Effect of track asymmetry and curvature on shingle writing scheme

Abstract

Written transition curvature in perpendicular magnetic recording is generally understood to result in increased transition jitter noise and degraded signal to noise ratio or byte error rate (BER) performance. For the shingle writing scheme, asymmetry or curvature in written tracks is considered inherent due to the erasure and track edge writing characteristics. It is proposed that such a track asymmetry is more prominent at high track density/smaller track pitch recording conditions. In this report we present spin stand experimental results to study the effect of the possible track asymmetry or curvature by shingle writing and reading back in different skews. By comparing shingle writing BER bathtub profiles in different writing skew conditions 0°, +/−2°, +/−4°, +/−6°, the effect of varying shingle track asymmetry and curvature is analyzed via subsequent skewed reading process. The shingle writing BER bathtub profiles as well as the read back amplitude cross track profile are generally symmetric upon one sided erasure at different track pitches. We found that the 0° skew writing and reading process provides both the maximum BER and amplitude.