Perpendicular Recording Technology: From Research to Commercialization

Perpendicular magnetic recording was a long-awaited technology to break the areal density limit of the longitudinal recording system. Through the research on high squareness CoPtCrO/Ru recording media, we have established the intrinsic design concept of stable perpendicular magnetic recording in which the high nucleation field of perpendicular magnetic media supports the very stable magnetization against disturbance fields in recording processes. By intensive study of the perpendicular magnetic recording integration into the 2.5-in 50-80 GB/platter test hard disk drives (HDDs), we have successfully developed the first 1.8-in 40 GB/platter HDD product featuring the perpendicular magnetic recording technology at 133 Gbit/in2 recording density. Thermal stability and spacing robustness in the writing process of the perpendicular recording system were also found to be great advantages of the future portable HDD systems.