Information storage method and information storage medium with increased storage density by multi-bit coding

1. A method for storage of information comprising the steps of:

providing a substrate of a first material;

coating the substrate with a layer of a second material different from the first material, wherein the coated substrate comprises a plurality of first predetermined positions in a first two-dimensional regular pattern and a plurality of second predetermined positions in a second two-dimensional regular pattern; and

creating a plurality of recesses in the layer of the second material by using a laser and/or a focused particle beam in order to encode information in the layer of the second material;

wherein the plurality of recesses occupy a first subset of the first predetermined positions and/or a second subset of the second predetermined positions,

wherein the first predetermined positions have a center-to-center distance between directly adjacent positions corresponding to at least 75% and to at most 150% of a maximum cross-sectional dimension of the recesses,

wherein the second predetermined positions have a center-to-center distance between directly adjacent positions corresponding to at least 75% and to at most 150% of the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the recesses, and

wherein a center-to-center distance between any pair of one of the first predetermined positions and a directly adjacent second predetermined position is smaller than 75% of the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the recesses.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein for each pair of directly adjacent first and second predetermined positions only one of the first and second predetermined positions is occupied by a recess.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first two-dimensional regular pattern of the first predetermined positions defines a first pattern of voids if each of the first predetermined positions is occupied by one of the recesses, and wherein each of the second predetermined positions, if occupied by a recess, completely covers a void.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein each center of each of the second predetermined positions corresponds to a center of one of the voids.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the center-to-center distances between the directly adjacent positions in the regular patterns of the first and second predetermined positions corresponds to at least 95% of the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the recesses.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the center-to-center distances between the directly adjacent positions in the regular patterns of the first and second predetermined positions corresponds to at most 130% of the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the recesses.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the center-to-center distance between any pair of one of the first predetermined positions and the directly adjacent second predetermined position is smaller than 60% of the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the recesses.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first material is a ceramic.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second material comprises one or a combination of Cr, Co, Ni, Fe, Al, Ti, Si, W, Zr, Ta, Th, Nb, Mn, Mg, Hf, Mo, or V.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second material comprises one or a combination of a metal nitride; a metal carbide; a metal oxide; a metal boride; or a metal silicide.

11. An information storage medium, comprising:

a substrate of a first material coated with a layer of a second material different from the first material, wherein the coated substrate comprises a plurality of first predetermined positions in a first two-dimensional regular pattern and a plurality of second predetermined positions in a second two-dimensional regular pattern; and

a sintered interface between the substrate and the layer of the second material;

wherein the sintered interface comprises at least one element from both the first material and the second material,

wherein the layer of the second material comprises a plurality of recesses encoding information,

wherein the plurality of recesses occupy a first subset of the first predetermined positions and/or a second subset of the second predetermined positions,

wherein the first predetermined positions have a center-to-center distance between directly adjacent positions corresponding to at least 75% and to at most 150% of a maximum cross-sectional dimension of the recesses,

wherein the second predetermined positions have a center-to-center distance between directly adjacent positions corresponding to at least 75% and to at most 150% of the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the recesses, and

wherein a center-to-center distance between any pair of one of the first predetermined positions and a directly adjacent second predetermined position is smaller than 75% of the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the recesses.

12. The information storage medium of claim 11 , wherein for each pair of directly adjacent first and second predetermined positions only one of the first or second predetermined positions is occupied by a recess.

13. The information storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the center-to-center distances between the directly adjacent positions in the regular patterns of the first and second predetermined positions corresponds to at least 85% of the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the recesses.

14. The information storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the center-to-center distances between the directly adjacent positions in the regular patterns of the first and second predetermined positions corresponds to at most 140% of the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the recesses.

15. The information storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the center-to-center distance between any pair of one of the first predetermined positions and the directly adjacent second predetermined position is smaller than 70% of the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the recesses.

16. The information storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the first material is a ceramic.

17. The information storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the second material comprises one or a combination of Cr, Co, Ni, Fe, Al, Ti, Si, W, Zr, Ta, Th, Nb, Mn, Mg, Hf, Mo, or V.

18. The information storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the second material comprises one or a combination of a metal nitride; a metal carbide; a metal oxide; a metal boride; or a metal silicide.

19. The information storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the layer of the second material has a thickness no greater than 1 μm.

20. The information storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the coated substrate comprises the plurality of the first predetermined positions and the plurality of the second predetermined positions, and wherein the plurality of recesses occupy the first subset of the first predetermined positions and the second subset of the second predetermined positions.