Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

State-of-the-Art Magnetic Hard Disk Drives

  • Technical Feature
  • Published:
MRS Bulletin Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Magnetic recording has progressed dramatically over the last 50 years, with an increase of almost eight orders of magnitude in the amount of information stored per unit area of disk space.Two key enablers of this progress have been the recording medium and the read-back head.This article reviews the current state of the art in multilayer thin-film longitudinal recording media and giant magnetoresistive (GMR) read heads, with particular emphasis on the nanostructured magnetic materials that are key to today’s high-performance hard disk drives.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. S.H. Charap, P.L. Lu, and Y. He, IEEE Trans. Magn. 33 (1997) p. 978.

    Google Scholar 

  2. D. Weller and A. Moser, IEEE Trans. Magn. 35 (1999) p. 4423.

    Google Scholar 

  3. E.E. Fullerton, D.T. Margulies, M.E. Schabes, M. Carey, B. Gurney, A. Moser, M. Best, G. Zeltzer, K. Rubin, and H. Rosen, Appl. Phys. Lett. 77 (2000) p. 3806.

    Google Scholar 

  4. E.N. Abarra, A. Inomata, H. Sato, I. Okamoto, and Y. Mizoshita, Appl. Phys. Lett. 77 (2000) p. 2581.

    Google Scholar 

  5. E. Girt, H.J. Richter, M. Munteanu, E. Yen, S.D. Harkness, and R.M. Brockie, J. Appl. Phys. 91 (2002) p. 7679.

    Google Scholar 

  6. D.T. Margulies, M.E. Schabes, N. Supper, H. Do, A. Berger, A. Moser, P.M. Rice, P. Arnett, M. Madison, B. Lengsfield, H. Rosen, and E.E. Fullerton, Appl. Phys. Lett. 85 (2004) p. 6200.

    Google Scholar 

  7. N. Supper, D.T. Margulies, A. Moser, A. Berger, H. Do, and E.E. Fullerton, IEEE Trans. Magn. 41 (2005) p. 3238.

    Google Scholar 

  8. S.S.P. Parkin, N. More, and K.P. Roche, Phys. Rev. Lett. 64 (1990) p. 2304.

    Google Scholar 

  9. J. Lohau, A. Moser, D.T. Margulies, E.E. Fullerton, and M.E. Schabes, Appl. Phys. Lett. 78 (2001) p. 2748.

    Google Scholar 

  10. E.E. Fullerton, D.T. Margulies, N. Supper, H. Doa, M.E. Schabes, A. Berger, and A. Moser, IEEE Trans. Magn. 39 (2003) p. 639.

    Google Scholar 

  11. A. Moser, A. Berger, D.T. Margulies, and E.E. Fullerton, Phys. Rev. Lett. 91 097203 (2003).

    Google Scholar 

  12. A. Moser, N.F. Supper, A. Berger, D.T. Margulies, and E.E. Fullerton, Appl. Phys. Lett. 86 262501 (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  13. J. Childress and R.E. Fontana, C.R. Physique 6 (2005) p. 997.

    Google Scholar 

  14. W.-Y. Lee, M.F. Toney, P. Tameerug, E. Allen, and D. Maury, J. Appl. Phys. 87 (2000) p. 6992.

    Google Scholar 

  15. W.H. Meiklejohn and C.P. Bean, Phys. Rev. 102 (1956) p. 1413.

    Google Scholar 

  16. D.E. Heim and S.S.P. Parkin, “Magnetoresistive spin valve sensor with improved pinned ferromagnetic layer and magnetic recording system using the sensor,” U.S. Patent 5,465,185 (November 7, 1995).

  17. B.A. Gurney, V.S. Speriosu, J.-P. Nozieres, H. Lefakis, D.R. Wilhoit, and O.U. Need, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71 (1993) p. 4023. ■

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McFadyen, I.R., Fullerton, E.E. & Carey, M.J. State-of-the-Art Magnetic Hard Disk Drives. MRS Bulletin 31, 379–383 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs2006.97

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs2006.97

Keywords

Navigation