In recent years, the stability of recorded data against thermal decay has become an important criterion for judging the performance of magnetic recording systems. Continued growth of storage densities in the presence of thermally activated behaviour, often called the `superparamagnetic effect', requires new innovations in the recording system in general, and the recording media, in particular. This paper reviews some of the recent advances in recording media (e.g. oriented and antiferromagnetically coupled media) that have helped magnetic recording to maintain the areal density growth rate. However, more innovations and novel architectures are needed for the solutions of tomorrow. Among the more promising media approaches, which are discussed in this paper, are perpendicular, patterned and self-assembled nanoparticle media. Additionally, thermally assisted recording is also reviewed as it combines good writeability with high thermal stability.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiNx) overcoats are deposited on magnetic disks by rf-reactive sputtering to study their coverage and properties. According to the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, a-SiNx has a low coverage-limit of ∼10 Å compared with that of the reference a-CNx (∼20 Å). The lower coverage-limit of a-SiNx may be attributed to its high density of 3.2 g/cm3, which corresponds to 93% bulk density. By contrast, the density of diamond-like carbon is only 54% that of diamond. This is in agreement with the results of coverage simulation, which reveal that the film coverage thickness decreases by ∼3 Å per 10% increase in the relative density. Compared with 45 Å a-CNx coated disks, 15 Å a-SiNx coated disks have fewer pinhole defects and are more durable in the accelerated flyability test. The superior performance of a-SiNx disk overcoat may be attributed to its dense structure and high hardness (25 GPa).