Seagate Technology Incorporated

International Business Machines Corporation

Hgst Netherlands, B.v.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

Other

Western Digital Technologies, Inc.

Hitachi Global Technologies Netherlands B.v.

Dieter Klaus Weller

Olav Hellwig

David S Kuo

Edward Charles Gage

Kim Yang Lee

Oleksandr Mosendz

Ernesto Esteban Marinero

Timothy John Klemmer

Bin Lu

Yukiko A Kubota

Nisha Shukla

William Albert Challener

Ganping Ju

Bruce David Terris

Koichi R Wago

Eric Edward Fullerton

Chao Liu

Jan-Ulrich Thiele

Neil Deeman

Nobuo Kurataka

Hans Juergen Richter

Christopher Formato

Shih-Fu Lee

Xiaowei Wu

Duane Clifford Karns

Bruce Alvin Gurney

Brian Rodrick York

Michael Grobis

Christopher Bruce Murray

Joachim Walter Ahner

Manfred Ernst Schabes

Xiaomin Yang

Erol Girt

Bing K Yen

Andreas Moser

Hong Ying Wang

Shouheng Sun

Andrew John Kellock

Liesl Folks

Rene Johannes Marinus Van De Veerdonk

Earl Chrzaszcz Johns

Gabriel Zeltzer

Christophe Daniel Mihalcea

Simone Pisana

John Edward Eric Baglin

Dorothea Buechel

René J M Van De Veerdonk

Andrew Thomas McCallum

Jeffrey Scott Lille

Barry C Stipe

Mark Anthony Gubbins

Samuel Dacke Harkness, Iv

Qing Dai

Charles Thomas Rettner

Yingguo Peng

Mahesh Govind Samant

Sakhrat Khizroev

Kevin Robert Coffey

Mark Whitney Hart

Sharat Batra

Kurt W Wierman

Gary Miles McClelland

Gennady G Gauzner

Dmitri Litvinov

Yoshihiro Ikeda

Kentaro Takano

Dan Saylor Kercher

Thomas Francis Ambrose

Julius Kurt Hohlfeld

Abebe Hailu

Bogdan Florin Valcu

Hans Jurgen Richter

Tiffany Santos

Bin Liu

Vijay P S Rawat

Alexander Yulievich Dobin

Alan Biggar Johnston

Franck Rose

Isabel Goncalves Trindade

Hitesh Arora

James William Reiner

James Kent Howard

Jun Yu

Mei-Ling Wu

Yoshiaki Sonobe

Shikha Jain

Roy William Chantrell

Chu S Tran

Frank Zhu

Erik Bjorn Svedberg

Jean-Marc L Beaujour

Rene J M Van De Veerdonk

Hong Zhou

Jodi Mari Iwata

Koichi Wage

Stanko Radvan Brankovic

Methods are disclosed for increasing areal density in Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) data storage systems by controlling the media layer grain size, grain size distribution, and pitch via templating techniques that are compatible with the high temperature HAMR media deposition. Embodiments include using current HAMR media seed layers as well as additionally introduced interlayers for the templating process. Topographic as well as chemical templating methods are disclosed that may employ nanoimprint technology or nanoparticle self-assembly among other patterning techniques.

Structures and methods for templated growth of high areal density heat assisted magnetic recording media

According to one embodiment, a magnetic recording medium includes: a substrate, a seed layer positioned above the substrate, and a magnetic recording layer structure positioned above the seed layer. The magnetic recording layer structure includes: a first magnetic recording layer having a plurality of FePtCu magnetic grains and a first segregant, and a second magnetic recording layer positioned above the first magnetic recording layer, the second magnetic recording layer having a plurality of FePt magnetic grains and a second segregant, where a Curie temperature of the first magnetic recording layer is lower than a Curie temperature of the second magnetic recording layer.

Heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) media having a highly ordered crystalline structure

According to one embodiment, a magnetic medium includes a plasmonic underlayer having an Au alloy, where the Au alloy includes one or more alloying components that are substantially immiscible in Au; and a magnetic recording layer above the plasmonic underlayer. According to another embodiment, a magnetic medium, includes a multilayered plasmonic underlayer; and a magnetic recording layer above the multilayered plasmonic underlayer.

Thermally stable Au alloys as a heat diffusion and plasmonic underlayer for heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) media

A method for etching a media is disclosed. A first magnetic layer comprising grains is deposited with a segregant such that a portion of the first segregant covers a top surface of the grains of the first magnetic layer and a second portion of the first segregant separates the grains of the first magnetic layer. The first segregant is etched to remove the portion of the first segregant that covers the top surface of the grains.

Media etch process

In one embodiment, a magnetic media suitable for HAMR recording includes a recording layer having first and second magnetic layers. The first magnetic layer has a first segregant between magnetic grains thereof, the first segregant being primarily C. Moreover, the second magnetic layer is formed above the first magnetic layer. The second magnetic layer has a second segregant between magnetic grains thereof, the second segregant being primarily C and a second component. Additional systems and methods are also described herein.

Dual segregant heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) media

A perpendicular magnetic recording layer of a magnetic recording medium includes a plurality of bit-patterned magnetic islands, wherein each of the plurality of islands overlay a soft magnetic under-layer. Each of the magnetic islands includes a first magnetic sub-layer adjacent a second magnetic sub-layer, wherein the first sub-layer has a relatively high magnetic anisotropy that is greater than a magnetic anisotropy of the second sub-layer. The magnetic recording layer further includes a third sub-layer, which extends to connect each of the plurality of islands. The third sub-layer may have a magnetic anisotropy that is less than that of the second sub-layer of each of the magnetic islands and/or may serve as an interlayer, extending between the first sub-layer and the soft magnetic under-layer of the recording medium, and having a structure to help to produce the greater anisotropy first magnetic sub-layer.

Magnetic layering for bit-patterned stack

An 'all optical switching' (AOS) magnetic recording system, i.e., one that does not require a magnetic field to reverse the magnetization in the magnetic recording media, uses a FeMnPt L1alloy as the magnetic media. A FeMnPt alloy, with appropriate amounts of Mn, will have high magneto-crystalline anisotropy, but also ferrimagnetic spin alignment for triggering AOS. The combination of high magneto-crystalline anisotropy and ferrimagnetic spin configuration enables the FeMnPt media to function as magnetic media whose magnetization can be switched solely by polarized laser pulses. The FeMnPt media for may be a single layer with or without any segregants. Alternatively, the FeMnPt media may be a multilayered recording layer comprising alternating layers of FePt and MnPt L1ordered alloys. The segregant-free embodiments of the FeMnPt material may be patterned to form bit-patterned-media (BPM).

All-optical magnetic recording system using FeMnPt media

A bit-patterned media (BPM) magnetic recording disk has a cobalt (Co) alloy recording layer (RL), a ruthenium (Ru) containing underlayer (UL), and a noble metal film (NMF) as an interlayer between the RL and the UL. The RL is preferably oxide-free and is a Co alloy, like a CoPtCr alloy, with a hexagonal-close-packed (hcp) crystalline structure with its c-axis oriented substantially perpendicular to the plane of the RL. The NMF is an element from the Pt group (Pt, Pd, Rh, Ir) and Au, or an alloy of two or more of these elements, and has a thickness less than 3.0 nm, preferably between 0.3 and 1.0 nm. The NMF does not interrupt the epitaxial growth of the RL and has little to no effect on the distribution of the RL c-axis orientation. The NMF increases the coercivity (Hc) and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy constant (K) of the RL.

Patterned perpendicular magnetic recording medium with ultrathin noble metal interlayer

A method for making a bit-patterned-media magnetic recording disk with discrete magnetic islands includes annealing the data islands after they have been formed by an etching process. A hard mask, such as a layer of silicon nitride or carbon, may be first formed on the recording layer and a patterned resist formed on the hard mask. The resist pattern is then transferred into the hard mask, which is used as the etch mask to etch the recording layer and form the discrete data islands. After the data islands are formed by the etching process, the patterned recording layer is annealed. The annealing may be done in a vacuum, or in an inert gas, like helium or argon, or in a forming gas such as a reducing atmosphere of argon plus hydrogen. The annealing improves the coercivity, the effective saturation magnetization and the thermal stability of the patterned media.

Method for improving a patterned perpendicular magnetic recording disk with annealing

A perpendicular magnetic recording disk has a graded-anisotropy recording layer (RL) formed of at least two ferromagnetically exchange coupled CoPtCr-oxide magnetic layers (MAG1 and MAG2) with two nucleation films (NF1 and NF2) between the magnetic layers. NF1 is a metal film, preferably Ru or a Ru-based alloy like RuCr, sputter deposited on MAG1 at low pressure to a thickness between about 0.1-1.5 nm. NF2 is a metal oxide film, preferably an oxide of Ta, sputter deposited on NF1 at high pressure to a thickness between about 0.2-1.0 nm. MAG2 is sputter deposited over NF2. NF1 and NF2 provide a significant reduction in average grain size in the RL from a graded-anisotropy RL without nucleation films between MAG1 and MAG2, while also assuring that MAG1 and MAG2 are strongly exchange coupled.

Perpendicular magnetic recording disk with multiple magnetic layers and intermediate dual nucleation films for control of grain size

A method of fabricating a patterned perpendicular magnetic recording medium comprises steps of: (a) providing a layer stack including a magnetically soft underlayer ('SUL') and an overlying non-magnetic interlayer; (b) forming a masking layer on the non-magnetic interlayer; (c) forming a resist layer on the masking layer; (d) forming a pattern of recesses extending through the resist layer and exposing spaced apart surface portions of the masking layer; (e) extending the pattern of recesses through the masking layer to expose spaced apart surface portions of the interlayer; and (f) at least partially filling the pattern of recesses with a magnetically hard material to form a perpendicular magnetic recording layer.

Method for fabricating patterned magnetic recording device

A method of imprint lithography includes imprinting a first pattern with a first template on a first substrate of a lithographic template. A second pattern is imprinted with a second template on the substrate of the lithographic template. The first pattern and the second pattern at least partially overlap, thus forming a third pattern. The third pattern is lithographically formed on a second substrate with the lithographic template. In an embodiment, the first pattern is a concentric line pattern formed by thin film deposition. In an embodiment, the second pattern is a radial line pattern. In an embodiment the first pattern and the second pattern may have line frequency increased.

Method for imprint lithography

A bit patterned magnetic recording medium comprises a substrate having a surface, and a plurality of spaced apart magnetic elements on the surface, each element constituting a discrete magnetic domain or bit of the same structure and comprised of a stack of thin film layers including in order from the substrate surface: a seed layer; and a perpendicular magnetic recording layer in contact with a surface of the seed layer and comprising a CoPtCralloy material, where 0.05&#x2266;x&#x2266;0.35 and 0&#x2266;y&#x2266;0.15. The CoPtCralloy material has a first order magnetic anisotropy constant Kup to about 2&#xd7;10erg/cm, a saturation magnetization Mup to about 1200 emu/cm, an anisotropy field H=2K/Mup to about 35 kOe, a hexagonal () crystal structure with c-axis perpendicular to a surface thereof, and an X-Ray diffraction (XRD) rocking curve with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of &#x2dc;5&#xb0; or less.

CoPtCr-based bit patterned magnetic media

A patterned perpendicular magnetic recording disk with discrete data islands of recording layer (RL) material includes a substrate, a patterned exchange bridge layer of magnetic material between the substrate and the islands, and an optional exchange-coupling control layer (CCL) between the exchange bridge layer and the islands. The exchange bridge layer has patterned pedestals below the islands. The exchange bridge layer controls exchange interactions between the RLs in adjacent islands to compensate the dipolar fields between islands, and the pedestals concentrate the flux from the write head. The disk may include a soft underlayer (SUL) of soft magnetically permeable material on the substrate and a nonmagnetic exchange break layer (EBL) on the SUL between the SUL and the exchange bridge layer. In a thermally-assisted recording (TAR) disk a heat sink layer may be located below the exchange bridge layer and the SUL may be optional.

Patterned perpendicular magnetic recording disk drive and medium with patterned exchange bridge layer below the data islands

A silicon/gold (Si/Au) bilayer seed structure is located in a film stack between an amorphous or crystalline lower layer and an upper layer with a well-defined crystalline structure. The seed structure includes a Si layer on the generally flat surface of the lower layer and a Au layer on the Si layer. The Si/Au interface initiates the growth of the Au layer with a face-centered-cubic (fcc) crystalline structure with the (111) plane oriented in-plane. The upper layer grown on the Au layer has a fcc or hexagonal-close-packed (hcp) crystalline structure. If the upper layer is a fcc material its [111] direction is oriented substantially perpendicular to the (111) plane of the Au layer and if the upper layer is a hcp material, its c-axis is oriented substantially perpendicular to the (111) plane of the Au layer.

Silicon/gold seed structure for crystalline alignment in a film stack

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Dieter Klaus Weller