Perpendicular magnetic recording: Writing process

In this article, a detailed overview of the methodology to design a write transducer for recording onto perpendicular media at areal densities beyond 1 Tbit/in.2 is presented. The two basic modes of perpendicular recording, single-layer recording media in combination with a ring type head and double-layer recording media with a soft underlayer in combination with a single pole head, are compared with each other theoretically and experimentally. Moreover, perpendicular recording is compared to longitudinal recording from the perspective of the writing process. The system efficiency is redefined for perpendicular recording to take into account the critical role of the soft underlayer. The effects of using soft magnetic shields around the trailing pole are analyzed. It is shown that at least a factor of 2 increase in the field can be obtained at areal densities beyond 500 Gbit/in.(2) if shields are used. Such an open issue as the skew angle sensitivity in perpendicular recording is analyzed. It is shown that using soft magnetic shields around the trailing pole substantially improves the skew angle sensitivity. Moreover, using shields substantially improves the system efficiency and to some degree fulfills the role of the soft underlayer in perpendicular recording. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.