Materials Challenges for Tb/in2 Magnetic Recording.

Magnetic recording technology aims to provide the capability of storing as much as 1012 bits/in2 (1.6 × 1011 bits/cm2) in the foreseeable future. This remarkable storage density projection is made possible by recent major improvements in the microstructural and intrinsic magnetic properties of the thin film materials utilized for both recording and reading nanoscale magnetic domains which form the basis for digitally encoding information. To meet the Tb/in2 goal, further reductions in the recording medium grain size, the grain size distribution as well as increments in the magnitude of the magnetic anisotropy will be required. Currently used longitudinal recording materials are unlikely to support such high density targets and a migration to perpendicular recording is expected. On account of the superparamagnetic limit and the need for stringent control on the domain size, it is also likely that a transition to patterned media will also be required. The read sensor sensitivity will also need to increment to provide large enough signals needed for low error rate. Therefore, breakthroughs in magnetic thin films for the disk and head components will be required to meet the technology goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]