Demonstration And Characterization Of 130 Gb/In(2) Magnetic Recording Systems

We have successfully demonstrated longitudinal recording at areal density of 130 Gb/in(2) at a data rate as high as 170 Mbps (21 MB/s) and at a bit-aspect-ratio (BAR) of 2.9, using merged inductive-write/spin-valve-read heads on low noise thin film disks. The heads were fabricated with the standard photolithography and wafer pole trimming used in our currently available commercial products. The reader is a bottom synthetic spin valve (BSSV) with a 0.09 mum gap, and the writer has a conventionally trimmed pole with 0.09 mum gap. The reader magnetic read width (MRW) was measured at 0.10 mum. At read bias of similar to4 mA we measured reader sensitivity as high as 20 mV/mum. The write head was also optimized for tracks as narrow as 0.14 mum operating at overwrite (OW) of 36 dB and nonlinear transition shift (NLTS) better than -25 dB at 610 kBPI, without precomp. Using conventional media we measured total spectral SNRsimilar to18 dB. The media to electronics noise ratio was 4.8, showing that we are still operating in a media noise limited system. Low-flying air bearing surface (ABS) design and advanced pole tip recession (PTR) control were required to achieve magnetic spacing of about 15 nm. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.