Reducing media noise of perpendicular magnetic recording tape for over-50 TB class data cartridge

Abstract

To reduce medium noise inherent in a perpendicular magnetic recording tape, which is deposited by facing targets sputtering, we have examined an epitaxial double-layered structure consisting of a soft magnetic underlayer (SUL), bcc-FeCoB/fcc-NiFe/Si/bcc-FeCoB, on a 4.5 μm para-aromatic polyamide (aramid) film. An epitaxial soft magnetic bilayer reduces broadband noise by 5.6 dB at 337 kilo fluxchanges per inch (kfci) compared to a single SUL medium (Tape S). This is due to the reduction in the low-frequency noise, which originates from the domain walls of the SUL. Improvement of the crystal orientation of the magnetic layer hcp-CoPtCr–SiO2 and the intermediate layer hcp-Ru by inserting a fcc-NiFe spacer in laminated SULs extends the roll-off curve toward high linear density. When each SUL layer of the bilayer was made thinner, from 25 nm (Tape D2) to 10 nm (Tape D1), the medium noise decreased, improving the signal-to-noise ratio by 8.6 dB at 337 kfci compared to Tape S. In a high resolution playback test of Tape D1, an areal density of 45.0 gigabits per square inch (Gb/in.2) was confirmed. Achieved areal density means the capability of an over-50 terabyte (TB) capacity for a typical linear-formatted data cartridge.