New technologies make ultra compact DVD storage possible

Scientists at UC Berkeley and the University of Massachusetts Amherst are working on a developing technology that can dramatically change the way that electronic media is stored. The science behind it will involve the ability to let microscopic nanoscale elements precisely amass themselves over a large surface. When all is said and done, the researchers on the project claim that the contents of 250 DVDs would be able to fit into a space about the same size as a quarter.

Researchers have attempted to perform this feat before with little success by using the method where molecules in the thin film of block copolymers arrange themselves into a rigid and central pattern when spread out on a surface. They have run into a problem when the area increased and the pattern would not maintain itself.