnetic (hard disk drives, tapes, Zips and floppies), optical (DVD, CD, and FMD), and solid-state (flash memory cards).

OPTICAL STORAGE: DVD AND CD:

Figure 14: Layers in CDs and DVDs Compact disc (CD) and digital versatile disc (DVD, originally called digital video disc) are the two major optical formats today. CDs and DVDs have similar compositions consisting of a label, a protective layer, a reflective layer (aluminum, silver, or gold), a digital-data layer molded in polycarbonate, and a thick polycarbonate bottom layer (Fig. 14).

Figure 15:
Although DVD only recently emerged as a commercial phenomenon, it is genetically similar to compact disc technology originated in the 1970s.The technical breakthrough that made DVD possible involved improvements in manufacturing processes that increased pit density on a single disc layer it is seven times that of CD (Fig. 15). Although this was no small feat, it does not constitute a departure from the reflective optical media standard. DVD is an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary advance. CDs allow a maximum of 0.8 GB of data storage with a data rate of 1.28 Mbps. Meanwhile, DVDs allow a maximum of 18 GB of data storage in a dual-layer, dual-sided configuration with a data rate of 10 Mbps. When much-anticipated blue-laser technology becomes an economic viability still several years distant DVDs will be capable of nearly 40 GB of data storage with a data rate of nearly 100 Mbps (Taylor, 2001). Although this will be a welcomed advance in the evolution of the format, DVD still has some inherent limitations. DVD technologys Achilles heal is that it is limited to two layers as are all reflective media. Why is the case? Simply stated, the laser in DVD drives and players is running a gauntlet during playback, its signal distorted by the effects (i.e., interference, scatter and intra-layer crosstalk) of its interactions with the mediums reflective layer. DVDs SNR becomes substantially worse once it strikes the first layer, and then again when it reaches the second layer, and still further when it passes through the first layer on its path to the detector. The resulting noise degrades the signal to such an extent that the use of three layers lies beyond DVD technology. The DVD Forum, a group responsible for creating the standards of the DVD format in the mid 1990s, imposed a speed limit of 10 Mbps on DVD-Video (Taylor, 2001). Although this is fine for current home video standards (e.g., NTSC in North America and Japan, PAL in Europe), HDTV requires a minimum bit rate of 20 Mbps. Encoding a current red-laser-based DVD with a 20-24 Mbps rate is entirely possible. However, such an increase would consume the discs storage capacity before it could accommodate a two-hour film. DVD-ROMs also run into capacity and data rate limits when computer drives are used at multiple read or write speeds. Finally, there is the problem of over-abundance of DVD formats. Presently, there are the following: 1. DVD-ROM: computer applications

2. DVD-Video (DVD-V): the popular movie format 3. DVD-HD: HDTV/DTV version of DVD-V; 4. DVD-Audio (DVD-A): a new, high-resolution audio format; competitor to Super Audio CD (SACD) 5. DVD-RW: a re-writable DVD format supported by Pioneer, Panasonic and Hitachi 6. DVD+RW: a re-writable DVD format created by Sony and Philips 7. DVD-RAM: a re-writable DVD format created by Pioneer 8. DVD-R: a write once read many (WORM) format created by Pioneer This Beta-vs.-VHS-like format war only creates public confusion. Additionally, all writable/re-writable DVD standards will be limited to only 4.37 GB per side in the foreseeable future.

Figure 16: showing capacity of CD, DVD and FMD FMD technology overcomes every technological barrier that DVDs and CDs face, including the all-important capacity limit. Further, FMDs will be less expensive to manufacture, offer better copyright protection, and will conform to only one optical standard. They will offer these benefits using existing red-laser technology.

MAGNETIC STORAGE: HARD-DISK DRIVE:

No other digital-storage technology today is as evolved as the ubiquitous hard-disk drive (HDD). The capacity of HDDs grew about 25 to 30 percent each year in the 1980s and accelerated to an average of 60 percent in the 1990s. By the end of 1999 the annual increase had reached 130 percent. Today disk capacities are doubling every nine months, fast outpacing advances in computer chips, which obey Moores Law (doubling every 18 months) (Toigo, 2000). Concurrently, HDD prices have plummeted. In 1988, the price per megabyte for an average HDD was $11.54; today it is less than $2 per gigabyte (Disk/TrendWeb site, 2001).

This incredible combination of increasing capacity and decreasing price has resulted in a flourishing market. In 1998, the industry shipped 145 million HDDs; by the end of 2002, this number is expected to reach 250 million, denoting nearly $50 billion in revenues (Disk/Trend Web site, 2001). Despite the popularity of magnetic storage, its future remains uncertain due to a major obstacle: the impending super paramagnetic effect (SPE). SPE is a physical phenomenon that occurs in data storage when the energy that holds the magnetic spin in the atoms making up a bit (0 or 1) becomes comparable to the ambient thermal energy. When this occurs, bits can randomly flip between 0s and 1s, corrupting the information they represent. In an attempt to increase hard drive capacities, manufacturers have crammed smaller and smaller bits together, making the data more prone to SPE. Today, HDDs have a maximum areal density of 35 gigabits per square inch (Gb/sqi). With the current pace of miniaturization, many experts think the industry could hit the SPE wall by roughly 60 GB/sqi (Toigo, 2000). In terms of transfer rate and capacity, it may be some time before FMD surpasses the HDD. However, as a removable media, FMD technology is already far ahead of magnetic antiquity. For example, current digital video recorders (DVRs), such as RePlayTV and TiVo, use HDDs as their storage solution. Who is actually willing to travel with a TiV o tucked under their arms? Further, there is a limit to what one can store on a HDD before it becomes necessary to make room for more material. HDDs have one more limitation: reliability. Although todays HDDs are far more reliable than they once were, they are still gauged by the infamous MTFB (Mean Time Before Failure) parameter. For most HDDs today, MTBF is roughly five years. FMD drives are not impervious to electrical or mechanical failure; nevertheless, crash recovery is a far easier task: simply remove the FMD, replace the drive, and reboot. HDDs differ so much between manufacturers and models that salvaging a defective drive is almost impossible. Often, when a HDD fails, the data on it is permanently lost.

SOLID-STATE STORAGE: FLASH MEMORY CARDS:

The rising popularity of portable devices, such as PDAs, digital cameras and MP3 players, has created a niche for compact, solid-state memory modules. Such nonvolatile modules, popularly called flash memory cards, represent a young but potentially explosive market. Flash memory cards combine the features of read-only memory (save data when power is off) with random access memory (data can be written, altered and deleted). These qualities are advantageous for portable devices, especially when it comes to power consumption. By simply keeping data in memory, precious battery power is kept from drainage. Another advantage of flash memory cards is their inherent durability. The solid-state device is usually encased in a hard plastic or metal shell. In addition, there are no mechanical

parts. This is unlike optical and magnetic drives, which rely on mechanisms to rotate and track their respective media; the media (DVD and CD) is also subject to scratches, dust and other forms of contamination. Despite these advantages, the format has major obstacles to overcome. One isthe overabundance of memory card formats. Currently, there is PCMCIA, Compact Flash, SmartMedia, Multimedia Card, Secure Digital, Memory Stick, Thompson/Matrix and a new but not standardized USB memory key called EasyDisk. Unfortunately, consumers do not get to choose what memory format can be used with a particular device. For example, Sony products use only Memory Sticks. Universalcard readers are available for individuals who use more than one card format, but this is an expensive option. The main obstacles facing flash memory cards are cost and relatively poor storage capacities. Today, flash memory costs five to ten times more than DRAM. Regular PC133 SDRAM costs 11 cents per megabyte, while flash memory costs 70 cents (Wong, 2001). Given the fact that todays best memory cards allow only 256 MB of storage, they are comparatively expensive.

Figure 17: FMC Reader (Courtesy C3D)

Comparison of CD, DVD, FMD

Parameter Disc diameter, mm Capacity, GBytes Number of layers Distance between layers , micron Total width of informational layers, micron Format Distance between tracks, micron Optical system Wavelength, nm CD 120 0.64 1 0.11 CD 1.6 780 DVD 120 17.4 2 (on side) 40 2 DVD 0.74 635-650 each FMD 130 50.8 12 255 275 Modified DVD 0.8 532

C3D has developed a potential alternative to flash memory cards: a fluorescent multilayer card (FMC) that has most of the advantages of FMDs, only in a compact, credit-card sized format. An FMC can be made just as durable as memory cards by enclosing them in a protective sleeve. FMCs are read by FMC Readers(Figure 17).These units are compact and free of mechanical parts, relying instead on CCD arrays. In 2000, C3D created an FMC prototype with up to 20 layers, 20 Mbps data rate, and 10 GB worth of storage capacity. The estimated cost of production is less than $10 per card (C3D Web site, 2000). FMCs with even greater capacity and data rates are currently in the development stage.

FMD HARDWARE:
FMD drives have components similar to those of CD/DVD drives: laser, beam-generating optics, spindle, tracking/focusing actuators, servo, control processors, data channel and data interface. The only additional components are filters to separate the fluorescent light from the laser light and a spherical aberration unit to correct for optical path length, depending on selected layer. Electronic differences include a high-sensitivity detector circuit and additional servo electronics to address different layers within the multi-layer disc (Magnitskii, 2000).

FUTURE FM HARDWARE:
For consumers and businesses, FMD hardware will be similar to todays CD/DVD hardware in both form and function. There will be internal and external drives and burnersfor computer applications. In addition, there will stand-alone FMD video players and recorders, similar to current DVD players and VCRs. Portable units such as FMD discmen and

boomboxes are also possible. The following artists conceptions (Fig. 18 and 19) are projected appearance of a few such units:

Figure 18: FMD drive (Courtesy C3D)

Figure 19: FMD Player (Courtesy C3D) FMC hardware used for more compact devices may appear as shown below (Fig: 20 and 21)

Figure 20: FMC PDA (Courtesy C3D)

Figure 21: FMC/D Laptop (Courtesy C3D)

Memory requirements of some present applications S.No 1 2 3 4 5 6 NEW APPLICATIONS Digital cinema, High Definition TV Mobile computing Digital Cameras PDAs Digital Video Recorders G3 Mobile Phones REQUIRED CAPACITY 100GB 5GB 5GB 1GB 40GB 0.5GB

FMD/FMC will be able to provide this much amount of storage capacity

APPLICATIONS:

Storage of a very high detailed archive of maps. Ability to store a large amount of files in uncompressed format. Ability to store the whole of a series of TV programme (e.g., 20 episodes, each an hour long). Digital cinema film, HDTV players. Internet content streaming and data backup storage.

ADVANTAGES:
The primary advantages of FM technology are as follows (C3D Website, 2000):

Multilayer disc is transparent and homogeneous. Small loss of useful signal while passing through several layers. Low light absorption in each layer. Fluorescence of a separate element easily passes through disc layers. Emitted (signal) fluorescent light not absorbed. Less sensitive to imperfection in media and drives than CD/DVD; fluorescent technique does not depend on interference effects and requires less stringent manufacturing requirements for media and drives. Emitted fluorescent light from any given layer is non-coherent, eliminating problems of parasite interference. Limited-lateral spatial resolution system twice that for coherent light-based systems (e.g., CD/DVD using reflective layer).

 FMD-technology is compatible with CD and DVD formats supporting the same data
distribution system on each layer.

DISADVANTAGES: Initial cost of the fluorescent material is more than reflective material that is used in
CD, DVD.

Figure22 But the disadvantage mentioned is not really a disadvantage when we think of the storage capacities of FMD and CD, DVD.

CONCLUSION
Mans need for additional storage space is something that is ever increasing. Hence no solution or data storage media is expected to achieve the status of a complete storage solution for long periods of time especially due to rapid developments taking place in many storage related fields. But for now the FMD, which can provide us with a staggering 140 GB of storage space seems to be an enticing solution for the storage hungry masses.

REFERRENCES
Fluorescent multilayer technology by Dr. Ingolf Sandler. www.google.com www.c3D-consortium.com http://www.digit-life.com/articles/3ddisk/index.html http://e-words.us/w/FMD.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent http://www.c-3d.net www.ebook-search-engine.com/fluroscent-multilayer-disc www.seminartopic.org