Seagate Technology Incorporated

Joseph Leigh

David S Kuo

Koichi R Wago

Li-Ping Wang

Neil Deeman

Nobuo Kurataka

Connie C Liu

Hong Ying Wang

Ian J Beresford

Lin Huang

Linda Lijun Zhong

Donald Everett Curtiss

David E Brown

Jianwei Liu

Shih-Fu Lee

Frank Quan

Ultra smooth as-deposited composite nickel coatings for use in an information storage system are provided. The composite nickel coatings include an electrolessly deposited nickel layer formed on a sputter deposited nickel layer. The composite nickel coatings have an as-deposited surface roughness of less than about 10 &#x212b;. Embodiments include formation of the composite nickel coating on a disk, followed by deposition of an underlayer and magnetic layer thereon to form a magnetic recording medium.

Using plated surface for recording media without polishing

An apparatus for performing contact printing of a magnetic transition pattern in a magnetic recording medium, comprising:

Contact printing of magnetic media with mechanically reinforced and/or gas venting stamper

A method of forming a magnetic transition pattern in a longitudinal magnetic recording medium, comprising steps of:

Contact printing of longitudinal magnetic media with perpendicularly applied magnetic field

Beginning with a smooth ground aluminum blank with a relatively thin layer of leveled Ni&#x2014;P, circumferential electropolishing/texturing is carried out to achieve a smooth oriented surface. A conductive slurry is provided between the disc and a porous texturing tape which is in contact with a conducting plate or equivalent conductor. The disc serves as the anode, and the conducting plate as the cathode, while the slurry, being conductive, functions as an electrolyte. In the presence of current, a reverse electroplating occurs so that the Ni&#x2014;P dissolves to form Ni, or nickel ions which are carried away by the conductive slurry. The conductive slurry further supports or carries therein abrasive material so that by moving the porous texturing tape past the disc surface, the texturing tape picks up the abrasive material in the slurry and simultaneously with the reverse electroplating, provides the desired mechanical abrasion to achieve texturing of the disc surface. The abrasive material comprises diamond particles. The circumferential electropolishing/texturing polish is achieved by spinning the disc while applying the mechanical-chemical action through the slurry system to the disc surface with electric current passing through the electrically conducting interface during processing.

Single-step electromechanical mechanical polishing on Ni-P plated discs

Defects of a hard disk drive servo pattern stamper are detected by comparing a scattered light beam pattern against the known servo pattern. A magnetic field is applied to stamper and the beam is linearly polarized. Variations in the physical offset of the beam, its scatter, are indicative of physical defects. Variations in the Kerr rotation of scattered beam are indicative of magnetic defects.

Detection of defects embedded in servo pattern on stamper by using scattered light

A method and apparatus for detecting a topographic feature on a media is described. More particularly, a light scatter detector is coupled to an atomic force microscope. The detector is used detect scattered optical energy reflected from the surface of the media to identify the topographic feature. The atomic force microscope may then be positioned in response to the topographic feature identified.

Optical equipment assemblies and techniques

A method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium comprises steps of providing a non-magnetic substrate having at least one surface; forming a layer of a sol-gel on the surface, partially drying the sol-gel layer at room temperature to remove a portion of the solvent therein to form a partially dried sol-gel layer of hardness less than that of the substrate; mechanically texturing the surface of the partially dried sol-gel layer; and depositing a layer stack including at least one magnetic layer thereover. Embodiments of the invention include embossing a servo pattern in the as-deposited sol-gel layer prior to partial drying and mechanically texturing, followed by sintering at an elevated temperature to form a substantially fully dried layer having a density and hardness similar to that of glass, and formation of a thin film magnetic media layer stack thereon.

Mechanical texturing of sol-gel&#x2014;coated substrates for magnetic recording media

Wettability improvement of spun-on resist and thermoplastic materials

Defect-free magnetic stampers/imprinters for contact patterning of magnetic media

In a disk replicating assembly, a blank disk is attached to one platen and a stamper is attached to the other platen. Pressure is applied so that the two platens are forced together, thereby transferring features from the stamper to the disk. A ball joint is located between a platen and the pressure train of the replicating assembly. Due to the ball joint at this location, the resulting pressure gradient when the stamper and disk are pressed together causes the one platen to swivel such that it orients itself substantially parallel to the other platen. Because the resistance of the ball joint is selected so that the one platen is able to pivot before the stamper significantly affects the disk, the fine features of the stamper are not transferred to the disk until the platens are in parallel alignment.

Self-leveling stamper module

Mechanical textured sol-gel-coated substrates for magnetic recording media

Photoresist recirculation and viscosity control for dip coating applications

Ultra smooth as-deposited composite nickel coatings for use in an information storage system are provided. The composite nickel coatings include an electrolessly deposited nickel layer formed on a sputter deposited nickel layer. The composite nickel coatings have an as-deposited surface roughness of less than about 10 &angst;. Embodiments include formation of the composite nickel coating on a disk, followed by deposition of an underlayer and magnetic layer thereon to form a magnetic recording medium.

A method and apparatus for scanning a media is described. More particularly, polarization detector and an atomic force microscope are coupled to a common platform indexed to a spindle. Optionally, an optical microscope may be coupled to the common platform. The polarization detector is used to detect a magnetic image, such as at least a portion of a servo pattern, of the media, and the atomic force microscope, which may be aligned using the magnetic image, is used with a magnetic microscopy module to scan the media. Accordingly, magnetic imagery may be achieved with indexing to a single spindle for positional consistency as between equipment. Moreover, the polarization detector may further be configured to detect scattered light for providing topographic imagery of the media.

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Campbell, CA, United States of America

Joseph Leigh