NU-MATHIMO · New Materials for High Moment Poles and Shields

The ever-expanding demand of the world market leads to magnetic recording data storage devices advancing toward much smaller dimensions and higher storage capacities. In order to achieve capacities beyond 2TB/in2 next generation magnetic recording head transducers will require improved high moment magnetic material together with novel write pole and shield structures to preserve the necessary magnetic flux on reduced device dimensions. The implementation of novel high moment magnetic materials and design in manufactured products requires the attainment of new knowledge by the magnetics industry along with the response of the academic industry to the new performance challenges. These goals can only be reached through a strong collaborative programme between industry and academia. The scientific programme is to study the properties of magnetic materials to enable higher moment than the presently attainable limits. Nanoscale engineering of magnetic thin films will be the main approach to achieve this. The knowledge will be transferred through the cross-border secondment of staff and researchers between Seagate, Duisburg-Essen and Uppsala, utilizing the complementary expertise of the three nodes regarding state-of-the-art experimental and computational techniques as well as device fabrication.