Researchers drill into HAMR hard disks
Japanese researchers have developed a technology that provides for three-dimensional recording. This could massively increase capacities once again.
(Image: Aleksandr Grechanyuk / Shutterstock.com)
A group of researchers has found a way to fundamentally expand the recently introduced hard disk technology Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) once again: they are adding further levels to the previously two-dimensional magnetic recording to massively increase the storage capacity.
(Image:Â Acta Materialia)
HAMR is regarded as the technology for hard disks with capacities of up to 50 TByte; this is followed by the next stage with Bit Pattern Magnetic Recording (BPMR), which should enable up to 100 TByte in a single 3.5-inch hard disk. However, it is likely to be many years before BPMR is ready for the market. Manufacturers are also trying to exploit a technology that works as far as possible, as is the case with HAMR.
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FePt coating with Ru separator
To do this, they initially use two layers of the FePt (iron-platinum) magnetic material commonly used in HAMR, which are separated by a layer of ruthenium –, a silver-white, hard and brittle platinum metal –. The researchers' measurements showed that these two layers have different Curie temperatures and can therefore be controlled separately. As a reminder: in energy-assisted writing using HAMR, the magnetic material is heated to work with a relatively low magnetic field strength. These bits are then magnetically stable at room temperature.
However, in commercial HAMR hard disks, such as those Seagate has been supplying for a few months now, the laser is only used to control a near field transducer (NFT), whose plasma output then heats the magnetic particles. The researchers assume that the different layers can be controlled by adjusting the laser power.
Researchers from the Japanese National Institute for Material Science (NIMS), the University of Tohoku and employees of Seagate, the inventor of HAMR technology, were involved in the investigations. Seagate is already using HAMR disks with recording densities of up to 5 Tbit per square inch in the laboratory; current hard disks are around 3 Tbit per square inch. Once the technology is ready for the market, hard disks in the range of 150 to 200 TByte would be possible.
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