Breakthrough in Magnetic Data Storage: Multilayer Thermally Assisted Recording Technology Unveiled

The technology of magnetic data storage in hard disks has undergone a stormy development in recent years. After Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR), Shingle Magnetic Recording (SMR) and Thermally Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR), it seems that multilayer media may bring the next technological shift.

A scientific team of experts from NIMS, Seagate Technology and Tohoku University successfully demonstrated multilayer thermally assisted magnetic recording. The concept of magnetic recording in multiple layers has existed for a long time, but its practical use was hindered by the absence of suitable media.

Granular medium

The researchers tackled this problem by creating a new type of granular media composed of two nanogranular FePt-C layers separated by a Ru-C spacer layer with a cubic crystal structure. This technology allows data to be stored in individual layers at different magnetic fields and temperatures.

Data can be stored on both layers independently by adjusting the laser power and magnetic fields during the writing process. Thanks to this, it is possible to practically the same area of ​​the disk plates store up to twice as much datawithout having to significantly change the material.

Double-layer granular media have, as their name suggests, two layers, each of which has a different Curie temperature. Such media can offer recording densities of up to 10 terabits per square inch, which would allow ten-platter hard drives to reach capacities of up to 120 TB.

So far only in the lab

Measurements and simulations of thermally assisted magnetic recording have shown that media can support three-layer recording and could potentially be capable of four-layer recording as well. This could theoretically mean an increase in the capacity of hard drives up to four times.

However, premature enthusiasm is somewhat clouded by the fact that at the moment these are only laboratory experiments, the implementation of which may take some time. The main obstacle will be the fact that the technology is currently too expensive, as in addition to more complex plates it also requires significantly different read and write headers.

The results of scientific research to date have been published in the professional journal Acta Materialia. This periodical focuses on the publication of original scientific papers in the field of materials engineering and covers a wide range of topics related to materials, including their properties, processing, and applications.