Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Japan, Ltd.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

Hgst Netherlands, B.v.

Yoshiyuki Hirayama

Masaaki Futamoto

Yukio Honda

Kazuetsu Yoshida

Nobuyuki Inaba

Ikuko Takekuma

Ichiro Tamai

Kenya Ito

Hiroaki Nemoto

Hiroyuki Nakagawa

Mikio Suzuki

Yuzuru Hosoe

Atsushi Kikugawa

Atsushi Nakamura

Kiwamu Tanahashi

Yotsuo Yahisa

Yoshibumi Matsuda

Teruaki Takeuchi

Reiko Arai

Takanobu Takayama

Hiroyuki Suzuki

Katsuro Watanabe

Yohji Maruyama

Masukazu Igarashi

Yoshio Takahashi

Tetsuya Kanbe

Takayuki Ichihara

Mineaki Kodama

Yoko Ogawa

Atsushi Kikukawa

Tomio Iwasaki

Harukazu Miyamoto

Hiroshi Fukuda

Yoshihiro Shiroishi

Junko Ushiyama

Kazumasa Takagi

Yoshinori Honda

Hiroyuki Kataoka

Kazusuke Yamanaka

Hidekazu Kashiwase

Junichi Sayama

Taku Iwase

According to one embodiment, a magnetic medium includes a substrate, and a magnetic recording layer positioned above the substrate, the magnetic recording layer including an ordered alloy having a L1-type structure, where the ordered alloy comprises a plurality of ferromagnetic crystal grains surrounded by non-magnetic grain boundaries, and where the ordered alloy comprises Fe, Ni and Pt.

[object Object]

A microwave assisted magnetic recording head includes a recording magnetic pole unit that produces a recording field for writing to a perpendicular magnetic recording medium, and a high-frequency magnetic field oscillator that produces a high-frequency magnetic field. The recording magnetic pole unit includes a magnetic core with a write gap portion at which a main recording field component is concentrated, and the high-frequency magnetic field oscillator is disposed in the write gap.

Magnetic head, magnetic recording method and apparatus for controlling magnetic head with spin torque oscillator in a disk drive

Provided is a magnetic recording medium achieving both of reduction in switching field distribution and reduction in switching field intensity by high-frequency magnetic field, thus enabling high-density recording. Magnetic grains of the magnetic recording medium are made up of a recording layer and a resonance layer. The resonance layer is disposed closer to a protective layerthan the recording layer, and a magnetic material of the recording layer has anisotropy field 1.2 times or more anisotropy field of a magnetic material of the resonance layer. The magnetic material of the recording layer has saturation magnetization substantially equal to saturation magnetization of the magnetic material of the resonance layer. At the entire resonance layer and a part of the recording layer, the magnetic grains are separated from surrounding magnetic grains by a nonmagnetic material, and at a part of the recording layer, the magnetic grains are coupled with surrounding magnetic grains.

Microwave assisted magnetic recording medium and information recording apparatus using the same

A bit-patterned media (BPM) magnetic recording disk has two sizes of dots of magnetic material. The large and small dots are formed together in a hexagonal-close-packed (HCP) pattern. In the data regions none of the larger sized dots are adjacent one another; however in the servo regions some of the larger sized dots are adjacent one another. The adjacent larger sized dots form blocks that provide large amplitude 'bursts' as the readback signal, as required for servo burst fields. The disk is made by imprint lithography using an imprint template, which can be made by directed self-assembly (DSA) of a block copolymer (BCP). The imprint template has two sizes of recesses, resulting in BPM disks with two sizes of dots. After the disks are imprinted they are exposed to a DC magnetic field, which magnetizes all the dots in the same direction.

Bit-patterned media magnetic recording disk with two sizes of dots and imprint template made with directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers

Embodiments of the present invention help allow accurate control of the magnetization reversal in a magnetic recording layer in small reversal units, whereby high-density recording can be achieved. According to one embodiment, by forming an intermediate layer having a granular structure similar to that of the magnetic recording layer below the magnetic recording layer, a continuous crystal grain boundary is formed at the interface between the magnetic recording layer and the intermediate layer, thereby preventing incomplete formation of the crystal grain boundary found in the initial growth layer of the magnetic recording layer. The intermediate layer comprises a non-magnetic alloy comprising Co and Cr as its main components and an oxide such as Al, Cr, Hf. Mg, Nb, Si, Ta, Ti and Zr. Further, the average content of the oxygen element in the intermediate layer is in the range from 6 at % to 20 at %.

Perpendicular magnetic recording medium and magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus using the same

According to embodiments of the present invention, a shielded pole writer and a perpendicular magnetic recording medium suitable thereto are combined to provide high medium SNR and excellent OW characteristic simultaneously. A perpendicular magnetic recording medium of a magnetic storage apparatus mounting a shielded pole writer, including a perpendicular magnetic recording medium having a recording layer of a three layered structure is used. A first recording layer has a granular structure consisting of grain boundaries containing an oxide and columnar grains comprising a CoCrPt alloy, in which a second recording layer and a third recording layer formed thereabove comprise Co as a main ingredient, contain Cr and do not contain an oxide, and the Cr concentration in the second recording layer is lower than the Cr concentration in the third recording layer.

Magnetic storage apparatus

Embodiments in accordance with the present invention help to obtain a perpendicular magnetic recording medium having a granular structure, excellent recording/reproducing properties, and excellent durability. According to one embodiment, a recording layer includes a layer which has crystal grains mainly composed of cobalt and crystal grain boundaries mainly composed of the oxide; the oxygen content of the recoding layer is changed in the film thickness direction; the oxygen content in the area in the vicinity of the interface between the recording layer and the intermediate layer is made lower than the oxygen content in the area in the vicinity of the center of the recording layer; and the oxygen content in the area in the vicinity of the interface between the recording layer and the protective layer is made lower than the oxygen content in the area in the vicinity of the center of the recording layer.

Perpendicular magnetic recording medium and magnetic storage apparatus using the same

Embodiments in accordance with the present invention provide a perpendicular recording medium with low noise and high recording density by reducing the effects from noise generated from the vicinity of the interface with the intermediate layer of the recording layer, in a perpendicular recording medium utilizing a granular recording layer containing oxygen or oxide additive in a cobalt-chromium alloy formed on an intermediate layer with a ruthenium or ruthenium alloy layer. A first recording layer and a second recording layer are formed in order on an intermediate layer of ruthenium or ruthenium alloy. The first recording layer and the second recording layer are comprised of cobalt as the main material in a granular structure containing chromium and oxygen. The saturation magnetization of the first recording layer is lower than the saturation magnetization of the second recording layer. When a first recording layer saturation magnetization is set as Ms(emu per cubic centimeter), a second recording layer saturation magnetization is set as Ms(emu per cubic centimeter), and the first recording layer film thickness is set to t(nm), then (Ms&#x2212;Ms)&#xd7;twill be larger than 0 (memu per square centimeter) and smaller than 0.15 (memu per square centimeter).

Embodiments of the embodiment are directed to reducing the inter-granular exchange coupling of an oxide granular medium and obtaining a high media S/N value, resulting in an areal recording density greater than 23 gigabits per square centimeter or more being achieved. In one embodiment, a magnetic recording medium comprises a structure laminating a soft-magnetic underlayer, a lower intermediate layer including Ru, an upper intermediate layer consisting of Ru crystal grains and oxide crystal grain boundaries, a magnetic recording layer consisting of crystal grains and oxide crystal grain boundaries, in order, on a substrate, growing crystal grains of the magnetic recording layer epitaxially on the Ru crystal grains of the upper intermediate layer, and growing the crystal grain boundaries of the magnetic recording layer on the crystal grain boundaries of the upper intermediate layer.

Perpendicular magnetic recording medium and manufacturing of the same

Embodiments of the invention provide a medium which provides high media S/N and good corrosion resistance. According to one embodiment, in a perpendicular magnetic recording medium at least comprising a soft-magnetic underlayer, a seed layer, an intermediate layer, a magnetic recording layer and an overcoat layer which are stacked over a substrate in order, the magnetic recording layer has a granular structure which consists of many columnar grains of CoCrPt alloy and a grain boundary layer containing an oxide, the seed layer is made of TaNi alloy or TaTi alloy and the intermediate layer is made of Ru or Ru alloy which contains about 80 at. % Ru or more.

Perpendicular magnetic recording medium for high density recording and manufacturing of the same

Disclosed are a perpendicular magnetic recording medium with lower medium noise, insusceptible to thermal fluctuation and high recording resolution and a method of manufacturing it. As the step of forming a metal layer at the time of forming a recording layer on a non-magnetic substrate via a plurality of underlayers and the step of forming an oxide layer with an average thickness of 0.2 nm or less are repeated, the crystal grains are magnetically isolated without disturbing the orientation of the crystal grain of the recording layer of the perpendicular magnetic recording medium or without degrading the magnetic characteristic of the crystal grain of the recording layer.

Perpendicular magnetic recording medium and method of manufacturing it

Embodiments of the invention provide a perpendicular magnetic recording medium that not only attains the magnetic isolation of crystal grains in a magnetic recording layer from one another in a region of the medium in which the thickness of an intermediate layer is equal to or smaller than about 20 nm but also exhibits excellent crystallographic texture and that exhibits small medium noise, excellent thermal stability, and high write-ability. In one embodiment, a perpendicular magnetic recording medium has at least a soft-magnetic underlayer, a first intermediate layer, a second intermediate layer, a third intermediate layer, and a magnetic recording layer successively formed on a substrate. The magnetic recording layer is composed of ferromagnetic crystal grains and oxides or nitrides, the third intermediate layer is composed of Ru or an Ru alloy, the second intermediate layer is composed of a metal or an alloy having the face-centered cubic lattice structure, and the first intermediate layer is composed of a metal or an alloy having the hexagonal close-packed structure.

Perpendicular magnetic recording media and magnetic storage apparatus using the same

Embodiments of the invention are directed to a medium which provides high media S/N and good corrosion resistance. According to one embodiment, in a perpendicular magnetic recording medium at least comprising a soft-magnetic underlayer, a seed layer, an intermediate layer, a magnetic recording layer and an overcoat layer which are stacked over a substrate in order, the magnetic recording layer has a granular structure which includes many columnar grains of CoCrPt alloy and a grain boundary layer containing an oxide, the seed layer is made of TaNi alloy or TaTi alloy and the intermediate layer is made of Ru or Ru alloy which contains 80 at. % Ru or more.

Perpendicular magnetic recording medium for high density magnetic recording and manufacturing of the same

A perpendicular magnetic recording medium includes an intermediate film formed of a plurality of layers between a soft magnetic film and a perpendicular magnetization film. The intermediate film includes at least two layers, i.e., an oxygen-containing layer, or a nonmetallic element-containing layer containing nitrogen, silicon or carbon, and a metallic layer formed on a surface side of the oxygen-containing layer or the nonmetallic element-containing layer. The metallic layer includes a plurality of isolated island-shaped structures. Crystal grains of the perpendicular magnetization film are formed so as to correspond to the isolated island-shaped structures. As a result, a high recording density is obtained.

Perpendicular magnetic recording media

A perpendicular magnetic recording medium which has been improved to be suitable for high-density magnetic recording and a magnetic recording apparatus using the medium are provided. The magnetic back film of a dual-layer perpendicular recording medium is caused to be constituted by a plurality of layers, and a keeper layerfor keeping perpendicular magnetization and layersandfor improving the recording efficiency of a recording head are functionally separated from one another. Further, the magnetization orientations of the soft magnetic films excluding the keeper layer are defined to be in the circumferential direction of the disk, whereby the frequency of occurrence of noise is decreased.

Perpendicular magnetic recording media, magnetic recording apparatus

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Kokubunji, Japan

Yoshiyuki Hirayama