Kalman Pelhos

Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording

Due to the limits of conventional perpendicular magnetic recording, it appears that alternative technologies are needed at areal densities >500 Gb/in2. Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) is a promising approach to extend areal densities to 1 Tb/in2 and beyond. All of the unique components necessary for a working HAMR system have been demonstrated. Although HAMR permits writing on high Hc media with lower magnetic fields and can produce higher write gradients than conventional magnetic recording, head/media spacing and the development of high Hc media with small grains remains challenging

Integrated Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording Head: Design and Recording Demonstration

Scaling the areal density, while maintaining a proper balance between media signal-to-noise ratio, thermal stability, and writability, will soon require an alternative recording technology. Heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) can achieve this balance by allowing high anisotropy media to be written by heating the media during the writing process (e.g., by laser light) to temporarily lower the anisotropy. Three major challenges of designing a HAMR head that tightly focuses light and collocates it with the magnetic field are discussed: 1) magnetic field delivery; 2) optical delivery; and 3) magnetic and optical field delivery integration. Thousands of these HAMR heads were built into sliders and head-gimbal assemblies, and optical and scanning electron micrograph images are shown. Scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) characterization of the HAMR head shows that the predicted ~ lambda/4 full-width half-maximum (FWHM) spot size can be achieved using 488 nm light (124 nm was achieved). SNOM images also show that wafer level fabricated apertures were able to effectively eliminate sidelobes from the focused spot intensity profile. A magnetic force microscopy image of HAMR media shows that non-HAMR (laser power off) was not able to write transitions in the HAMR specific media even at very high write currents, but transitions could be written using HAMR (laser power on), even at lower write currents. A cross-track profile is shown for a fully integrated HAMR head where the magnetic pole physical width is ~350 nm, but the written track is ~200 nm, which demonstrates HAMR. A HAMR optimization contour shows that there is an optimum write current and laser power and that simply going to the highest write current and laser power does not lead to the best recording. Lastly, some prospects for advancing HAMR are given and a few key problems to be solved are mentioned.

Light Delivery Techniques for Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording.

Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), also known as hybrid recording, has been proposed to enable storage densities greater than 1 Tb/in2 in hard disc drives while circumventing the superparamagnetic limit. Light is delivered in the near field to the recording medium to heat just the spot which is to be recorded. Techniques based on apertures, antennas, waveguides, and solid immersion lenses have been suggested for delivering substantial amounts of optical power into subwavelength spots in the near field. A practical transducer for HAMR may require a combination of techniques.

Miniature planar solid immersion mirror with focused spot less than a quarter wavelength.

We describe a microoptical planar waveguide solid immersion mirror with high optical throughput, and show that it can focus light to spot sizes of ~90 nm at a wavelength of 413 nm. Scanning near field optical microscope images of the light within the device are in good agreement with a simple theoretical model. This device is accurately mass-produced with lithographic and thin film deposition techniques known from modern integrated circuit processing.

Near Field Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording with a Planar Solid Immersion Lens

In this paper we present experimental heat assisted magnetic recording results using a planar solid immersion mirror (PSIM) fabricated on an Al2O3–TiC slider. The heads were flown at a velocity of 14 m/s, 20–25 nm above a Co/Pt multilayer medium which was deposited on a 60 mm glass disk. It was found that the track width and carrier-to-noise-ratio (CNR) increased with the applied magnetic field. Recording experiments were also performed with PSIMs terminated with 125 µm apertures. This led to narrower tracks and smaller CNR values for the same applied fields compared to recording with a PSIM only.

Current-in-Plane GMR Trilayer Head Design for Hard-Disk Drives: Characterization and Extendibility

The current-in-plane giant magnetoresistive (GMR) trilayer readback sensor (CIP-3L), where only one permanent magnet at the back edge of the GMR stack is used to stabilize and bias a dual free layer system, is reviewed. Micromagnetic modeling is employed to show that the design has improved efficiency over abutted junction (ABJ) tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) head designs. An experimental evaluation of how permanent magnet thickness (PM Th), interlayer exchange coupling (J), and stripe height impact the signal-to-noise ratio, symmetry, and stability of prototype CIP-3L heads is conducted. The study indicates that PM Th >400 nm, J<-0.8 erg/cm2, and a read width to SH aspect ratio of 1:1 to 0.75:1, gives optimal transfer curve performance. A head gimbal assembly spinstand comparison on perpendicular recording media with best-in-class TMR readers shows that although the amplitude of the CIP-3L heads is lower (believed to be process related), the symmetry, stability, and most important, bit-error rate normalized to electrical write width and read width, are comparable. In addition, the CIP-3L design shows better linearity and low-frequency noise performance than TMR heads. The areal density performance of the best CIP-3L heads shows 195 Gb/in2 recording capability and linear densities of 1100 kbpi

Focusing characteristics of a planar solid-immersion mirror

The focusing characteristics of a planar waveguide solid-immersion mirror with parabolic design have been investigated. The solid-immersion mirror is integrated into an optical waveguide, and light focusing is achieved with a parabolic mirror parallel to the waveguide plane and waveguide mode confinement normal to the waveguide plane. Optical-quality tantala silica planar waveguides can be obtained by evaporation. The parabolic sidewall reflects over 50% of the incident waveguide mode and generates a diffraction-limited focus. The measured spot size for the solid-immersion mirror described here is less than one third of the wavelength. Polarization analysis shows that the electric field near the focal region has components parallel and normal to the polarization state of the incident beam. The planar solid-immersion mirror is essentially free of chromatic aberration, and the alignment of the illumination beam is within a fraction of degrees.

Heat assisted magnetic recording with a fully integrated recording head

Scaling the areal density, while maintaining a proper balance between media signal-to-noise, thermal stability and writability will soon require an alternative recording technology. Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) can achieve this balance by allowing high anisotropy media to be written by heating the media during the writing process (e.g. by laser light) to temporarily lower the anisotropy. Three major challenges of designing a HAMR head that tightly focuses light and collocates it with the magnetic field are discussed: 1) Magnetic Field Delivery, 2)Optical Delivery, and 3) Integration of Magnetic & Optical Field Delivery Components. Thousands of these HAMR heads were built into sliders and HGAs, and optical and scanning electron micrograph images are shown. Scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) characterization of the HAMR head shows that the predicted ~λ/4 full-width half-maximum (FWHM) spot size can be achieved using 488 nm light (124 nm was achieved). SNOM images also show that wafer level fabricated apertures were able to effectively eliminate sidelobes from the focused spot intensity profile. An MFM image of HAMR media shows that Non-HAMR (laser power off) was not able to write transitions in the HAMR specific media even at very high write currents, but transitions could be written using HAMR (laser power on), even at lower write currents. A cross-track profile is shown for a fully integrated HAMR head where the magnetic pole physical width is ~350 nm, but the written track is ~200nm, which demonstrates HAMR. A HAMR optimization contour shows that there is an optimum write current and laser power and that simply going to the highest write current and laser power does not lead to the best recording. Lastly, some prospects for advancing HAMR are given and a few key problems to be solved are mentioned.

Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording on High Anisotropy Nanocomposite Media

The tremendous increase in magnetic areal density has been largely responsible for the proliferation of hard disk drive recording into new applications and markets. The superparamagnetic limit imposes a signal-to-noise ratio, thermal stability, and writability tradeoff that limits the ability to continue to scale traditional magnetic recording technology to higher storage densities. Heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) offers a new degree of freedom with elevated writing temperature that holds the promise of extending the areal density of magnetic data storage. By temporarily heating the media during the recording process, the media coercivity can be lowered below the available applied magnetic write field, allowing higher media anisotropy and therefore smaller thermally stable grains. The heated region is then rapidly cooled in the presence of the applied head field where transition is recorded. With a tightly focused laser beam heating the media, the write process is similar to magneto- optical recording, but in a HAMR system the readout is performed with a magneto-resistive element.