2024 Faculty Courses School of Engineering Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Graduate major in Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Information Storage Engineering
- Academic unit or major
- Graduate major in Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Instructor(s)
- Shigeki Nakagawa / Yota Takamura
- Class Format
- Lecture (Face-to-face)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 5-6 Mon / 5-6 Thu
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- EEE.D441
- Number of credits
- 200
- Course offered
- 2024
- Offered quarter
- 4Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 14, 2025
- Language
- English
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
Various big data, being stored in the information storage, can be analysed and used to provide solutions for solving social issues and values through ICT (information and communication technology) and electronics technology which support human intellectual creativity. The age of IoT (Internet of Things) and digital society has come. As services grow from things to events, and value to digital society is becoming an important factor alongside economic value. Business and society is being dramatically changed and we need to reconsider what issues to address.
This course focuses on the information storage technologies supporting IoT and digital society. Topics include the read/write operation principle and the head and medium technologies in the magnetic disk and tape recording, the optical recording (eg, the magneto-optical, the phase-change, and the organic dye optical recording) technologies, semiconductor-based memories, the storage systems such as the disk array, and error correction code technology. By combining lectures and exercises, the course enables students to understand and acquire the fundamentals of information storage technologies and industries, the research and development systems in companies, and the literacy necessary for global human resources who can succeed in the world.
Course description and aims
By the end of this course, students will be able to understand:
1) The information storage technologies supporting IoT and digital society.
2) The read/write operation principle and the head and medium technologies in the magnetic disk and tape recording,
3) The optical recording (eg, the magneto-optical, the phase-change, and the organic dye optical recording) technologies,
4) Semiconductor-based non-volatile memories
5) Emerging nonvolatile memories applicable to storage class memory
6) The storage systems such as the disk array and error correction code technology
7) The fundamentals of information storage technologies and industries, the research and development systems in companies,
8) The literacy necessary for global human resources who can succeed in the world.
Keywords
information storage, magnetic recording, optical recording（magneto-optical, phase change, organic film, etc）, read/write, recording media, recording head, sensor technology, disk array, file memory system, storage class memory, error correction code, semiconductor memory, solid-state storage
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Students are given the lectures and "task" (Reading and understanding of the related paper, answering to the simple questions) at the end for overall understanding.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Overview of Information Storage System | Recognize the importance of information storage technology in society．Based on the recognition of hierarchy of information storage/recording devices, understand the position of each information storage technology in the hierarchy. |
| Class 2 | Magnetic Recording History & Overview | Understand the history of magnetic recording technology as a core technology of information storage, then understand the progress of technological evolution of magnetic recording. Understand the basic characteristics of magnetic films used in the magnetic recording technology. |
| Class 3 | Hard Disk Drive Media I | Understand the basis and technological transitions of high-density and low-noise magnetic recording technology focusing on recording media used in hard disk drives. |
| Class 4 | Hard Disk Drive Media II & Heads | Understand the recent technologies of magnetic recording media used in high-density hard disk drives. Understand the fundamental principles of signal recording/read-out principle and technology developments used in magnetic recording heads. |
| Class 5 | Hard Disk Drive System & Futures | Understand the system-up technology of huge and high-speed storage systems using hard disk drives and discuss the future prospects of magnetic recording technology. |
| Class 6 | An Overview of Solid State Drive Technology and the Basic of NAND Flash Memories | To understand the summary of SSD and operation principle of NAND flash memories |
| Class 7 | 3D NAND Flash Memories | To understand the structure and issues of 3D NAND flash memories. |
| Class 8 | Spintronics Applications for Information Storage - MRAM | Understand the fundamentals of spintronics using the polarization of electron spins, which is the origin of magnetism. Understand the fundamentals and technological development process of Magneto-resistive Random Access Memory (MRAM), which is attracting attention as a storage class memory application using spintronics. |
| Class 9 | Storage Class Memory | To understand the concept of storage class memory and its operation principle |
| Class 10 | Error Correction Code | To understand the basic of error correction code technology. |
| Class 11 | Optical Storage System - Optical Disk System - | Understanding of the principle and technology of information storage devices using optics. An overview of phase change, magneto-optics (MO) effect, signal writing/reading technology used in optical disk systems will be noted. Future prospect of hologram memory will be introduced. |
| Class 12 | Tape Recording System I | Discussion of the usefulness of magnetic tapes for ultra-high capacity information archives. We learn also about the development history and technical essence of magnetic tape. |
| Class 13 | Tape Recording System II | Learn about the technologies used in modern magnetic tape system for ultra-large-capacity information archives, and explore future technologies. |
| Class 14 | Future Information Storage Technologies | Issues of future information storage technologies, information archive systems and future prospects are discussed. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
None
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Will be shared via T2SCHOLA if necessary.
Evaluation methods and criteria
Students' knowledge of storage technologies and industry, and their ability to apply them to problems will be assessed by means of submitted reports, Q&A at the lectures. The allotment ratio will be 70% for Nakagawa’s classes and 30 % for Takamura’s classes.
Related courses
- EEE.D511 ： Magnetism and Spintronics
- EEE.D501 ： Dielectric Property and Organic Devices
Prerequisites
None
Students being endowed with great interest in learning and forwardness are welcome.