It would be a dream day for all of us when the researchers will be able to pack terabytes of data in a thumb size hard drive. reportedly scientists at Arizona State University have developed a low-cost, low-power computer memory -- by manipulating charged copper particles at the molecular scale -- that could put terabyte-sized thumb drives in consumers' pockets within a few years. The new memory is 1000 times more energy efficient and one-tenth the cost of today's flash memory.

Dubbed as programmable metallization cell (PMC), the new memory technology stores information in totally different way. It stores bits as an electronic charge and creates nanowires from copper atoms the size of a virus to record binary ones and zeros. When the technology writes a binary 1, it creates a nanowire bridge between two electrodes. When no wire is present, that state is stored as a 0.

Hope I get to cover 1TB thumb drive soon.

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