U.S. patent application number 10/792929 was filed with the patent office on 2004-09-23 for thermally-assisted magnetic recording device, thermally-assisted magnetic reproducing device and electron beam recorder.
This patent application is currently assigned to KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA. Invention is credited to Akiyama, Junichi, Ichihara, Katsutaro, Kikitsu, Akira, Tanaka, Kuniyoshi, Tanaka, Tsutomu.
Application Number | 20040184361 10/792929 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 18504871 |
Filed Date | 2004-09-23 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040184361 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ichihara, Katsutaro ; et
al. |
September 23, 2004 |
Thermally-assisted magnetic recording device, thermally-assisted
magnetic reproducing device and electron beam recorder
Abstract
Electrons are directed from an electron emitter towards a
magnetic recording medium to heat a recording portion of the
magnetic recording medium and magnetic information is written by a
magnetic recording head to the temperature-elevated recording
portion. Otherwise, a magnetic head having a magnetic pole is used
and the magnetic pole serves as an electron emitter as well.
Alternatively, a space between the electron emitter and recording
medium is made shorter smaller the mean free path of electrons in
the atmosphere to considerably improve the recording density.
Inventors: |
Ichihara, Katsutaro;
(Yokohama-shi, JP) ; Akiyama, Junichi;
(Kawasaki-shi, JP) ; Kikitsu, Akira;
(Yokohama-shi, JP) ; Tanaka, Tsutomu; (Oume-shi,
JP) ; Tanaka, Kuniyoshi; (Miura-shi, JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
OBLON, SPIVAK, MCCLELLAND, MAIER & NEUSTADT, P.C.
1940 DUKE STREET
ALEXANDRIA
VA
22314
US
|
Assignee: |
KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
Minato-ku
JP
|
Family ID: |
18504871 |
Appl. No.: |
10/792929 |
Filed: |
March 5, 2004 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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10792929 |
Mar 5, 2004 |
|
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09749802 |
Dec 28, 2000 |
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6741524 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
369/13.01 ;
369/13.56; G9B/5 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G11B 5/1278 20130101;
G11B 5/00 20130101; G11B 2005/0005 20130101; G11B 9/10 20130101;
G11B 2005/0002 20130101; G11B 2005/0021 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
369/013.01 ;
369/013.56 |
International
Class: |
G11B 011/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Dec 28, 1999 |
JP |
1999-375042 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A thermally-assisted magnetic recording device comprising: an
electron emitter configured to. emit electrons toward a magnetic
recording medium for heating a recording portion of the magnetic
recording medium to decrease a coercive force; and a magnetic pole
configured to apply a magnetic field to the magnetic recording
medium to record an information magnetically to the recording
portion decreased in coercive force.
2. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to
claim 1, wherein the electron emitter heats the magnetic recording
medium so that a coercive force of the recording portion of the
magnetic recording medium becomes smaller than an intensity of the
magnetic field developed at the recording portion by the magnetic
pole.
3. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to
claim 1, wherein at an ambient temperature, the recording portion
of the magnetic recording medium has a larger coercive force than
the intensity of the magnetic field developed by the magnetic
pole.
4. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to
claim 1, further comprising a driving mechanism configured to move
the magnetic recording medium in relation to the electron emitter
and the magnetic pole, wherein the electron emitter is provided at
a leading side of the direction of the movement by the driving
mechanism and the magnetic pole is provided at a trailing side of
the direction of the movement by the driving mechanism.
5. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to
claim 4, wherein the electron emitter includes a plurality of
electron emitting portions disposed along a direction of the
movement thereof by the driving mechanism.
6. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to
claim 4, wherein a recording track parallel to the moving direction
is formed on the magnetic recording medium; and a length Te of the
electron emitter in a width direction of the recording track and a
length Tw of the magnetic pole in a width direction of the
recording track are in a relation of Te/2.ltoreq.Tw.ltoreq.2Te with
each other.
7. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to
claim 1, wherein the electron emitter emits the electrons by field
emission.
8. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to
claim 1, wherein the electron emitter emits the electrons in a
non-oxidizing atmosphere or depressurized atmosphere.
9. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to
claim 8, the oxygen partial pressure X (in mols/cm.sup.3) and
emission electron current density J (in A/cm.sup.2) of around the
electron emitter are in relations of
X.ltoreq.1.25.times.10.sup.12.times.J and J.ltoreq.10.sup.4 with
each other.
10. A thermally-assisted magnetic recording device comprising: a
recording magnetic pole configured to apply a magnetic field to a
magnetic recording medium; and a lead connected to the magnetic
pole; wherein a voltage is applied to the lead to allow the
magnetic pole to emit electrons with which a recording portion of
the magnetic recording medium is heated, and information is
recorded magnetically to the magnetic recording medium by applying
the recording portion with a magnetic field from the magnetic
pole.
11. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to
claim 10, wherein the mean value of the surface roughness of the
magnetic pole opposite to the magnetic recording medium is over 0.5
nm and under 10 nm.
12. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to
claim 10, further comprising a return-path magnetic pole forming a
magnetic circuit for the magnetic field with the magnetic pole and
magnetic recording medium; the return-path magnetic pole being
located as recessed from the magnetic pole as viewed from the
magnetic recording medium.
13. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to
claim 10, further comprising a return-path magnetic pole forming a
magnetic circuit for the magnetic field with the magnetic pole and
magnetic recording medium, a mean value of the surface roughness of
the return-path magnetic pole opposite to the magnetic recording
medium being smaller than a mean value of the surface roughness of
the magnetic pole opposite to the magnetic recording medium.
14. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to
claim 10, wherein the magnetic pole has at least a projection
provided on a surface thereof opposite to the magnetic recording
medium.
15. A thermally-assisted magnetic reproducing device comprising: a
magnetic yoke; a lead connected to the magnetic yoke; and a
magnetic reproducing element magnetically coupled to the magnetic
yoke; wherein a voltage is applied to the lead to allow the
magnetic yoke to direct electrons towards a magnetic recording
medium to heat the magnetic recording medium, and information is
reproduced from the magnetic recording medium by guiding a magnetic
field from the magnetic recording medium to the magnetic
reproducing element via the magnetic yoke.
16. The thermally-assisted magnetic reproducing device according to
claim 15, wherein a mean value of the surface roughness of the
magnetic yoke opposite to the magnetic recording medium is over 0.5
nm and under 10 nm.
17. The thermally-assisted magnetic reproducing device according to
claim 15, further comprising a driving mechanism to move the
magnetic recording medium in relation to the magnetic yoke; the
magnetic yoke including a first magnetic yoke provided at a leading
side of the direction of the movement by the driving mechanism and
a second magnetic yoke provided at a trailing side; and the second
magnetic yoke being located as recessed from the first magnetic
yoke as viewed from the magnetic recording medium.
18. The thermally-assisted magnetic reproducing device according to
claim 15, further comprising a driving mechanism to move the
magnetic recording medium in relation to the magnetic yoke; the
magnetic yoke including a first magnetic yoke provided at a leading
side of the direction of the movement by the driving mechanism and
a second magnetic yoke provided at a trailing side; and a mean
value of a surface roughness of the second magnetic yoke opposite
to the magnetic recording medium being smaller than a mean value of
a surface roughness of the first magnetic yoke opposite to the
magnetic recording medium.
19. The thermally-assisted magnetic reproducing device according to
claim 15, wherein the magnetic yoke has at least a projection
provided on a surface thereof opposite to the magnetic recording
medium.
20. An electron beam recording device comprising an electron
emitter configured to emit electrons towards a recording medium in
a gas atmosphere at a substantial atmospheric pressure to heat the
recording medium and to record information to the recording medium,
wherein the electron emitter and recording medium being spaced from
each other by a distance shorter than the mean free path of the
electrons emitted from the electron emitter.
21. The electron beam recording device according to claim 20,
wherein the electron emitter emits electrons by field emission.
22. The electron beam recording device according to claim 20,
wherein the electron emitter has a surface layer formed mainly from
carbon.
23. The electron beam recording device according to claim 20,
wherein when a spacing d (in nm) between the electron emitter and
recording medium meets the following
condition:d<.lambda.min.times.(760/P)where .lambda.min is the
minimum value (in nm) of the mean free path of the electrons at 1
atm. and P is the pressure (in Torr) of the gas atmosphere.
24. The electron beam recording device according to claim 20,
wherein the recording medium has a recording layer whose optical
characteristic changes as it is heated.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a thermally-assisted
recording and/or reproducing device, and more particularly, to an
improved and novel thermally-assisted recording device capable of
heating a magnetic or other kinds of recording media by electron
beams to write and/or read data to the medium with an extremely
high density.
[0002] Personal computer (PC) systems and audio and/or video (AV)
systems require a peripheral storage unit which has a large
capacity and also is inexpensive. Currently, most of such
peripheral storage units are magnetic or optical recording devices.
The magnetic recording devices include a fixed magnetic hard disc
drive (HDD) and magnetic tape recording device. Many of the PC
systems adopt an HDD and an optical disc drive or magnetic tape
recording device. Generally, various data including OS (operating
system) and other software are stored in the HDD to which random
access is made, while the optical disc drive or magnetic tape
recording device is used for long-term storage of important data.
Conventionally, the AV systems for storage of a large amount of
moving picture information use mainly the magnetic tape recording
device as the peripheral storage unit. With the larger capacity of
the recent HDD. and optical recording device, however, it has
become expected that the HDD and optical recording device are
employed in the AV systems for their speedy accessibility which is
not possible with the conventional magnetic tape recording device.
The magnetic and optical recording devices for use in the PC
systems and AV systems are required to have a larger capacity and
higher speed and be more inexpensive. With the conventional
peripheral storage units, however, it is said that problems will
arise as in the following.
[0003] First, the magnetic recording device will be considered. The
magnetic recording device to magnetically write and read
information has constantly been evolved as a large capacity, high
speed and inexpensive information storage means. Among others, the
recent hard disc drive (HDD) has shown remarkable improvements.
Specifically, as proved on the product level, its recording density
is over 10 Gbpsi (gigabits per square inch), internal data transfer
rate is over 100 Mbps (megabits per second) and price is as low as
several yens/MB (megabytes). The high recording density of HDD is
due to a combination of improvements of a plurality of elements
such as signal processing technique, servo control mechanisms,
head, medium, HID, etc. Recently, however, it has become apparent
that the thermal agitation of the medium inhibits the higher
density of HDD.
[0004] The high density of magnetic recording can be attained by
making smaller the recording cell (recording bit) size. However, as
the recording cell is made smaller, the signal magnetic field
intensity from the medium is reduced. So, to assure a predetermined
signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ratio), it is indispensable to reduce
the medium noise. The medium noise is caused mainly by a disordered
magnetic transition. The magnitude of the disorder is proportional
to a magnetic transition unit of the medium. The magnetic medium
uses a layer formed from polycrystalline particles (will be
referred to as "multiparticle layer" or "multiparticle medium"
herein). In case a magnetic exchange interaction works between
magnetic particles, the magnetic transition unit of the
multiparticle layer is composed of a plurality of exchange-coupled
magnetic particles.
[0005] Heretofore, when a medium is to have the recording density
is several hundreds Mbpsi to several Gbpsi for example, the lower
noise of the medium has been attained mainly by reducing the
exchange interaction between the magnetic particles and making
smaller the magnetic transition unit. In the latest magnetic medium
of 10 Gbpsi in recording density, the magnetic transition unit is
of only 2 or 3 magnetic particles. Thus, predictably, the magnetic
transition unit will be reduced to only one magnetic particle in
near future.
[0006] Therefore, to assure a predetermined S/N ratio by further
reducing the magnetic transition unit, it is necessary to make
smaller the size of the magnetic particles. Taking the volume of a
magnetic particle as V, a magnetic energy the particle has can be
expressed as KuV where Ku is an anisotropy energy density the
particle has. When V is made smaller for a lower medium noise, KuV
becomes smaller with a result that the thermal energy each particle
has at a temperature near the room temperature will disturb
information written in the medium, which is the "thermal agitation"
referred to herein and has become the problem as mentioned
above.
[0007] According to the analysis made by Sharrock et al., the ratio
between magnetic energy and thermal energy of a particle, KuV/kT
where k is Boltzman's constant and t is absolute temperature, is
required to be greater than 100 or so in order to keep the
reliability of the record life. If the particle size is decreased
for a lower medium noise with the anisotropy energy density Ku
being maintained at (2 to 3).times.10.sup.6 erg/cc of the CoCr
group alloy conventionally used as a magnetic layer in the
recording medium, it will be difficult to assure a thermal
agitation resistance.
[0008] More specifically, the multiparticle layer of Co, Cr, Ta and
Pt used in the current magnetic recording medium has a Ku value of
about (2 to 4).times.10.sup.6 erg/cc. With a particle size of 10
nm.phi.-10 nmt or so, the magnetic energy of each particle will be
under 100 times of the thermal energy each particle has at the room
temperature and there will take place a noticeable destruction of
written information due to the thermal agitation. Improvement of
the medium material and increasing the anisotropy energy density Ku
may look like an approach to the solution of the problem, but a
larger value of Ku will be accompanied by a larger coercive force,
which will make the information writing to the medium more
difficult.
[0009] Recently, magnetic layer materials having a Ku value of more
than 10.sup.7 erg/cc such as CoPt, FePd, etc. have been attracting
much attention from all the field of industries concerned. However,
simply increasing the Ku value for compatibility between the small
particle size and thermal agitation resistance will lead to another
problem. The problem concerns the recording sensitivity.
Specifically, as the Ku value of the magnetic layer of a medium is
increased, the recording coercive force Hc0 of the medium
(Hc0=Ku/Isb; Isb is a net magnetization of the magnetic layer of
the medium) will increase and the necessary magnetic field for
saturation recording increase proportionally to Hc0.
[0010] A recording magnetic field developed by a recording head and
applied to the medium depends upon a current supplied to a
recording coil as well as upon a recording magnetic pole material,
magnetic pole shape, spacing, medium type, layer thickness, etc.
Since the tip of the recording magnetic pole is reduced in size as
the recording density is higher, however, the magnetic field
developed by the recording head is limited in intensity.
[0011] Even a combination of a single-pole head which will develop
a largest magnetic field and a vertical medium backed with a soft
magnetic material for example can develop a magnetic field whose
largest possible intensity is on the order of 10 kOe (Oe: oersted).
On the other hand, to assure a sufficient thermal agitation
resistance with a necessary particle size of about 5 nm for a
future high-density, low-noise medium, it is necessary to use a
magnetic layer material having a KU value of 10.sup.7 erg/cc or
more. In this case, however, since the magnetic field intensity
necessary for write to the medium at a temperature approximate to
the room temperature is over 10 kOe, no write to the medium is
possible. Therefore, if the Ku value of the medium is simply
increased, there will arise a problem of the write to the medium
being impossible.
[0012] As having been described in the foregoing, in the magnetic
recording using the conventional multiparticle medium, the lower
noise, thermal agitation resistance and higher recording density
are in a trade-off relation with each other, which is an essential
factor upon which the limit of the recording density depends.
[0013] Secondly, the optical recording device will be considered. A
high density of the optical recording basically depends upon the
reduction of the size of a laser spot focused on an optical
recording medium. Therefore, for a higher recording density with
the optical recording device, a laser light used should be of a
shorter wavelength or an objective lens used should have a higher
numerical aperture (NA). However, use of a laser light having a
shorter wavelength is limited by selection of a laser element
material for use with the laser light and also by the spectral
transmittances of the substrate of an optical disc and various
optical elements included in the optical system of the optical
recording device. Recently, there has been proposed a ultra-high
density optical recording using a near-field light (evanescent
wave). For practical use of the near-field light, however, there
are many problems to solve since the light spot size and light
intensity on the medium are theoretically in a trade-off relation
with each other.
[0014] Therefore, it is predicable that in organizing a future
peripheral storage unit having a recording density of over Tb
(terabits)/inch.sup.2, both the conventional magnetic and optical
recording systems will encounter many difficulties.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0015] Accordingly, the present invention has an object to overcome
the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art by providing a
magnetic recording device having a novel construction based on a
different principle from that for the conventional magnetic
recording devices and capable of recording at a dramatically high
density.
[0016] The present invention has another object to provide an
electron beam recording device capable of solving the thermal
agitation problem in the magnetic recording and trade-off problem
related to the near-field light used in the optical recording to
break through the recording density limit of the conventional
peripheral storage units.
[0017] The Inventors of the present invention propose a
thermally-assisted magnetic recording device based on a novel
concept to attain the above object. In this thermally-assisted
magnetic recording device, magnetic particles so fine that noise
therefrom is sufficiently small are used and a recording layer
having a high anisotropy energy density (Ku) at a temperature near
the room temperature is used to assure a thermal agitation
resistance. In a medium having such a large Ku value, since the
magnetic field intensity necessary for recording exceeds the
intensity of a magnetic field developed by the recording head when
the ambient temperature is near the room temperature, no recording
is possible. However, by locally heating the recording medium by
any means, the coercive force Hc0 of the temperature-elevated
portion of the medium can be reduced to below the magnetic field
intensity of the recording head to write information to the
medium.
[0018] The recording medium may be heated by irradiating light beam
to near the recording magnetic pole. By locally heating the medium
with the light beam during recording, the Hc0 value of the
temperature-elevated portion of the medium can be reduced to below
the intensity of the magnetic field developed by the recording
head, thereby permitting to write information to the medium.
[0019] When a light beam from a conventional light source is used
as a heat source, however, since the size of light spot is defined
by the diffraction limit, an area of several hundreds of nm or more
will be heated. Thus, use of such a light beam is not suitable for
a future magnetic recording in which the track width will be 100 nm
or less. Also, a near-field light may be used in order to limit the
light beam to less than the diffraction limit. However, a
near-field light emitted from a conventional light source cannot be
used efficiently and the reduction in area of the
temperature-elevated portion and light beam power are in a
trade-off relation with each other, thus no sufficient heating can
be assured in a recording at a high density.
[0020] That is, in the modality in which a far-field light is used
as a heat source, the light spot size is defined by the diffraction
limit, so no heating of a fine area is possible. On th other hand,
the near-field light cannot be used with a high efficiency, and
thus sufficient heating is difficult in a higher density of
recording.
[0021] To avoid the above problem, the present invention uses an
electron beam as a heat source.
[0022] Namely, the above object can be attained by providing a
thermally-assisted magnetic recording device including, according
to the present invention, an electron emission source of electron
emitter and a magnetic recording head, electrons being directed
from the electron emitter towards the magnetic recording medium to
heat a recording portion of the magnetic recording medium and
magnetic information being written to the temperature-elevated
recording portion by the magnetic recording head applying the
recording magnetic field to the magnetic recording medium. The
electron beam can be limited very easily to a very fine spot size,
whereby the recording density can. considerably be improved.
[0023] In the above thermally-assisted magnetic recording device
according to the present invention, the electron emitter can heat
the magnetic recording medium so that the coercive force of the
recording portion of the magnetic recording medium will be smaller
than the intensity of the recording magnetic field developed at the
recording portion by the magnetic recording head. Thus, positive
recording is possible to a recording medium having a large coercive
force.
[0024] Also in the above apparatus, the recording portion of the
magnetic recording medium has a larger coercive force than the
intensity of the magnetic field developed by the magnetic recording
head, at the normal temperature. This magnetic recording medium is
strong against the thermal agitation and the size of recording
cells can be made rather smaller than the recording cell size in
the conventional magnetic recording medium.
[0025] Further, in the above apparatus, there is provided a driving
mechanism to move a recording surface of the magnetic recording
medium in relation to the electron emitter and magnetic recording
head, and after the magnetic recording medium is moved by the
driving mechanism, the electron emitter will come nearer to a
leading position in relation to the recording surface than the
magnetic recording head. Thus, it is possible to positively elevate
the temperature of the recording portion of the magnetic recording
medium prior to recording.
[0026] Also in the above apparatus, the electron emitter includes a
plurality of electron emitters disposed along the direction of the
movement thereof by the driving mechanism. Thus, the recording
portion of the magnetic recording medium can positively be
heated.
[0027] Moreover in the above apparatus, there are formed on the
magnetic recording medium a recording track parallel to the moving
direction; the length Te of the electron emitter in the width
direction of the recording track and length Tw of the magnetic
recording head in the width direction of the recording track are in
a relation of Te/2.ltoreq.Tw.ltoreq.2Te with each other.
[0028] Moreover in the above apparatus, the electron emitter emits
electrons by field emission. Thus, fine electron beam can
positively generated, and the electron emitter has an improved
reliability and operating life.
[0029] Also in the above apparatus, the electron emitter is placed
in a non-oxidizing atmosphere or depressurized atmosphere. Thus,
the electron emitter has a further improved reliability and service
life.
[0030] In the above respect, the oxygen partial pressure density X
(in mols/cm.sup.3) and emission electron current density J (in
A/cm.sup.2) of the electron emitter are in relations of
X.ltoreq.1.25.times.10.sup.12.ti- mes.J and J.ltoreq.10.sup.4 with
each other.
[0031] In the thermally-assisted magnetic recording according to
the present invention, an electron emitter is used as a heat
source. The electron emitter may be any of various types such as
field emission type, thermoelectronic emission type, photoemission
type, tunnel electron emission type, etc. The "field emission type"
is such that by providing a high potential gradient (electric
field) on an electron emission surface, electrons are directly
emitted from the surface. The present invention adopts a field
emission type electron emitter. In this case, since the electron
emission area is on the order of 10 nm, an area of about 10 nm of
the medium can easily be heated, thus the present invention can
attain a resolution much better than that of the conventional
method using the light beam. Also in case an electron emitter of
the thermoelectronic emission type is used, however, the nearly
same effect can be assured by converging the electron beam to a
predetermined size.
[0032] Normally, the electron beam is used under a vacuum. However,
taking in consideration the facts that the spacing between the
magnetic head and medium is several tens of nm or less and this
spacing will further be reduced in future and that the mean free
path of electrons at 1 atm. is on the order of 150 nm which is
sufficiently longer than the spacing between the magnetic head and
medium, it can be said that emitted electron beam can be directed
towards the medium with no collision. Namely, the electron emitter
can be installed in a magnetic recording device which is to be used
at normal atmospheric pressure.
[0033] Note that the mean free path of electrons depends upon the
type of gas and electron energy. However, in case the gas used is a
nitrogen being one of the major elements of air, the mean free path
of electrons will be shortest even when the electron energy is 2 eV
or so. The mean free path, in the nitrogen at atmospheric pressure,
of the electron having the energy of 2 eV is 150 nm. Also, in case
the gas used is oxygen being another major element, the mean free
path of electrons is shortest when the electron energy is on the
order of 20 eV. However, the mean free path is 300 nm or more,
which is long enough as compared with the above-mentioned
spacing.
[0034] Further, when the electron beam is used in a depressurized
atmosphere according to the present invention, the probability of
collision before an electron beam is incident upon the medium can
be said to be rather low. Also, in case the gas used is an inert
gas atmosphere according to the present invention, when it is a dry
nitrogen, the mean free path of electrons is a minimum of 150 nm or
so as in the above. When a rare gas such as Ne, Ar, Kr or Xe is
used, the minimum value of mean free path of electrons at 1 atm. is
1000, 160, 130 or 94 nm, which is long enough as compared with the
above spacing. The electrons can be incident upon the medium with
little collision.
[0035] An inert gas atmosphere at a substantial atmospheric
pressure should preferably be charged in the recording device for a
longer service life of the electron emitter. When dry nitrogen is
used as the inert gas, the mean free path of electrons is a minimum
of 150 nm or so. Also when a rare gas such as Ne, Ar, Kr or Xe is
used, the mean free path of electrons is long enough as in the
above. In case, with the spacing between the magnetic head and
medium being of several tens of nm, the electron beam can
substantially work as under a vacuum. In this way, use of the dry
nitrogen or rare gas atmosphere can permit a stable performance of
the electron beam.
[0036] Also, the pressure of the atmosphere in which the electron
beam is used may be near, higher or lower than 1 atm. However, a
pressure of the atmosphere being at a substantial atmospheric
pressure is convenient from the practical viewpoint.
[0037] On the assumption that the pressure inside the apparatus is
P (in Torr), the minimum value of the mean free path of electrons
at 1 atm. is .lambda.min (in nm) and the spacing between the
electron emitter and medium is d (in nm), the present invention
should desirably meet the following condition:
d<.lambda.min.times.(760/P)
[0038] The minimum value of mean free path of electrons .lambda.min
is defined to a mean free path over which there will take place no
collision with a probability of 1/e (e is a base of natural
logarithm) when the electron travels over the distance of
.lambda.min. That is, when the condition
d<.lambda.min.times.(760/P) is met, the electron will collide
with molecules with a probability of about 63% in the course since
it is emitted until incident upon the medium. More preferably, the
following condition should be met:
d<(1/3).times..lambda.min.times.(760/P)
[0039] When the above condition is met, the collision probability
can be reduced to less than 1/2. It is more desirable to use a
coefficient of 1/5 in place of the coefficient of 1/3 in the above
expression. With this coefficient, the collision probability can be
reduced to so small a value as will not be inconvenient in
practice.
[0040] The pressure P inside the apparatus falls within a
substantial range of the atmospheric pressure. Within a range
meeting the above condition, it may be selected depending upon
whether a practical apparatus is feasible with the lower limit of
the pressure P. If the pressure inside the apparatus is different
from the atmospheric pressure or if the apparatus is charged with a
gas different from the atmosphere, a hermetic enclosure is
required.
[0041] In case the hermetic enclosure is used, the lower limit of
the pressure P depends upon the mechanical strength of the
enclosure as the case may be. In case of the conventional electron
beam recording device under a vacuum, since the enclosure is
applied with a pressure as high as 1 kg/cm.sup.2, it is not easy to
assure a sufficient mechanical strength of the enclosure and also
to maintain the vacuum state.
[0042] According to the present invention, however, the lower limit
of the pressure P can be selected depending upon the practically
allowable pressure to the enclosure and vacuum sealing of the
enclosure. Since the lower limit of the pressure P should be
considered in designing the enclosure, it cannot be fixed to a
general value. However, a half or so of the atmospheric pressure
may be reasonable. When the lower limit of the pressure P is higher
than the half of the atmospheric pressure, the pressure applied to
the enclosure will be 0.5 kg/cm.sup.2 or so and the sealed or
hermetic extent of the enclosure may be a sealing provided by the
ordinary aluminum sash for example.
[0043] The upper limit of the pressure P is basically defined by
the above expression. The practical upper limit is double the
atmospheric pressure or so based on the same consideration to the
lower limit. The "substantial atmospheric pressure" referred to
herein is as having been described in the foregoing.
[0044] Now, the electron emitter of the field emission type will be
considered. The electron emission area of this source depends in
size upon the applied electric field and shape of the electron
emitter. The size of the electron emission area is on the order of
10 nm when the electric field is 10.sup.6 to 10.sup.7 V/cm and the
electron emitter has a sharpened or tapered shape obtained by a
selective etching or whose end curvature is several tens of nm or
less. This size is difficult to realize with a light beam and the
electron emitter should preferably be applied to a future magnetic
recording device in which recording cell size is several tens of
nm. Emission current depends on the applied electric field. With an
electric field of 10.sup.6 to 10.sup.7 V/cm, an emission current of
about 10.sup.-6 to 10.sup.-4 A can be obtained from an area of 10
nm in diameter.
[0045] Note that the emission current is nearly proportional to the
square of the intensity of applied electric field according to the
Fowler-Nordheim expression. Therefore, if the electric field
intensity is 3.3.times.10.sup.7 V/cm for example, the emission
current can be 10.sup.-3 A. Although an electric field intensity of
10.sup.6 to 10.sup.7 V/cm may seem to be very high, it will be
suitably applicable to the magnetic recording device since the
voltage to be applied between the electron emitter and medium is a
maximum of several volts to several tens of V because the above
spacing is several tens of nm.
[0046] Next, the mechanism of heating of the medium by electron
beam will be described. When a voltage of 10 V is applied (with the
spacing being 10 nm and field intensity being 10.sup.7 V/cm), an
emission current of 10.sup.-4 A will provide a power of 10.sup.-3
W. When a voltage of 33 V is applied (with the spacing being 10 nm
and field intensity being 3.3.times.10.sup.7 V/c), an emission
current of 10.sup.-3 A will provide a power of 3.3.times.10.sup.-2
W. When this power is applied to a square area on the medium, whose
one side is 10 nm long, the power density will be 10.sup.9
W/cm.sup.2 or 3.3.times.10.sup.10 W/cm.sup.2. When 10 m/s is used
as a practical linear velocity (moving speed of the medium in the
direction of the recording track) in the magnetic disc drive, the
medium takes a time of 1 ns for passing by the heated area of 10
nm. Therefore, the energy density applied to the square area whose
one side is 10 nm long will be 1 J/cm.sup.2 or 33 J/cm.sup.2. It
will be considered herebelow whether this value is adequate for
heating the medium.
[0047] As an example of the heating mechanism using an electron
beam, there is available a heating mechanism in which the electron
beam behaves as de Broglie wave to heat the medium. The de Broglie
wave is on the order of 0.4 nm when the electron energy is 10 V
while it is about 0.2 nm when the electron energy is 33 V. Namely,
it is equal to the atom size, so a lattice vibration (heating) can
be generated. Alternatively, there may be available a mechanism in
which an electron beam having such an energy is incident upon the
medium to oscillate and excite the plasmon, and an energy emitted
when the plasmon-oscillated electron and positive hole in pair are
recombined is given to a phonon, namely, to a lattice to induce a
lattice vibration, that is, a heat.
[0048] The power density or energy density necessary for heating
the medium can be considered to be nearly equal to that used with
the optical disc. So, if the above power density 10.sup.9
W/cm.sup.2 or 3.3 .times.10.sup.10 W/cm.sup.2, or energy density 1
J/cm.sup.2 or 33 J/cm.sup.2, is equal to or larger than the power
density or energy density used with the optical disc, the medium
can be heated sufficiently with the electron beam. In a common
phase-change disc, for example, a linear velocity of 6 m/s, full
width at half maximum (FWHM) of 0.6 .mu.m of the light spot and a
recording power of 10 mW will permit to heat this medium to a
higher temperature than its melting point (600.degree. C.). Since
the medium takes a time of 100 ns for passing by the full width at
half maximum and the area of the light spot is 0.28.times.10.sup.-8
cm.sup.2, the power density will be 3.5.times.10.sup.6 W/cm.sup.2
and energy density will be 0.35 J/cm.sup.2. Therefore, it can be
said that the medium can sufficiently be heated by the plasmon
oscillation with a energy density of 1 J/cm.sup.2.
[0049] In addition, there can take place a Joule-heating mechanism
in which the electron beam causes a current to flow through the
medium which is thus heated by the Joule-heating. This mechanism
will coexist with the above-mentioned plasmon-oscillation heating
mechanism. Comparison with the power density used with the optical
disc will lead to the understanding of the reason why the
Joule-heating mechanism is suitable for heating the medium.
Specifically, when a current of 10.sup.-4 A or 10.sup.-3 A is
supplied to a square area whose one side is 10 nm long of the
medium in the direction of the layer thickness, the heating power
will be R.times.10.sup.-8 W or R.times.10.sup.-6 W where R is a
resistance of the medium. When the resistivity of a magnetic
recording medium or magneto-optical recording medium is (5 to
6).times.10.sup.-6 .OMEGA.cm, the area of current path is
10.sup.-12 cm.sup.2 (10 nm square) and the current path length,
namely, magnetic layer thickness is 2.times.10.sup.-6 cm (20 nm),
the resistance of the medium will be 10.OMEGA. or so. Therefore,
the heating power will be 10.sup.-7 W or 10.sup.-5 W. Division of
this heating power by the heated area of 10.sup.-12 cm.sup.2)
provides 10.sup.5 W/cm.sup.2 or 10.sup.7 W/cm.sup.2. Since the time
of current supply is different from the time of electron beam
incidence, the Joule-heating mechanism should be considered by
comparison in power density, not in energy density. Thus, it can be
said that the current of 10.sup.-4 A will be somewhat insufficient,
but 10.sup.-3 A will enable a sufficient Joule heating.
[0050] Actually, there will take place together, as mentioned
above, the process in which the medium is heated by the plasmon
oscillation and excitation and the process in which the medium is
heated by the Joule heating due to the current supply to the
medium. In any of the above processes, the power density and energy
density are sufficient. Therefore, any of these heating mechanisms
may be selected for use in the thermally-assisted magnetic
recording device according to the present invention.
[0051] The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to
the present invention should preferably be embodied as a one in
which an electron emitter and recording magnetic pole are disposed
in this order from the downstream (leading) side in the direction
of the medium movement. Owing to this arrangement, a recording
magnetic. field can be applied to the medium at a position where
Hc0 has become sufficiently low immediately after the medium is
heated by the electron beam. The distance between the electron beam
incident position and recording magnetic field-applied position
depends upon the thermal response of the medium as well, but should
preferably be 100 nm or less, and more preferably be several tens
of nm or less.
[0052] For a higher efficiency of the heating, a plurality of
electron emitters in the electron emitter should be disposed in the
direction of the recording track. The size of the heated area
should preferably be nearly equal to the width of the recording
track to enable a uniformmagnetic transition over the trackwidth.
Also the track width Te of the electron emitter, and track width Tw
of the recording head should desirably meet the condition of
Te/2.ltoreq.Tw.ltoreq.2Te.
[0053] The inside of the ordinary magnetic disc drive communicates
with the ambient atmosphere. When the electron beam is to be used
in an atmosphere containing oxygen and moisture, consideration
should be given to the life of the electron emitter as well as to
the mean free path of electrons. At atmospheric pressure, air
molecules or water molecules in the atmosphere will be adsorbed by
the electron emitter and will possibly shorten the service light of
the latter. Different from the conventional thermal emission type
electron beam emitter and photo emission type electron beam
emitter, the field emission type electron beam emitter having
actively been researched and developed recently is extremely
resistant against adsorbed molecules. When carbon (C) is used as a
material for the electron emitter, the latter will be less
influenced by the oxidation. For a practically long service life of
the electron emitter, however, the densities of the gas atmosphere
near the emitters, especially, the densities of oxygen, water and
their dissociated species, and the frequency of their incidence
upon the emitters, should be kept low.
[0054] The Inventors of the present invention made many experiments
mainly on STM (scanning tunneling microscopy) emitter, and found
from the experiment result a emitter-surrounding atmosphere
required for obtaining a field emission current stably. As will
further be described later concerning the embodiments of the
present invention, the Inventor of the present invention found that
it depends upon the emitter material how the emitter-surrounding
atmosphere should be and that also when silicon (Si) on which a
surface oxide film is easy to develop was used, electrons could be
emitted stably if the density X (mols/cm.sup.3) of oxygen molecules
in the emitter-surrounding atmosphere and current density J (in
A/cm.sup.2) of electrons emitted from the emitter met the condition
of X.ltoreq.1.25.times.10.sup.12.times.J with J.gtoreq.10.sup.4.
The definition of the range of J as in the above condition is
intended to present a necessary range of J for significantly
heating the medium. There will be no sense in defining an emission
current with which no significant heating will take place or a
relation between X and J which would be when the emitter stops
operating.
[0055] When the emitter stops operating, a natural oxide layer or a
physical adsorption layer will develop on the emitter surface. When
the above defined condition in the present invention is met, such
layers will easily desorb the emitter surface due to the following
operation of the emitter. The above definition of the relation
between X and J in the present invention is intended to present a
condition under which so long as an emission current capable of
significantly heating the medium is supplied, the tip of the
emitter will not be deteriorated due to attack by oxygen. The
relation between X and J has a physical meaning that while a
hundred electrons are being emitted from the emitter, one oxygen
molecule will be incident upon the emitter surface. With such an
extent of the incidence of oxygen molecule, heating of the emitter
surface by the electron emission, etc. will allow the incident
oxygen to re-desorb the emitter surface which will thus not be
deteriorated, which is one of the findings of the above Inventors'
experiments.
[0056] As having been described in the foregoing, according to the
present invention, a low-noise multiparticle medium formed from
very fine particles, necessary for a high density magnetic write
and read, can be made to have a sufficiently high resistance
against the thermal agitation at a temperature near the room
temperature, and the coercive force of the medium, that is, a
necessary magnetic field for a magnetic transition, is reduced by
incidence of an electron beam upon a portion of the medium to which
a recording magnetic field is applied, to thereby enabling a
practical recording head to attain a high speed of recording.
[0057] Also, according to the present invention, an electron
emitter and write and read elements are formed integrally with each
other to provide a compact and lightweight thermally-assisted
magnetic recording head, which will enable a high speed seek
operation and inexpensive head and drive.
[0058] Further, according to the present invention, it is possible
to improve to a practical level the service life of the electron
emitter of a thermally-assisted magnetic recording device in which
a medium is heated by a high resolution, high efficiency electron
emitter, the coercive force of the heated portion of the medium is
reduced and a recording magnetic field is applied to the portion
whose coercive force has thus been reduced, thereby recording
information to the medium.
[0059] On the other hand, according to the present invention, a
magnetic pole or magnetic yoke can also be used as an electron
emitter, thereby enabling a magnetic write and read with a further
high recording density.
[0060] Also according to the present invention, an electron emitter
having an extremely superior recording resolution to that of the
light beam or magnetic recording head used in the conventional
magnetic recording device, can be used to write information to a
medium. Thus, according to the present invention, there can
provided a practical magnetic recording device in which information
can be recorded with a considerably improved density and an
electron beam recording can be done in the atmosphere, which is
impossible with the conventional electron beam recording.
[0061] That is, according to the present invention, there can be
provided a thermally-assisted magnetic recording device realizing a
new concept that information can be recorded with a drastically
higher density than with the conventional recording device. Thus
the present invention is very advantageous in the field of art.
[0062] These objects and other objects, features, and advantages of
the present invention will become more apparent from the following
detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present
invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the
embodiments but can freely be modified without departing from the
scope and spirit thereof defined in the claims given later.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0063] The present invention will be understood more fully from the
detailed description given herebelow and from the accompanying
drawings of the preferred embodiments of the invention. However,
the drawings are not intended to imply limitation of the invention
to a specific embodiment, but are for explanation and understanding
only.
[0064] In the drawings:
[0065] FIGS. 1A and 1B show the construction of an embodiment of
the thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to the
present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a lateral sectional view
that shows the major components including the head and recording
elements of the head and FIG. 1B is a view from the medium surface
of the major recording elements of the head;
[0066] FIGS. 2A through 2E provide sectional views, enlarged in
scale, of the-head near the electron emitter, showing steps of
manufacturing the electron emitter;
[0067] FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the read element which may be
disposed at the leading or trailing side in FIGS. 1A and 1B;
[0068] FIG. 4 graphically shows the temperature characteristic of
Hc measured with VSM and that of Hc0 estimated using the Sharrock's
expression;
[0069] FIG. 5 graphically shows a relation between a voltage Ve
applied to the electron emitter and GMR read output voltage Vs per
1 .mu.m of track width in which a current Iw supplied to the
recording coil is taken as parameter;
[0070] FIGS. 6A through 6C schematically show the process of
recording by the thermally-assisted magnetic recording head
according to the present invention, in which FIG. 6A is a sectional
view of an portion extracted from FIG. 1B and associated with the
recording process, FIG. 6B graphically shows an electron beam
profile on the medium and a temperature distribution on the medium
and FIG. 6C graphically shows a spatial distribution of the medium
coercive force and that of the recording magnetic field;
[0071] FIG. 7 graphically shows a thermally-assisted magnetic
characteristic of the medium experimentally prepared, in which Hc
is a coercive force and Ms is a saturation magnetization related to
a read signal;
[0072] FIG. 8 graphically explains the concept of information
recording to the medium in FIG. 7 according to the present
invention;
[0073] FIG. 9 graphically shows the result of the evaluation of the
third embodiment of the present invention;
[0074] FIG. 10 is a sectional view of the essential components of
the thermally-assisted magnetic recording head, by way of example,
having a plurality of electron emission tips;
[0075] FIG. 11 is a sectional view of the thermally-assisted
magnetic recording head composed of a laminated type magnetic head
and electron emitter according to the present invention;
[0076] FIG. 12 is a block diagram of the thermally-assisted
magnetic recording device according to the present invention,
showing an example of the system construction of the recording
device;
[0077] FIG. 13 is also a block diagram of the apparatus used in the
experiments conducted by the Inventors of the present invention,
showing the construction of the apparatus;
[0078] FIG. 14 graphically shows a relation between a field
emission current I and voltage V applied to a probe, experienced
using two probes made of Ta (tantalum) and C (carbon),
respectively, in a depressurized atmosphere of 10.times.10.sup.-4
Pa;
[0079] FIG. 15 graphically shows the result of an experiment
effected using the probe made of C with the emission current set to
5.times.10.sup.-5 A;
[0080] FIG. 16 graphically shows a relation between an amount of
oxygen in the atmosphere and a time (td) as an index, experienced
with different emitters and emission current densities in the
experiment whose result is shown in FIG. 15, the time (td) being a
time for which the emission current had deteriorated down to 90%
(indicated with a broken line) of its initial value;
[0081] FIGS. 17A and 17B are conceptual views of the seventh
embodiment of the magnetic recording device according to the
present invention, showing especially a means for adjusting the
atmosphere inside an enclosure of the magnetic recording device, in
which FIG. 17A is a perspective view of the enclosure and FIG. 17B
is a sectional view, enlarged in scale, taken along the line X-X'
in FIG. 17A;
[0082] FIG. 18 schematically shows a magnetic recording device
disposed in the enclosure shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B, showing the
major components thereof by way of example;
[0083] FIG. 19 is a conceptual sectional view of the major
components of a first magnetic recording head according to the
eighth embodiment of the present invention;
[0084] FIG. 20 is also a conceptual sectional view showing an
example construction in which the return magnetic pole of a
single-pole head is recessed from the medium-facing surface (air
bearing surface);
[0085] FIG. 21 is a conceptual sectional view, enlarged in scale,
of a portion, near the air bearing surface, of the main magnetic
pole or leading-side magnetic pole of the recording head according
to the eighth embodiment of the present invention;
[0086] FIG. 22 is also a conceptual sectional view of the essential
portion of the ring type magnetic recording head according to the
eighth embodiment of the present invention;
[0087] FIG. 23 is a conceptual sectional view of the essential
potion of the magnetic recording device according to the present
invention;
[0088] FIG. 24 is a timing chart showing the operations of the
magnetic recording device according to the eighth embodiment of the
present invention;
[0089] FIG. 25 graphically shows the result of evaluation;
[0090] FIG. 26 graphically shows the emission current
characteristic;
[0091] FIG. 27 is a conceptual sectional view of the essential
portion of the magnetic read head according to the ninth embodiment
of the present invention;
[0092] FIG. 28 graphically shows the magnetic characteristic of a
layer or film of a ferrimagnetic alloy (R-T) of amorphous rare
earth metal and transition metal;
[0093] FIG. 29 graphically shows the result of the experiment on
the information read by the magnetic read head according to the
present invention;
[0094] FIG. 30 graphically shows the Fowler-Nordheim plotting of
the I-V characteristic experienced with the probe made of C
(carbon) at atmospheric pressure;
[0095] FIG. 31 graphically shows the collision cross section of
electrons in nitrogen (N.sub.2) as a function of the electron
energy (Ee);
[0096] FIG. 32 graphically shows the collision cross section of
electrons in oxygen (O.sub.2) as a function of the electron energy
(Ee);
[0097] FIG. 33 graphically shows the momentum-conversion collision
rate (Pc) of electrons in H.sub.2O (water);
[0098] FIG. 34 graphically shows together the result of static
write and read test, the field emission current I being indicated
along the vertical axis while the voltage pulse time t is indicated
along the horizontal axis;
[0099] FIG. 35 is a conceptual view of the essential portion of the
recording head usable in the electron beam recording device
according to the present invention;
[0100] FIG. 36 is a sectional view of an example of the recording
medium usable in the embodiments of the present invention; and
[0101] FIG. 37 is a block diagram of the electron beam
recording/reproducing device according to the present invention,
showing an example thereof.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
First Embodiment
[0102] Referring now to FIGS. 1A and 1B, there is illustrated in
the form of sectional views one embodiment of the
thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to the present
invention. FIG. 1A is a lateral sectional view showing the major
components including the head and recording elements of the head,
and FIG. 1B is a view from the medium surface of the major
recording elements of the head. The line A-A' in the FIG. 1B
corresponds to the center line of a recording track, and a view of
the head and medium taken along a line perpendicular to the center
line is FIG. 1A.
[0103] In FIGS. 1A and 1B, the reference S indicates a head
substrate, X a medium moving direction (trailing direction), 10 a
recording magnetic pole assembly, 11 a main magnetic pole, 12 a
return-path magnetic pole, 13 a tip of the main magnetic pole, 14 a
connection between the main magnetic pole 11 and return-path
magnetic pole 12, 15 a leading portion of the recording magnetic
pole assembly 10, 16 a trailing portion of the. recording magnetic
assembly 10, 17 a recording magnetic flux, 21 a recording coil, 22
a layer in which the recording coil 21 is buried, 30 an electron
emitter electrode layer, 40 an electron emitter, 41 an electron
beam, 50 a protective layer, 60 a medium body, 61 a recording
layer, 62 a soft-magnetic lining layer, 63 an electron
beam-incident portion of the medium 60, 64 a magnetically recording
portion of the medium 60, and 65 a magnetization of the medium 60.
In the above structure, the recording magnetic-pole leading portion
15, recording magnetic-pole trailing portion 16 and protective
layer 50 are not always necessary.
[0104] The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head constructed
as in the above can be built following the procedure below:
[0105] First, the head substrate S should preferably be formed from
ALTIC (Al, Ti and C) substrate, for example, easy to be work into a
slider and which is used to make the ordinary magnetic head. Then
the resist frame plating method is used to form the recording
magnetic pole assembly 10 directly on the substrate S or on an
insulative layer previously formed on the substrate S as necessary.
The material for the magnetic pole assembly 10 should be a one
having a soft-magnetic, high saturation magnetic flux density, used
to form the ordinary magnetic recording element, such as CoNiFe,
NiFe or the like. The entire recording magnetic pole assembly 10
may not always be formed, but only the tip 13 of the main magnetic
pole 11 may be formed, from the material having the high saturation
magnetic flux density.
[0106] After the magnetic pole assembly 10 is thus formed, the
layer 22 in which the recording coil 21 is to be buried may be
etched off with the resist frame removed. First, the leading
portion 15, connection 14 between the main magnetic pole 11 and
return-path magnetic pole 12 and trailing portion 16 are formed
flat in the recording magnetic pole assembly 10, and then the frame
pattern is changed to form the main magnetic pole 11 and
return-path magnetic pole 12. The main and return-path magnetic
poles 11 and 12 may be formed to have the same height, or the
latter may be formed to have a lower height. The tip 13 of the main
magnetic pole 11 may be worked using a resist frame when the track
width is relatively large and thus the tip 13 may be formed by the
PEP process. In this case, the main and return-path magnetic poles
11 and 12 may be formed by collective frame plating with the
track-directional width of the main magnetic pole 11 made to
coincide with that of the tip 13. If the track width is 100 nm or
less, it is difficult to adopt the PEP process. In this case, a
plating is first made with the track-directional width of the main
magnetic pole 11 made to coincide with that of the return-path
magnetic pole 12, and then the FIB process may be used to determine
the track width of the tip 13.
[0107] Next, there is formed on the leading portion 15 of the
recording magnetic pole pattern, connection 14 and the trailing
portion 16 the layer 22 in which the recording coil 21 is to be
buried. On the top of the layer 22, there are formed a pattern of
the recording coil 21 and a pattern of the electron emission
electrode layer 30. Then the coil 21 and electrode layer 30 are
formed by collective plating of copper (Cu). A postprocessing
protective coating is provided on exposed resist areas around the
Cu coil 21 and Cu electrode layer 30 as necessary. This protective
coating will be the protective layer 50. For electrical connection
between the electrode layer 30 and electron emitter 40, no
insulative layer will be formed on the electrode layer 30.
[0108] Thereafter, the electron emitter will be formed.
[0109] FIGS. 2A through 2E give sectional views, enlarged in scale,
of the magnetic recording head portion near the electron emitter
shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The steps of manufacturing the electron
emitter will be described herebelow with reference to FIGS. 2A
through 2E. Note that in FIGS. 2A through 2E, the elements having
the same or similar functions as or to those of the elements shown
in FIGS. 1A and 1B will be indicated with the same or similar
reference numerals as those in FIGS. 1A and 1B. They will not be
described in detail.
[0110] Next to the manufacturing step having been described in the
above with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a resist 23 is filled up
to the top of the recording magnetic pole assembly 10, namely, the
top of the tip 13 of the main magnetic pole 11 (top of the main
magnetic pole 11 in the middle of the manufacturing process). After
the resist 23 thus provided is flattened as necessary, a dielectric
layer or metal layer 24 is formed on the resist as shown in FIG.
2A. The dielectric or metal layer 24 may be formed from any
material which can be selectively etched away along with the
resist.
[0111] Then, a hole 25 is patterned on a portion of the dielectric
or metal layer 24 below which the electron emitter 40 is to be
formed, as shown in FIG. 2B. The hole 25 may be circular or square
in shape. However, the length of the hole 25 in the direction of
track width should be defined such that the top end width of the
recording track generally coincides with the recording track width.
The hole length in the direction of the track should be defined to
be such a one that the electron emitter 40 can be sharpened or
tapered at the top thereof as will further be described later.
[0112] On the assumption that the track width is Tw and height of
the electron emitter 40 to be formed is He, the length of the hole
in the direction of the track width should desirably be on the
order of Tw+2nHe (where n is a parameter depending upon the
distribution of the angle of injection of a material into the hole
25 when forming the electron emitter 40 in the hole 25) and that of
the hole in the direction of the track should also desirably be
about 2nHe for such a sharp or tapered top end portion of the
electron emitter 40 as will enable an efficient field emission.
When the material is injected at an angle nearer to the normal
line, the parameter n is smaller. When the material is injected at
an angle further from the normal line (more isotropically), th
parameter n is larger. When n=1, the taper angle of the electron
emitter is 45.degree.. That is to say, the size of the hole 25
depends upon the track width Tw as well as upon both the parameter
n depending upon the method of forming the electron emitter 40 and
height of the electron emitter 40.
[0113] More specifically, the recording track width Tw (track width
of the tip 13 of the main magnetic pole 11) is selected to be 0.75
.mu.m, the height He of the electron emitter 40 is 0.25 .mu.m, the
size of the hole 25 is 1.25 m in the direction of the track width
and 0.5 .mu.m in the direction of the track (n=1), for example, in
the present invention. The hole 25 may be formed by either the PEP
or FIB process.
[0114] Thereafter, the resist 23 is etched by wet etching through
the hole 25 to form a cavity 26 in which the electron emitter 40 is
to be formed, as shown in FIG. 2C. Next, the material for the
electron emitter 40 is injected into the cavity 26 by evaporation
or sputtering from above the hole 25. The material for the electron
emitter 40 may be a high melting point metal such as Mo, W, Ta or
the like, a semiconductor such as Si, Ge or the like, or carbon
(C). Among these materials, the carbon (C) is suitably usable to
assure a stable service and long life of the electron emitter used
in the atmosphere.
[0115] By injecting the material for the electron emitter 40 onto
the electrode layer 30 in the cavity 26 from above the hole 25, an
island of the electron emitter material is initially formed on the
electrode layer 30. The island has a size nearly same as that of
the hole 25. The material for the electron emitter 40 is heaped on
the electrode layer 30 while being heaped as indicated with
reference numeral 42 on the dielectric or metal layer 24. The
adhesion of the layer 42 to the wall of the hole 25 is defined by
the distribution of the angle of injection of the electron emitter
material into the hole 25, and the distribution can be
controlled.
[0116] For example, when sputtering method is employed, the
distribution of the angle of injection can be controlled based on
the distance between a sputtering target and hole 25 and sputter
gas pressure or the aspect ratio of a through-hole formed between
the sputtering target and hole 25. When the direction of the
injection into the hole 25 is nearer to the normal line with
respect to the electrode layer 30, the taper angle of the electron
emitter 30 (angle from the electrode layer 30) is larger, namely,
the electron emitter 40 is tapered more sharply. On the other hand,
when the direction of the injection is more isotropic, the electron
emitter 40 is tapered more gently.
[0117] It is essential to limit the radius of curvature of the top
end portion of the electron emitter 40 to about 10 nm and make the
height of the top end nearly coincide with that of the top of the
recording magnetic pole (main magnetic pole) 11. These radius of
curvature and height of the top end can be controlled buy adjusting
the thickness of the resist layer 23, thickness of dielectric or
metal layer 24, size of the hole 25 and method for heaping the
electron emitter material. At the beginning of the material for the
electron emitter 40 being thus heaped, it has the same size as the
hole 25 when it is still near the electrode layer 30. The material
is further heaped on the wall of the hole 25 as well as on the
electrode layer 30. The material 42 will further be heaped on the
wall of the hole 25 so that the hole 25 will be narrower at it goes
upward. Namely, the effective size of the hole 25 will be reduced
because the space in the hole 25 is reversely tapered.
[0118] FIG. 2D shows the shape the electron emitter 40 will be
formed to have in the course of the material being heaped.
[0119] As the electron emitter material further grows as in the
above, the top end portion of the electron emitter 40 will be
gradually tapered. When the layer 42 of the same material as for
the electron emitter 40, heaped on the dielectric or metal layer
24, has grown until it closes the hole 25, the electron emitter 40
will have a sharp tapered shape as shown in FIG. 2E. By observing
the shape of the electron emitter thus formed by an electron
microscope, it was confirmed that the taper angle formed between
the lateral sides of the electron emitter 40 was about 45.degree.,
namely, the tapered portion being a ridge longer in the direction
of the track width while being shorter in the direction of the
track, the track width at the top end portion of the electron
emitter 40 is nearly 0.75 .mu.m and the curvature of the top end
portion is nearly 10 nm.
[0120] By removing the dielectric or metal layer 24 and resist 23
at the final step, a thermally-assisted magnetic recording head as
shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B can be provided. No read element is shown
in FIGS. 1A and 1B, but a read element may be formed at either the
leading side or trailing side of the write element, for example, as
in an ordinary planar type magnetic head.
[0121] Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown an embodiment of the
read element which may be disposed at the leading or trailing side
in FIGS. 1A and 1B. In FIG. 3, the reference S indicates a head
substrate, X a medium moving direction (at the trailing side), 7 an
adjusting layer, 8 an electrode, 9 a yoke, 91 a yoke end, 10 a GMR
(giant magentoresistive) element, 11 an insulator, 60 a medium, 61
a recording layer and 62 a lining layer. In the above construction,
the adjusting layer 7 is not always necessary. Note that in FIG. 3,
the elements having the same or similar functions as or to those of
the elements shown in FIGS. 1A through FIG. 2E will be indicated
with the same or similar reference numerals as those in FIGS. 1A
through 2E. They will not be described in detail.
[0122] The read element shown as an example in FIG. 3 can be
manufactured in parallel to the aforementioned write element as in
the following. The adjusting layer 7 is formed on an ALTIC
substrate to make the top of the yoke end 91 generally coincide
with that of the tip 13 of the main magnetic pole 11. Next, a
resist frame is formed on the adjusting layer 7 to form the Cu
electrode 8 for example. After removing the resist, the insulator
11 of SiO.sub.2 for example is buried up to the bottom of the GMR
element 10, and then it is tapered by etching to expose the
electrode 8. The yoke 9 is formed by frame plating of the GMR
element 10 down to the bottom of the latter. After the yoke 9 is
flattened as necessary, the GMR element 10 is formed before
patterning. The GMR element 10 may be formed from a lamination of
Co, Cu, Co and FeMn layers.
[0123] Next, the portion of the insulator 11, over the GMR element
10, is formed and tapered by etching to expose the lower portion of
the yoke 9. Then, the upper portion of the yoke 9 is formed by
frame plating. The yoke end 91 and read gap (between two ends) have
to be fine-worked. The FIB process is used to work them as
necessary to form a pattern of several tens of nm. The yoke end 91
is provided to pick up signal magnetic field depending upon the
magnetized direction of the recording layer 61 of the medium 60,
and the picked-up signal is read by the GMR element 10 buried in
the insulator 11.
[0124] A substrate having provided thereon the magnetic recording
element in FIGS. 1A and 1B, provided with the electron emitter 40
produced as in the above, and the read element in FIG. 3, disposed
at the trailing side in FIGS. 1A and 1B, is cut into stripes, and
each stripe is cut into chips, each chip is worked into a slider,
then the slider is mounted on a suspension to provide a
thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to the present
invention. Note that the thermally-assisted magnetic recording head
according to the present invention can also be produced by
attaching a thin film element onto an appropriate substrate other
than the ALTIC substrate, coating it with a protective member,
separating the thin film element from the substrate, attaching it
on a slider, and finishing the surface.
[0125] In embodying the present invention, the field intensity at
the tip of the electron emitter is important, so when the magnetic
recording head levitates, a variation of the head levitation will
undesirably lead to a variation of the field intensity. To avoid
this, the slider should be designed to a contact pad type which is
slidable in contact with the medium. When the slider moves in
contact with the medium, the head levitation will not vary but the
load acting on between the head and medium will vary. There is
coated on the sliding surface of the head on the medium a DLC
(diamond-like carbon) layer of about 5 nm in thickness to protect
the head.
[0126] Next, an embodiment of the medium installable in the
thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to the
present invention will be described. The basic construction of the
medium is as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. No medium-protective layer
and lubricant are illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B for the simplicity
of illustration. Normally, however, they should desirably be
provided. This embodiment of the medium can use a vertically
magnetizable, multiparticle layer with a soft-magnetic base layer.
More specifically, a soft-magnetic base layer 62 of NiFe is formed
to a thickness of 100 nm on a glass substrate, then a vertically
magnetizable, multiparticle layer 61 of CoPt and SiO.sub.2 films,
is formed to a thickness of 20 nm on the base layer 62, and a
protective layer of C is formed to a thickness of 3 nm on the layer
61, all by sputtering. Further, a lubricant is coated on the
protective layer and the surface irregularities are removed by tape
burnishing. In this embodiment, the recording layer 61 is made of a
so-called granular layer having a structure in which magnetic
particles of CoPt are dispersed in a base material of SiO.sub.2.
This is because the size and content of the magnetic particles can
easily be controlled. For forming the recording layer 61 of CoPt
and SiO.sub.2 films, binary sputtering is made with a CoPt target
and SiO.sub.2 target, and the particle size and CoPt content are
controlled by varying the sputter input to each of the targets.
Also, only the particle size may be controlled independently by the
bias power by applying a bias to the substrate during
sputtering.
[0127] Before conducting experiments on the write and read by the
thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to the present
invention, the composition, fine structure and magnetic
characteristic of the medium involved in the present invention were
examined. The content of CoPt in the CoPt--SiO.sub.2 layer formed
under the typical conditions was 60% by volume. The result of the
fine structure analysis proved that the CoPt and SiO.sub.2
particles are separate from each other and the SiO.sub.2 base
material was spotted with the CoPt particles. The mean size of the
CoPt particles was about 7 nm. The magnetic characteristic was
measured as will be described below. Namely, a torque meter and VSM
were used to examine the thermal characteristic at different
temperatures included in a range of liquid nitrogen temperature to
500.degree. C. The typical magnetic characteristics measured at the
room temperature were: Ku: 4.5.times.10.sup.6 erg/cc, Hc: 5 kOe,
and Ms: 400 emu/cc. The particles having the mean size was found to
have a KuV/kT value of about 125 at the room temperature (300 K).
Thus, the medium used in this embodiment can be said to show an
ambient thermal agitation at a temperature near the room
temperature. The magnetic characteristic varied as a function of
the temperature and was found to be monotonously lower in a
direction from a low temperature to a high temperature.
[0128] Referring now to FIG. 4, there is illustrated a graph of the
dependence on the temperature of Hc measured using VSM and that of
Hc0 estimated using the Sharrock's expression. Since VSM takes a
time of about 10 minutes for loop measurement, Hc measured by VSM
is a coercive force after the magnetic field is subjected to a
thermal agitation for about 10 minutes at the temperature. On the
other hand, the coercive force Hc0 associated with the recording is
a magnetic field required for a high speed magnetic transition for
about 10 ns during actual recording by the head. It means a
magnetic field required for a magnetic transition within a time for
which it will be little influenced by a thermal agitation. In a
temperature range in which the magnetic field will be little
affected by the thermal agitation within a time of about 10
minutes, Hc and Hc0 will nearly (completely when K is zero)
coincide with each other, but in a high temperature range, Hc will
be considerably lower than Hc0. Important in the thermally-assisted
magnetic recording is not Hc but Hc0. So, Hc0 was determined based
on a combination of the measurement with VSM and Sharrock's
expression.
[0129] As the result, Hc0 measured at a temperature near the room
temperature was 5.2 kOe which is nearly the same as Hc, but in a
temperature range higher than 100.degree. C. equivalent to the
temperature during the thermally-assisted recording, Hc was
considerably higher than Hc0. The saturation magnetic field of the
medium required for the recording should preferably be nearly
double Hc0. However, since the saturation field is nearly
proportional to Hc0, the present invention will be described below
using Hc0 as the necessary magnetic field for the
thermally-assisted magnetic recording. Note that when K is zero,
the anisotropic energy Ku0 was 8.times.10.sup.6 erg/cc and
saturation magnetization Ms0 was 600 emu/cc. Since the CoPt content
in the layer was 60% by volume, the net magnetization Isb was 1000
emu/cc. When the high temperature-side Hc0 was extrapolated, the
Curie point was estimated to be five hundreds and several tens of
.degree. C. and the temperature at which Hc0 decreased to 2 kOe was
estimated to be about 300.degree. C.
[0130] In the experiments, the medium having the above-mentioned
magnetic characteristic was set along with the thermally-assisted
magnetic recording head in a spin-stand type magnetic
recording/reproducing evaluation apparatus, the medium was moved at
a rate of 10 m/s in relation to the head, and the write and read
were tested with a relatively low linear density equivalent to a
solitary wave output of 100 kfci to examine the read output
voltage. The head was moved in contact with the slider, the spacing
was controlled in a range of 8 to 10 nm, that is, a range from a
sum (8 nm) of the head protective layer thickness and medium
protective layer thickness to a sum (10 nm) of the lubricant layer
thickness and the sum of the layer thickness. As variables of write
and read, the emission electron current was varied by changing the
voltage applied to the electron emitter and the recording field
intensity was varied by changing the current supplied to the
recording coil 21. The electrode 30 of the electron emitter 40 was
applied with a voltage being negative in relation to the ground
potential, and the medium was at the ground potential. The voltage
applied to the electron emitter 40 may be either a DC or pulse
voltage.
[0131] Referring now to FIG. 5, there is graphically illustrated a
relation between a voltage Ve applied to the electron emitter and
GMR read output voltage Vs per 1 .mu.m of track width in which a
current Iw supplied to the recording coil 21 is taken as parameter.
In FIG. 5, only two examples, Iw of 20 mA and Iw of 40 mA, are
shown. However, when the applied voltage Ve was lower than 7.5 V,
no read output could be provided with the supplied current Iw
increased to a largest possible one. On the contrary, when a
voltage Ve applied to the electron emitter was higher than 15 V
with the current Iw supplied to the recording coil 21 being 40 mA
which is a practical value for use in the magnetic disc drive, and
more preferably when the applied voltage Ve was higher than about
25 V with the supplied current Iw being 20 mA, a high saturation
read output could be provided, which proves that the present
invention is highly advantageous.
[0132] Further, some thermally-assisted magnetic recording heads
were experimentally prepared by varying a track-directional
distance D between the top end portion of the electron emitter 40
and the leading edge of the tip 13 of the main magnetic pole has in
FIGS. 1A and 1B and were similarly tested. The test result proved
that if the distance D is too long, the medium once heated by the
electron beam would be cold before the magnetic field-applied
portion thereof was reached, so that no significant recording was
possible. The range of the distance D which enables the significant
recording was found to be 500 nm or less, preferably, 250 nm or
less, and most preferably, 100 nm or less. The test result shown in
FIG. 5 corresponds to the test with the distance D of 250 nm. As
seen from FIG. 5, the shorter he distance D, the lower the values
Ve and Iw necessary for the saturation recording were. However,
even when the distance D was set as short as possible, no
significant recording was possible with the applied voltage Ve
being 5 V or less. As will further be described later, in case of a
head having a ridge whose line is directed towards the track, a
significant recording is possible even with the distance D being
longer than the above.
[0133] Next, the recording mechanism of the thermally-assisted
magnetic recording device according to the present invention will
be described herebelow with reference to FIGS. 6A through 6C.
[0134] FIGS. 6A through 6C schematically shows the process of
recording by the thermally-assisted magnetic recording head
according to the present invention. FIG. 6A is a sectional view of
an portion extracted from FIG. 1B and associated with the recording
process, FIG. 6B graphically shows an electron beam profile on the
medium and a temperature distribution on the medium and FIG. 6C
graphically shows a spatial distribution of the medium coercive
force and that of the recording magnetic field. In FIG. 6A,
reference numeral 11 indicates a main magnetic pole, 13 a tip of
the main magnetic pole, 17 a magnetic flux generated by the main
magnetic pole 11, 30 an electron emitter electrode, 40 an electron
emitter, 41 an electron beam, 60 a medium, 61 a recording layer, 62
a soft-magnetic lining layer, 63 a medium heater, 64 a magnetically
recording portion of the medium 60, and 65 a magnetization of the
medium 60. In FIG. 6A, the elements having the same or similar
functions as or to those of the elements shown in FIGs. 1A and 1B
will be indicated with the same or similar reference numerals as
those in FIGS. 1A and 1B. They will not be described in detail.
[0135] In FIG. 6A, the reference Ve indicates a voltage applied to
the electron emitter 40, D a track-directional distance between the
top end portion of the electron emitter 40 and leading edge of the
tip 13 of the main or recording magnetic pole 11, X a moving
direction of the medium 60, Be an electron beam profile on the
medium surface, Tm a medium temperature, Hc0 a coercive force of
the medium 60, and Hw a recording magnetic field.
[0136] The medium 60 is moved from left to right (in the plane of
FIG. 6A; the left side of the plane is leading side while the right
side is trailing side) in relation to the head, and a voltage Ve is
applied to the electron emitter 40 to direct an electron beam 41
from the top end portion of the electron emitter 40 towards the
recording layer 61. The spatial distribution of the electron beam
incident upon the medium 60 is as indicated with Be in FIG. 6B. The
recording layer 61 is heated by the electron beam 41 having the
profile Be. Since the medium 60 is moved at a high speed, the
temperature of the recording layer 61 will delineate a curve whose
peak is shifted towards the trailing side in relation to the
electron beam profile Be, that is, a curve Tm in FIG. 6B. The
distribution of the coercive force Hc0 of the medium 60 depends
upon the temperature distribution Tm and temperature characteristic
of Hc0 shown in FIG. 4 and delineates a curve Hc0 shown in FIG. 6C.
The distribution of Hc0 and distribution Hw of a magnetic flux 18
generated by the recording magnetic pole 11 and interlinking the
medium 60 intersect each other at a position 64 the magnetized
direction of the medium 60 depends on.
[0137] As seen from FIG. 6C, the trough of Hc0 is deeper as the
power or energy of the incident electron beam is higher, while the
crest of Hw is higher as the current Iw supplied to the recording
coil 21 is larger. The position where Hc0 and Hw curves intersect
each other shifts depending upon the distance D between the top end
portion of the electron emitter 40 and leading edge of the tip 13
of the recording magnetic pole 11.
[0138] As seen from FIG. 6C, the magnetic transition point in the
thermally-assisted magnetic recording according to the present
invention differs from that in the conventional magnetic recording
and will also lie at other than the trailing edge of the tip 13 of
the recording magnetic pole 11.
[0139] In the conventional magnetic recording not thermally
assisted, since Hc0 of the medium 60 is spatially uniform and a
larger recording magnetic field than Hc0 is applied to provide a
magnetic transition, the magnetic transition position necessarily
lies in the trailing edge of the tip 13 of the recording magnetic
pole 11. On the contrary, in the thermally-assisted magnetic
recording according to the present invention, the magnetized
direction coincides with the direction of the recording magnetic
field only within an area defined between Hc0 and Hw curves
intersecting at two points. When the direction of the recording
magnetic field is reversed at a time when the medium 60 passes by
between Hc0 and Hw, a magnetic transition takes place at that
position, therefore, the magnetic transition will not always take
place in the trailing edge of the recording magnetic pole 11 but in
an arbitrary area between Hc0 and Hw curves intersecting at two
points and between the leading and trailing edges.
[0140] In FIG. 6A, there are shown only the major components of the
recording device and medium in the form of a lateral sectional
view. However, it should be noted that when the intensity
distribution of the electron beam on the medium surface is curved
in the direction of the track width, the line between the points of
intersection between Hc0 and Hw curves. Therefore, the magnetic
transition provided by the thermally-assisted magnetic recording
according to the present invention is curved in the direction of
the track width as the case may be. The development of the magnetic
transition not always only in the trailing edge of the tip of the
recording magnetic pole 11 but also at an arbitrary point between
the points of intersection between Hc0 and Hw curves and occasional
curving of the magnetic transition in the direction of the track
width can be counted at the differences of the thermally-assisted
magnetic recording according to the present invention from the
conventional magnetic recording.
[0141] In the foregoing, the first or basic embodiment of the
present invention has been described in which a low recording
frequency is selected for the purpose of definite examination of
the behavior of the signal output. However, it is of course that
the present invention can realize a quality thermally-assisted
magnetic recording even with a high linear density.
Second Embodiment
[0142] Next, the present invention will be described herebelow
concerning its second embodiment of the thermally-assisted magnetic
recording device.
[0143] In the first embodiment of the thermally-assisted magnetic
recording device according to the present invention, the
multiparticle layer was used as the medium. The present invention
is advantageous when the medium is formed from a continuously
magnetic layer, that is, an amorphous magnetic layer, too. A medium
formed from a layer of a ferrimagnetic alloy of an amorphous rare
earth and transition metal (R-T layer) and used as a
magneto-optical recording medium, was experimentally prepared and
installed in the thermally-assisted magnetic recording device
according to the present invention. The second embodiment was
evaluated similarly to the first embodiment having been described
in the foregoing.
[0144] The medium is constructed by forming on a glass substrate a
heat sink layer of an Al alloy, TbFeCo recording layer of TbFeCo,
protective layer of C and a lubricant layer in this order. The heat
sink layer was provided to adjust the thermal response of the
recording layer.
[0145] Referring now to FIG. 7, there is graphically illustrated a
thermally-assisted magnetic characteristic of the medium
experimentally prepared. In FIG. 7, Hc is a coercive force and Ms
is a saturation magnetization related to a read signal. In a
continuously magnetic layer such as a magneto-optical layer, since
no thermal agitation will take place, Hc and Hc0 basically coincide
with each other in the entire temperature range. In this second
embodiment, the composition of the recording layer was adjusted so
that Ms at a temperature near the room temperature was 200 cmu/cc
or so for an ample magnetic signal. Also, the compensation point
was set to about 100.degree. C., recording point to two hundreds
and several tens of .degree. C., and the Curie point was to
300.degree. C. The medium was set along with the thermally-assisted
magnetic recording head according to the present invention in the
spin-stand type evaluation apparatus and subject to the same
evaluation as for the first embodiment. The evaluation result was
almost same as that of the first embodiment.
[0146] FIG. 8 graphically explains the concept of information
recording to the medium in FIG. 7 according to the present
invention. The construction of the thermally-assisted magnetic
recording head, intensity distribution of the electron beam, and
temperature distribution on the medium are exactly as shown in FIG.
6B. Different from in FIG. 6B is the Hc distribution on the medium.
Since the compensation point is set to nearly 100.degree. C., Hc
will be distributed as shown in FIG. 8 correspondingly to a
temperature distribution Tm to that shown in FIG. 6B. The Hc curve
and curve of the magnetic field Hw applied by the recording medium
will intersect each other at a position the magnetized direction
depends on.
Third Embodiment
[0147] Next, the present invention will be described herebelow
concerning the third embodiment thereof.
[0148] According to this embodiment, the thermally-assisted
magnetic recording head according to the present invention was
produced with some different settings of the track width Tc of the
top end portion of the electron emitter and track width Tw of the
tip of the recording magnetic pole, respectively, as shown in FIGS.
1A and 1B or FIG. 6A. The head was combined with the medium
included in the first embodiment, and evaluated similarly to the
first embodiment, and also the cross-erase (erasure of record
signal on an adjacent track) was evaluated.
[0149] In the third embodiment, the track width of the tip of the
recording magnetic pole was fixed to 0.75 .mu.m, the length in the
direction of the track width of the hole (25 in FIGS. 2B and 2C)
for forming the electron emitter was changed, and the track width
Te of the top end portion of the electron emitter was changed.
Also, the track pitch was set to 1 .mu.m, recording was made to
five tracks adjacent to each other with different recording
frequencies, and then recording to the middle track was repeated
105 times to examine whether the record signal in the adjacent
tracks would be deteriorated.
[0150] FIG. 9 graphically shows the result of the evaluation of the
third embodiment of the present invention. In the graph, the
horizontal axis shows Te/Tw ratio while the vertical axis shows
read output. The reference A indicates a read output from the
track, recorded as in the first embodiment, and B indicates a read
output from a track adjacent to the track to which recording was
repeatedly made 105 times (the read data had been pre-recorded with
a difference frequency from that for the track to which 105 times
of recording was repeated). The curve A will make it clear that the
read output falls suddenly with the Te/Tw ratio being of less than
1/2. This is because with a too small a Te/Tw ratio, it is
difficult to sufficiently heat the medium over the track width and
no significant recording is possible near the track edge.
[0151] Also it will be known from the curve B that with two large a
Te/Tw ratio, signals already recorded in tracks adjacent to the one
to which recording was repeatedly made are deteriorated. It is
considered as the reason for the above that although no recording
magnetic field will be applied to any adjacent tracks during
recording, too large a Te/Tw ratio will cause the end portions of
the adjacent tracks to heated and data to be gradually destroyed by
thermal agitation. As seen from FIG. 9, it is preferable in this
embodiment of the present invention to establish a relation of 1/2
Te.ltoreq.Tw.ltoreq.2Te between the track width Te of the electron
emitter and track width Tw of the tip of the recording magnetic
pole.
Fourth Embodiment
[0152] Next, the present invention will be described herebelow
concerning the fourth embodiment thereof.
[0153] The fourth embodiment is a thermally-assisted magnetic
recording head having a plurality of electron emitters provided in
the direction of the track.
[0154] Referring now to FIG. 10, there are illustrated in the form
of a sectional view essential components of the thermally-assisted
magnetic recording head, by way of example, having a plurality of
electron emitters provided therein. In FIG. 10, reference numeral
11 indicates a main magnetic pole, 13 a tip of the main magnetic
pole 11, 30 an electron emission electrode, 401 is a first electron
emitter, 402 a second electron emitter, and 403 a third electron
emitter. In FIG. 10, the elements having the same or similar
functions as or to those of the elements shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B
or FIG. 6A will be indicated with the same or similar reference
numerals as those in FIGS. 1A and 1B or 6A. They will not be
described in detail. FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment in which
three electron emitters are provided. However, the present
invention is not limited to this number of electron emitters but
can use more than three electron emitters. This embodiment is
specially advantageous in that the efficient of medium heating is
improved by providing the plurality of electron emitters in the
direction of the track. Any electron emitters disposed too far from
the recording magnetic pole will not work so effectively. The
preferable number of the electron emitters used in the present
invention is two to five in total.
[0155] The plurality of electron emitters shown, by way of example,
in FIG. 10 can be formed by somewhat modifying the manufacturing
process for the first embodiment, having previously been described
with reference to FIGS. 2A THROUGH 2E. Namely, in the process in
which the hole is formed in the dielectric or metal layer 24, shown
in FIG. 2B, it suffices to form a plurality of holes of a
predetermined size in the direction of the track. When the
plurality of electron emitters is provided, the distance between
the top end portions thereof should preferably be short. Therefore,
to form the electron emitters 401 to 403 (as in FIG. 2D), a highly
anisotropic method such as the long-slow sputtering, collimated
sputtering or the like should be adopted, and the height of the
electron emitters should be low.
[0156] The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head provided with
the plurality of electron emitters thus formed was evaluated
similarly to the first embodiment. As the evaluation result of the
first embodiment, the range of the distance D enabling significant
recording was proved to be 500 nm or less, preferably 250 nm or
less, and more preferably 100 nm or less. The evaluation result of
the fourth embodiment proved that sufficiently significant
recording was possible with a distance D being more than double
that in the first embodiment. In the evaluation of the fourth
embodiment, an integration in the direction of the track of the
heat developed by the electron beams emitted from the individual
electron emitters was taken as the medium temperature. The distance
between the electron emitters should be equal to the distance D
which should be when the single electron emitter is used.
[0157] On the other hand, the same effect can also be assured by
changing the direction of the ridge of the electron emitter instead
of providing the plurality of electron emitters. More specifically,
the electron emitter in FIGS. 1A and 1B should be formed
rectangular in the direction of the track (it should be turned
90.degree. in the plane of FIG. 1B). Also in this case, the
electron incident area of the medium will be longer in the
direction of the track, so that the medium can be heated with a
high efficiency. The track width in this case may be defined to be
a one which would be when the plurality of electron emitters is
provided in the direction of the tack width, or several tens of nm
which would be defined when the single electron emitter is
provided. Note that a top end portion of 10 nm or so of the
electron emitter can effectively emit electrons as having
previously been described. However, by applying a higher electric
field, the effective electron emitting portion can be extended to
20 nm or so. Also, since the electric field distribution between
the top end of the electron emitter and medium surface has a
profile extending somehow on the medium surface, the electron
incident area of the medium surface is wider than the electron
emitting area. For example, when the spacing is 10 nm or so, the
electron incident area will be 20 to 30% wider than the electron
emitting area. With the spacing being small, the electron emitting
area and electron incident area will be equal in size to each
other.
Fifth Embodiment
[0158] The aforementioned embodiments are combinations of a planar
type magnetic recording had and electron emitter. However, the
present invention is applicable to a laminated type thin magnetic
head.
[0159] Referring now to FIG. 11, there is illustrated in the form
of a sectional view a thermally-assisted magnetic recording head
composed of a laminated type thin magnetic head and electron
emitter according to the present invention. In FIG. 11, reference
numeral 11 indicates a main magnetic pole, 12 a return-path
magnetic pole, 13 a tip of the main magnetic pole 11, 14 a
connection between the main magnetic pole 11 and return-path
magnetic pole 12, 21 a coil, 22 a layer in which the coil 21 is
buried, 30 an electrode, 32 a read gap, 31 an insulative layer, 33
an upper shield, 10 a GMR read element, 60 a medium, 61 a recording
layer, 62 a lining layer, S a substrate, and X a medium moving
direction. In FIG. 11, the elements having the same or similar
functions as or to those of the elements shown in FIGS. 1A and 1G
or FIG. 3 will be indicated with the same or similar reference
numerals as those in FIGS. 1A and 1B or FIG. 3. They will not be
described in detail.
[0160] The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head shown, by way
of example, in FIG. 11 can be produced following the procedure
given below for example. The substrate S should desirably be an
ALTIC substrate easily workable into a slider. The electrode 30 for
the electron emitter is provided in the form of a stripe on an
insulative layer formed, if applicable, on the substrate S or
directly on the substrate S. A layer of carbon (C) is provided also
in the form of a stripe on the electrode 30. After the lamination
thus formed is flattened, an insulative layer 31 is formed thereon,
and the main magnetic pole 11 is formed by frame plating. The top
end portion of the main magnetic pole 11 is etched to form the tip
13.
[0161] Next, the coil 21 of Cu is formed by frame-etching and a
through-hole is formed in the connection 14. Then, the connection
14 is formed by frame plating, and also the return-path magnetic
pole 12 is formed by frame plating. The surface of the return-path
magnetic pole 12 is flattened.
[0162] Further, the read gap layer 32 is formed to a half or so
thereof, the GMR element is formed, and a hard bias layer and Cu
lead are formed at opposite sides of the GMR element. Thereafter,
the rest of the read gap layer 33 is formed and then the upper
shield 33 is formed. In this state, the top end portion of the
electron emitter has no ridge yet but it has the shape of a square
pole. After the thin layers are thus formed on the substrate S, the
substrate S is cut into stripes and each stripe is cut into chips,
and thus the surface of an ABS layer is exposed. A protective layer
is coated on the ABS surface, and finally FIB process is used to
taper the top end portion of the electron emitter (made of C) from
both sides thereof. At this time, the tip 13 of the main or
recording magnetic pole 11 may be trimmed as necessary.
[0163] The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head thus
constructed following the above procedure was evaluated similarly
to the aforementioned embodiments. The evaluation result proved the
effect of the present invention as with the aforementioned
embodiments.
Sixth Embodiment
[0164] Next, the present invention will further be described
concerning the sixth embodiment thereof with reference to FIG.
12.
[0165] This embodiment relates to a system configuration of the
thermally-assisted magnetic recording device.
[0166] FIG. 12 is a block diagram of the thermally-assisted
magnetic recording device according to the present invention,
showing an example of the system construction of the recording
device. In FIG. 12, the reference Ie indicates an electron emitter
drive input, Is a signal input, Os is a signal output, 101 an
electron emitter drive circuit, 102 an electron emitting element
incorporated in the head, 103 an ECC (error correction code) append
circuit, 104 a modulation circuit, 105 a record correction circuit,
106 a write element incorporated in the head, 107 a medium, 108 a
read element incorporated in the head, 109 an equivalent circuit,
110 a demodulation circuit, 111 a demodulation circuit, and 112 an
ECC circuit.
[0167] Different from the conventional magnetic disc drive not of
the thermally-assisted type, this embodiment is characterized by
the addition of the electron emitter drive input Ie, electron
emitting element drive circuit 101 and electron emitting element
102, the novel head construction as having previously been
described concerning the aforementioned embodiments, and the
specially adjusted thermally-assisted magnetic characteristic of
the medium as having previously been described concerning the
aforementioned embodiments.
[0168] To drive the electron emitter, a DC voltage may be applied
to the electron emitter or the electron emitting element may be
DC-driven with no electron emitting element drive circuit being
provided. Also, the electron emitter may be driven in a pulsed
manner synchronously with an output from the modulation circuit
104. The pulsed drive will make more complicate the circuit
configuration, but it is preferable for a longer service life of
the electron emitter. The ECC append circuit 103 and ECC circuit
112 may not be provided. The modulation and demodulation method,
and record correcting method may freely be selected.
[0169] Information is read to the medium by directing an electron
beam from the electron emitting element 102 to the medium and
applying a recording magnetic field derived by modulating a
recording signal from the write element 106 to a position on the
medium where Hc0 has been lowered due to the incident electron
beam. Forming of information to be written as a magnetic transition
train on the medium surface is the same as in the conventional
magnetic recording device. However, when the electron beam is
curved in the direction of the track idth, the magnetic transition
is also curved in the direction of the track width. A fringing
field developed from the magnetic transition train and coming from
the medium is detected as a signal field by the read element
108.
[0170] The read element 108 is typically of GMR type, but it may be
of the ordinary AMR (anisotropic magnetoresistance) type. It may be
of a TMR (tunneling magnetoresistance) type in future.
[0171] The thermally-assisted magnetic write and read by the
thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to the
present invention were evaluated. The result is equal to that
obtained by the evaluation of the aforementioned embodiments using
the spin-stand type evaluation apparatus.
Seventh Embodiment
[0172] Next, the present invention will further be described
concerning the seventh embodiment thereof with reference to FIG.
13.
[0173] This embodiment provides a thermally-assisted magnetic
recording device in which the atmosphere around the electron
emitter is controlled to further improve the reliability.
[0174] Before proceeding to the description of the seventh
embodiment of thermally-assisted magnetic recording device
according to the present invention, the experiments the Inventors
of the present invention conducted and the experiment results will
be described in detail herebelow. In the process to work out this
embodiment, the Inventors made experiments on how the atmosphere
around the electron emitter should be.
[0175] FIG. 13 is a block diagram of the apparatus used in the
experiments conducted by the Inventors of the present invention.
The apparatus shown in FIG. 13 is a modified one of STM (scanning
tunneling microscopy). The modifications of STM will mainly be
described below.
[0176] First modification: Carbon (C), Ta (tantalum) and Si
(silicon) were coated on the layer of Pt (platinum) normally used
to form the probe (corresponding to the electron emitter in the
present invention) in STM to provide a probe made of materials
generally used to form the field emission emitter.
[0177] Second modification:
[0178] A sample having a dummy medium surface formed by coating a C
(carbon) layer on a glass substrate was prepared as an object to be
microscoped by STM (corresponding to the recording medium according
to the present invention).
[0179] Third modification: This is related to the control of a
distance between the probe and sample. In ordinary STM, the probe
tip and sample surface are disposed several A (angstrom) off each
other so that a tunnel current will flow. To detect a field
emission current flowing over a distance of 10 nm or so, the
Inventors of the present invention controlled an inchworm element
by a sample holding circuit to move the sample in relation to the
probe in a pulsed manner at a rate of 4 nm/step so that the
distance between the probe and sample surface could be fixed to 10
nm or so.
[0180] Fourth modification: This is related to an increase of the
range of measuring current. In ordinary STM, a tunnel current of
0.3 to 0.5 mA is used. However, since a field emission current of
10.sup.-4 A is advantageously used in the thermally-assisted
magnetic recording device according to the present invention, the
I-V amplifier was modified for a variable IV-converted resistance
to monitor a current of 10.sup.-4 A or so. Furthermore, a
modification was made so that when an emission current of 10.sup.-4
A or so was detected, a control in a constant current mode was
started to enable measurement of a time for which the current
continued to flow stable. The voltage applied to the probe was made
variable between 0 and 15 V. Also, the probe and sample were
disposed in a sealed container in which the internal atmosphere
could freely be changed.
[0181] Using the experimental apparatus constructed as in the
above, the experiments on this embodiment were conducted following
the procedure given below:
[0182] First, with the probe kept at the ground potential, the
probe was moved towards the sample surface to detect a tunnel
current. It can be estimated that at this time, the probe and
sample surface were several A (angstrom) off each other. The
inchworm was driven taking this distance as a reference to move the
sample from the probe at 2 to 3 steps, and the sample was fixed by
the sample holding circuit. While applying a voltage gradually to
the probe and varying the IV-converted resistance of the I-V in
this condition, the field emission current was measured in a wide
range of the current.
[0183] The probe used was a Pt probe normally used in ordinary STM
and having C, Ta and Si coated to a thickness of about 2 to 5 nm by
sputter coating. The atmosphere inside the container in which the
probe was placed was changed to various degrees using a evacuation
pump and gas inlet system. The composition of the gas in the sealed
container was analyzed wit a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS)
mounted on the container. When the internal pressure of the
container was higher than the operating pressure of QMS, the gas
was sampled through an orifice. The diameter of the orifice was
varied depending upon the internal pressure of the container so
that measurement was always possible with a high sensitivity. The
output of QMS was calibrated with an output which was when an
object gas (mainly oxygen) was introduced in 100% at a
predetermined pressure to determine an absolute value of the
partial pressure of the gas. Also, the experiment was conducted in
a clean room so that the number of particles inside the container
would be less than Class 100. After replacing the probe and sample,
the container inside was cleaned back to a predetermined atmosphere
by purging a dry nitrogen several times.
[0184] FIG. 14 graphically shows a relation between a field
emission current I and voltage V applied to a probe, experienced
using two probes made of Ta (tantalum) and C (carbon),
respectively, in a depressurized atmosphere of 10.times.10.sup.-4
Pa. Since the distance between the top end of the probe and sample
surface is fixed to 10 nm as having previously been described, the
voltage of 1 V is equivalent to a field intensity of 10.sup.6 V/cm.
The behavior of the emission current against the field intensity
was such that the Ta probe having a shape reflecting the
Fowler-Nordheim expression and having a low work function provided
a larger emission current than the C probe having a higher work
function. Namely, the experiment results provide reasonable data.
The Inventors conducted a similar experiment on a probe made of Si.
The emission current of this probe was an intermediate one between
those of the Ta and C probes, which also reflects its work
function.
[0185] Next, an applied voltage was set so that the emission
current would be constant at some voltages in a range of
1.times.10.sup.-5 to 1.times.10.sup.-4 A, to examine the time
change of the emission current. In this experiment, a variety of
atmospheres was selectively used in the container in which the
probe was placed, including a vacuum atmosphere of 10.sup.-4 Pa, a
high purity rare gas atmosphere charged at 1 atm. after evacuation
of the container (atmosphere 1), a high purity dry nitrogen
atmosphere charged at 1 atm. after evacuation of the container
(atmosphere 2) and an atmosphere resulted from ordinary atmosphere
(at a relative humidity of 25% RH or so) introduced after
evacuation and whose pressure had been adjusted and set by the
vacuum pump to several pressures (atmosphere 3), and a high purity
oxygen atmosphere introduced at several set pressures after
evacuation of the container to examine the influence of oxygen
(atmosphere 4). When the atmospheres 3 and 4 are used in the
container, the experiment was done while checking the absolute
amount of oxygen using a quadrapole mass spectrometer.
[0186] FIG. 15 graphically shows an example of the result of the
experiment effected using the probe made of C with the emission
current set to 5.times.10.sup.-5 A. In FIG. 15, the reference a
indicates a curve of a time change of the emission current which
was when the oxygen amount in the atmospheres 1, 2, 3 and 4 is
5.times.10.sup.17 (mols/cm.sup.3) or less, and references b, c and
d indicate curves of a time change of the emission current which
was when the oxygen amounts are shown in FIG. 15. The radius of
curvature of the top end portion of the C probe was about 5 nm and
a field is emitted from the nearly semi-spherical portion of the
top end portion. In this case, the emission current density J was
3.18.times.10.sup.5(A/cm.sup.2). FIG. 14 shows the deterioration of
the electron emitter, having resulted in a short period of time.
The experiment result proved that also in case the C-made electron
emitter excellent in oxidation resistance is used, the
deterioration will be remarkable when the oxygen molecule density
exceeds 5.times.10.sup.17 (mols/cm.sup.3).
[0187] When the above-mentioned value of J is substituted for J in
the relational expression of X and J, defined in the present
invention, the right side of the expression will be
3.98.times.10.sup.17, which will show that the value of
5.times.10.sup.17 (mols/cm.sup.3) acquired in the experiment is
rather higher than the upper limit of X in the relational
expression. This fact shows the nature of the carbon (C) excellent
in oxidation resistance. The results of the experiments conducted
using a variety of electron emitters and various emission current
densities, which will be described below, reveals that in such
electron emitters and electron emitter made of Si and on which an
oxidation zone will easily be formed, the relational expression
defined in the present invention should be met in order to assure a
longer service life of the electron emission source.
[0188] Taking as an index the time (td), in the characteristic
curve shown in FIG. 15, in which the emission current is
deteriorated to 90% of its initial value (indicated with a dash
line in FIG. 15), various electron emitters and emission currents
were examined about the relation between the oxygen amount in the
atmosphere and the time (td).
[0189] FIG. 16 graphically shows the result of this experiment. In
the experiment, electron emission was continuously made for 10
hours and then paused for 12 hours. This was repeated until the
electron emission had been made for a total integrated time of 300
hours. This result is also shown in FIG. 15. A line at which the
time td exceeds 300 hours is shown in FIG. 16. The solid lines with
references Si and Ta, respectively, in FIG. 16 are lines at which
the time td is kept at 300 hours when the electron emitters made of
Si and Ta, respectively, are used. In the area under these lines,
the time td is over 300 hours. In FIG. 15, the broken line
indicated with the reference C indicates the result of the
experiment on the electron emitter made of C.
[0190] The line indicated with a legend "Field evaporation limit"
shown at the right of FIG. 16 indicates that when the emission
current density is larger (corresponding to an emission current
from a semi-sphere of 10 nm in diameter being 5.times.10.sup.-4 A),
the intensity of applied field will be 10.sup.8 V/cm or so, meaning
that the field evaporation will so be remarkable that it will be
difficult to use the electron emitters in consideration as an
electron emitter. The lower limit of J indicates a lower limit "at
which the medium can yet be heated to a significant temperature".
When the high purity oxygen in the atmosphere 4 was introduced in
the container, the electron emitter seemed to have a longer service
life than the line shown in FIG. 16 as compared with the service
life which will be when an atmosphere containing moisture is
introduced into the atmosphere 3., This is because the atmosphere 3
contains moisture in addition to oxygen. It is considered that the
oxygen and its dissociated species as well as the moisture (water)
and its dissociated species promote the deterioration of the
emission current.
[0191] The aforementioned series of experiments revealed how the
atmosphere around the electron emitter of the thermally-assisted
magnetic recording device according to the present invention should
be. Based on this findings, the Invention of the present invention
invented a thermally-assisted magnetic recording device which will
be described below.
[0192] The construction of thermally-assisted magnetic recording
head used in this embodiment of thermally-assisted magnetic
recording device is similar to that of the first to fifth
embodiments. Also, the medium having previously been described
concerning the first embodiment may be used as the
thermally-assisted magnetic recording medium of a high Ku (Hc0)
value with these heads.
[0193] FIGS. 17A and 17B are conceptual views of a part of the
seventh embodiment of the magnetic recording device according to
the present invention, showing especially a means for adjusting the
atmosphere inside an enclosure of the magnetic recording device, in
which FIG. 17A is a perspective view of the enclosure and FIG. 17B
is a sectional view, enlarged in scale, taken along the line X-X'
in FIG. 17A. A medium having the above-mentioned magnetic
characteristic was placed along with the thermally-assisted
magnetic head according to the present invention in this enclosure,
and the internal atmosphere was adjusted, thus experimentally
preparing the thermally-assisted magnetic recording device
according to the present invention.
[0194] In FIGS. 17A and 17B, reference numeral 70 indicates an
enclosure, 71 a sealing groove, 72 a screw hole, 73 a lid and 74 an
O-ring. The major part (not shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B) of the
magnetic recording device which will further be described later is
incorporated in the enclosure 70. The thickness of plates used to
form the enclosure is appropriately set depending upon an internal
pressure of the enclosure after sealed. The plate thickness is set
larger for a lower internal pressure to prevent the enclosure from
being deformed by the external atmospheric pressure. To prevent
such deformation due to the external atmospheric pressure, a
honeycomb-like or rectangular cell-like reinforcing member may be
attached to the plate inner wall of the enclosure or the top and
bottom and right and left walls of the enclosure may be connected
with some studs, instead of simply using thick plates. When an
inert gas at atmospheric pressure is charged in the enclosure, it
is not necessary to used thick plates or reinforcing members.
[0195] The sealing groove 71 is formed in the open end of the
enclosure 70 to receive the O-ring 74 therein. When the lid 73 is
attached to the enclosure 70, the O-ring 74 will provide an
effective sealing to isolate the internal atmosphere from the outer
atmosphere. The portion where the sealing groove is formed depends
upon the design of the enclosure. In case the enclosure formed from
a rectangular parallelepiped whose five sides are formed integrally
with each other is fixed to a chassis (shown in FIG. 18) after the
components of the magnetic recording device are installed to the
chassis, the sealing groove may be provided at only one side of the
enclosure. The O-ring 74 may be a deformable ring such as
rectangular ring and other ring, made of a rubber normally-used for
an airtight sealing. It is fitted in the sealing groove 71. The lid
73 (or chassis) is placed on the O-ring 74 and screwed to the
enclosure 70 with screws driven into the screw holes 72, to
complete the airtight sealing of the enclosure 70. Since it is only
required to keep an oxygen density defined in the present invention
for a predetermined length of time, the airtightness may not be so
high as a one required for the vacuum devices. More specifically,
in case the enclosure inside is not depressurized but an inert gas
atmosphere is maintained at atmospheric pressure inside the
enclosure, even a relatively simple sealing can maintain the oxygen
amount defined in the present invention for the predetermined
length of time.
[0196] FIG. 18 schematically shows a magnetic recording device
disposed in the enclosure shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B, showing an
embodiment of he major components thereof by way of example. In
FIG. 18, reference numeral 80 indicates a chassis, 81 a magnetic
recording medium involved in the present invention, 82 a
thermally-assisted magnetic recording head involved in the present
invention, 83 a high precision, high speed positioning system and
84 a signal processing system. The inner side of the chassis 80
shown in FIG. 18 is nearly mirror-finished to provide a sealing
surface. It is closed to the O-ring 74 shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B
to isolate the enclosure inside from the outside atmosphere.
[0197] Alternatively, to shut off any oxidizing atmosphere, an
oxygen gettering substance may be provided on the electron emitter
and enclosure inner wall, or a deoxidizer may be sealed in the
enclosure 70. The gettering substances includes titanium or its
alloy, for example.
[0198] The magnetic recording device shown in FIGS. 17 and 18 can
be produced following the procedure given below, for example:
[0199] First in a normal atmosphere (in a clean room used at an
ordinary manufacturing site), the spindle motor, magnetic recording
medium 81 and a suspension arm having mounted thereon the magnetic
head 82, and a controller of the signal processing system are
sequentially installed to the chassis 80. The head has formed in
the thin film element thereof the electron beam source or emitter
according to the present invention, and the controller has
additionally provided therein an electron beam controller (such as
a voltage source, etc.).
[0200] Next, the chassis having various members installed thereon
and enclosure are inserted into a glove box or sealed container
charged with an inert gas, the oxygen density in the glove box or
sealed container is monitored, and the oxygen density is lowered to
less than a predetermined level by circulation of the inert gas.
After confirming that the oxygen density has been lowered to a
sufficient level, a robot or human worker (in case of the glove
box) assembles the enclosure and chassis together by screwing. The
assembling may be done by simple welding, not the screwing.
Alternatively, a vent may be formed in the enclosure or chassis,
the enclosure and chassis are assembled together in normal
atmosphere, and then the atmosphere inside the enclosure may be
replaced with inert gas, or the enclosure may be evacuated, through
the vent. In this case, after it is checked at the exhaust system
that the oxygen density inside the enclosure has been, changed to
the predetermined level, a portion around the vent is sealed. For
this sealing, the vent and exhaust system should be connected to
each other by a pipe formed from a spreadable metal, and after the
oxygen density has been changed to the predetermined level, the
pipe should be crimped, for example.
[0201] The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device thus
constructed according to the present invention was tested on the
stability of the electron emitter involved in the present
invention. In the test, the medium (ground potential) was rotated
until the head comes to a predetermined track, then a voltage of
-10V was applied to the electron emitter, and a high frequency
current was supplied to the recording magnetic pole to write a
signal of 300 kfci for example. Immediately after that, the written
signal was read by the GMR read element. After write to several
tens of tracks, the head was sought back to the initial track, and
a signal of 200 kfci for example was overwritten to the track. Just
after that, the written signal was read by the GMR read element.
Write is made to several tracks, and the head was sought back to
the initial track, and a signal of 300 kfci was overwritten to the
track.
[0202] The above operations were continuously done for a time
length of 1000 hours. As the result, no change was found in the
read signal quality, which proved the effect of the present
invention. Note that it had previously been confirmed that just
supplying the same high frequency current as in the above to the
recording magnetic pole with no voltage applied to the electron
emitter will not provide any recording and heating of the medium
with electron beam enables recording. No change in the read signal
quality means that there is no change in the emission current of
the electron emitter.
Eighth Embodiment
[0203] The present invention will further be described herebelow
concerning the eighth embodiment thereof.
[0204] This embodiment provides a magnetic head and
thermally-assisted magnetic recording device, using an electron
emitter instead of a magnetic yoke or pole in a magnetic recording
head. This construction of the magnetic head and thermally-assisted
magnetic recording device will enable a further higher recording
density.
[0205] FIG. 19 is a conceptual sectional view of the major
components of a first magnetic recording head according to the
eighth embodiment of the present invention. The recording head
shown in FIG. 19 is of a so-called single pole type. In FIG. 19,
reference numeral 211 indicates a slider base, 212 a recording
magnetic pole assembly, 213 a recording coil, 214 a main magnetic
pole, 215 a return magnetic pole, 216 a position of medium-facing
surface (air bearing surface: ABS), 217 a lead connected to the
magnetic pole assembly, and 218 a lead connected to the recording
coil 213. When a voltage is applied to the lead 217, it is possible
to emit electrons from the top ends of the main magnetic pole 214
and return magnetic pole 215. The lead 218 connected to the
recording coil 214 is normally applied with an electric signal of a
desired recording frequency, and a magnetic field modulated with
the electric signal will be applied to a magnetic recording medium
(not shown) from the magnetic poles. The lead 217 may have a
connection pad for itself or in common with other signal line and
the like.
[0206] In this embodiment, the magnetic poles serve also as a
heating electron emitter, so the heat source and magnetic flux
emitter can be placed extremely near to each other. As a result, an
ultrahigh thermally-assisted magnetic recording is enabled.
[0207] The requirements the magnetic recording head according to
the present invention has to meet are the same as those for the
conventional magnetic recording head except for the lead 217
provided to apply a voltage to the magnetic pole assembly 212 (or
magnetic yoke). Supplemental explanation of some important
components of the magnetic head according to the present invention
will be given below:
[0208] Lead 217 and its pad:
[0209] The lead 217 may be a one formed by patterning a metal film
such as Cu (copper) similarly to the lead 218 provided to supply a
current to the magnetic field generating coil (recording coil) 213
for example.
[0210] The lead 217 can be connected to the magnetic pole assembly
212 in the same manner as the lead 218 provided to supply a current
to the magnetic field generating coil (recording coil) 213. These
leads can be formed in the same process as the case may be, except
for replacement of the etching mask. Therefore, the magnetic head
can be produced at a cost very lower than the conventional magnetic
head in which a laser light is used to head the medium.
[0211] A pad (not shown) may be provided to apply a voltage the
lead 217. This pad can simply be formed in the-same process as that
for the pad used in the conventional magnetic recording head.
[0212] Top end face of the main magnetic pole 214:
[0213] In a high density HDD, since the size of the main magnetic
pole 214 (or magnetic yoke) in the ABS 216 is sufficiently small in
size, electron emission will easily take place. However, to provide
an easier, well-controlled electron emission, it has been proposed
to "roughen" the air bearing surface opposite to the medium of the
main magnetic pole 214 (or magnetic yoke). A rough surface has many
fine projections and electric fields concentrate to the
projections, so that field emission will preferentially take place
at the projections. On the contrary, on a smooth surface, field
emission point will move at the time passes, and thus cannot be
well controlled. However, this will not be a great problem when the
system requirement is such that the medium should only be heated
within the range of the size of the main magnetic pole 214 (or
magnetic yoke) in the ABS 216.
[0214] The surface "roughness" should be such that a mean roughness
Ra being a general index obtainable through evaluation using AFM
(atomic force microscope) is over 0.5 nm and under 10 nm. A mean
roughness Ra of 0.5 nm or less will cause the field emission point
to move-easily, while a mean roughness of 10 nm or more will lead
to a longer time for working the pole.
[0215] Recessing the return magnetic pole 215:
[0216] Generally, in the magnetic pole assembly or magnetic yoke of
the magnetic recording head, there is provided the return magnetic
pole 215 (trailing-side yoke) to which the magnetic flux will come
back through the magnetic recording medium. In the magnetic head
according to the present invention, it is essential to head a
portion to which recording is to be made. So, field emission should
not desirably take place mainly on the return magnetic pole 215 (or
trailing-side yoke).
[0217] To avoid the above, it is effective to recess the return
magnetic pole 215 (or trailing-side yoke) somehow from the
medium-facing surface (ABS) 216 in relation to the main magnetic
pole 214 (or leading-side yoke). The recessing distance should
desirably be over 0.5 nm and under 1000 nm. A recessing distance of
0.5 nm or less is not suitable since it will cause the magnetic
flux not to be usable with a high efficiency, while a distance of
1000 nm or more will lead to a longer time for producing the return
magnetic pole 215.
[0218] FIG. 20 is also a conceptual sectional view showing an
example construction in which the return magnetic pole 215 of a
single-pole head is recessed from the ABS 216. In this example, the
return magnetic pole 215 is recessed over a distance R shown in
FIG. 20. This recessing can be made by patterning during production
of the head, by carving by working with FIB (focused ion beam)
after forming the head or otherwise.
[0219] Surface roughness of the main and return magnetic poles:
[0220] For otherwise inhibiting the field emission from the return
magnetic pole 215 (trailing-side yoke), it is known to roughen the
surface of the main magnetic pole 214 (or leading-side yoke) more
than that of the return magnetic pole 215. As in the above,
electric field will concentrate more to rougher surface and field
emission will take place more easily on the rougher surface. Thus,
discharge from the return magnetic pole 215 whose surface is not so
much rough will not easily take place. Such a surface is roughened
by working with focused ion beam (FIB), optimizing the etching
conditions during patterning, or using an etching pattern itself.
Any of these techniques should appropriately be selected depending
on the system requirement and cost.
[0221] Projection of the main magnetic pole 214:
[0222] For otherwise inhibiting the field emission from the return
magnetic pole 215, it is also known to form at least one projection
on the surface of the main magnetic pole 214 (or leading-side
yoke). Electric field will concentrate to the projection, so that
other than the magnetic pole having the projection formed thereon
will not emit any electric field.
[0223] FIG. 21 is a conceptual sectional view, enlarged in scale,
of a portion, near the medium-facing surface (air bearing surface:
ABS), of the main magnetic pole or leading-side magnetic pole of
the recording head according to the eighth embodiment of the
present invention. In FIG. 21, reference numeral 214 denotes a
magnetic pole and 241 indicates a projection. FIG. 21 shows two
projections 241, but the number of the projections is not limited
to two as in this case. One projection or more than three
projections may be provided. Also the projection 241 may be formed
to be any of circular cone, square cone, triangular cone or other
which would be able to emit electrons efficiently. An appropriate
shape of the projection can be selected depending upon a head
producing process. Also, in case two or more projections are
provided, they may appropriately be disposed.
[0224] It should be selected depending upon a system requirement
and cost to provide a difference in surface roughness or to provide
a projection or projections. There may be provided a single
projection or more than one projection. A plurality of projections
will assure a better-controlled discharge while a single projection
will contribute to a lower cost. Further, the projection may be
formed by working with focused ion beam (FIB), optimizing the
etching conditions during patterning, or using an etching pattern
itself. Any of these techniques should appropriately be selected
depending on the system requirement and cost.
[0225] Construction of magnetic pole:
[0226] The magnetic head according to the eighth embodiment of the
present invention is applicable to various conventional types such
as ring type used in an in-plane head, single-pole type used for
vertical magnetic recording, etc. as will further be described
below. Any of these types should be selected which is most
appropriate for the system requirement and cost.
[0227] FIG. 22 is also a conceptual sectional view of the essential
portion of the ring type magnetic recording head according to the
eighth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 22, reference
numeral 211 denotes a slider base, 212 a recording magnetic pole
assembly, 213 a recording coil, 221 a leading-side magnetic pole,
and 222 a trailing-side magnetic pole. In FIG. 22, other elements
having the same functions as the elements in FIG. 19 will be
labeled with common reference numerals to those for the elements in
FIG. 19, and will not further be described.
[0228] In this variant, direction of electrons from the tip of the
leading-side magnetic pole 221 toward the magnetic recording medium
enables a magnetic write to the medium being heated with the
electrons. Since the heat source and magnetic flux emitter are
located very near to each other, an ultra-high density of
thermally-assisted magnetic recording can be assured.
[0229] Also, in case of a ring type head, the trailing-side
magnetic pole 222 can be handled similarly to the return magnetic
pole 215 in FIG. 19.
[0230] Protective layer:
[0231] The magnetic head according to the eighth embodiment should
preferably be coated with a C (carbon), B (boron) or hard oxide or
nitride or a composite material containing these substances to
protect the air bearing surface (ABS) 216 since the. durability is
improved. When the magnetic head is coated with C, the service life
of he electron emitter used in the atmosphere is advantageously
improved. More particularly, 3 to 10 nm of carbon (C) should
desirably be heaped as a protective layer on the ABS 216 including
the magnetic pole.
[0232] Recorder:
[0233] The thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according
to the present invention is similar to the conventional magnetic
recording device except for the aforementioned magnetic recording
head and a means provided for applying a voltage to the head.
[0234] FIG. 23 is a conceptual sectional view of the essential
potion of the magnetic recording device according to the eighth
embodiment of the present invention. Therefore, the elements
similar to those in the conventional magnetic recording device are
not shown in FIG. 23. In FIG. 23, reference numeral 251 indicates a
write controller to supply the recording coil 213 with a current
corresponding to a recording signal, 252 a voltage applicator to
apply a voltage for emission of electrons to the magnetic pole 214,
and 253 a magnetic recording medium.
[0235] The voltage applicator 252 is connected to the magnetic
recording medium 253 and magnetic pole 214. Since it is necessary
to direct electrons from he magnetic pole towards the medium, the
magnetic pole 214 (magnetic yoke) has to be applied with a voltage
which is negative in relation to the potential on the medium.
[0236] The voltage applicator 252 should further be provided with a
monitor to monitor the potential difference between the magnetic
pole 214 and magnetic recording medium 253 to feed back the
potential difference so that a constant or desired voltage will
always be applied to the magnetic pole 214. This is preferable
since it is possible to stably write to the medium.
[0237] The voltage may be applied either continuously or in a
pulsed manner. When the voltage is applied continuously, the
temperature below the recording magnetic pole 214 (or magnetic
yoke) is always constant, which enables a stable thermally-assisted
magnetic recording. Further, advantageously, the electron emission
driver circuit can be simplified and high frequency-caused loss and
induced heating will not easily take place.
[0238] On the other hand, when the voltage is applied in the pulsed
manner, the heat will be lost more early, and so cross-erasing will
not easily take place. Also, this pulsed application of the voltage
will minimize the temperature spreading so that recorded
information in adjacent tracks cannot easily be erased. Moreover,
when the pulse width is sufficiently small, the heating temperature
will be constant irrespectively of the linear velocity, thus
enabling a stable recording without any special compensation.
Further, advantageously, the pulse interval and intensity can be
modulated as necessary to arbitrarily control the medium
temperature and temperature spreading.
[0239] Note that the temperature elevation of the medium delays
somehow in relation to the time of electron beam emission and a
higher density of recording can be attained if the delay is taken
in consideration. For this purpose, it is an approach to provide at
the trailing side of the main magnetic pole 214 the projection 241
having previously been described with reference to FIG. 21. This is
simple but cannot adjust so much the distance between the heated
portion and magnetically recording portion (magnetic transition).
When such an adjustment is required, it will be effective to
provide a delay between the electron emission and recording, for
example.
[0240] FIG. 24 is a timing chart showing the operations of the
magnetic recording device according to the eighth embodiment of the
present invention to emit electrons at one time while recording at
any other time. A pattern indicated with reference numeral 271 in
FIG. 24 represents a recording signal applied to the recording coil
213. It takes a simple form of 010101 . . . for the convenience of
illustration and explanation. This signal is applied to the
recording coil while a signal indicated with reference numeral 272
is applied to the electron emitter. In FIG. 24, the lower side of
the signal is negative, and only when the signal becomes negative,
electrons will be directed towards the recording medium. In this
example, the timing phase is shown reversed. However, the phase
difference should appropriately be set taking in consideration a
heated state of the medium and a time lag between a signal at the
recording magnetic pole and developed magnetic field.
[0241] Next, the magnetic head according to this eighth embodiment
of the present invention will further be described concerning
examples thereof:
[0242] First example:
[0243] First as the first example of the eighth embodiment, a
magnetic recording head constructed as shown in FIG. 19 was
produced. It was set along with the magnetic recording medium in
the spin-stand type magnetic write and read evaluation apparatus.
Separate from the magnetic recording head, a read head using a GMR
(giant-magnetoresistance effect) element was also set in the spin
stand. The medium was made by forming a soft-magnetic base layer of
NiFe to a thickness of 100 nm on a glass substrate of 2.5 inches in
diameter, then a magnetic recording layer of CoPt and SiO.sub.2 to
a thickness of 20 nm on the soft-magnetic base layer, and further a
protective layer of C (carbon) to a thickness of 3 nm on the
magnetic recording layer, all by sputtering, and then coating a
lubricant on the protective layer and removing the surface
irregularities by tape burnishing. The magnetic recording layer has
a structure having a vertical magnetic anisotropy and in which
magnetic particles of CoPt having a diameter of about 7 nm are
dispersed in the amorphous base material of SiO.sub.2. The content
of CoPt in the SoPt--SiO.sub.2 layer was 60% by volume. A torque
meter and VSM were used to examine the thermal characteristic at
different temperatures included in a range of liquid nitrogen
temperature to 500.degree. C. The typical magnetic characteristics
measured at the room temperature were: Ku:
4.5.times.10.sup.6erg/cc, Hc: 5 kOe, and Ms: 400 emu/cc. The
particles having the mean size was found to have a KuV/kT value of
about 125 at the room temperature (300 K). Thus, the medium used in
this embodiment can be said to show an ambient thermal agitation at
a temperature near the room temperature. The magnetic
characteristic varied as a function of the temperature and was
found to be monotonously lower in a direction from a low
temperature to a high temperature. Taking a thermal fluctuation in
consideration, the temperature dependence of the coercive force Hc0
under a magnetic transition of about 10 ns was estimated. As a
result, it was proved that the coercive force Hc0 at a temperature
near the room temperature was 5.2 kOe and at a temperature of
250.degree. C. equivalent to the assumed recording temperature for
a thermally-assisted magnetic recording effected by the magnetic
recording device according to the present invention, the coercive
force Hc0 fell to 2 kOe. When the coercive force Hc0 at the high
temperature was extrapolated, the Curie point was estimated to be
several tens of .degree. C. higher than 500.degree. C.
[0244] The medium having the above magnetic characteristic was
moved at a rate of 10 m/s in relation to the head, and the write
and read were tested with a relatively low linear density
equivalent to a solitary wave output of 100 kfci to examine the
read output voltage. The head was moved in contact with the slider,
the spacing was controlled in a range of 8 to 10 nm, that is, a
range from a sum (8 nm) of the head protective layer thickness and
medium protective layer thickness to a sum (10 nm) of the lubricant
layer thickness and the sum of the layer thickness. As variables of
write and read, the emission electron current was varied by
changing voltage applied to the electron emitter and the recording
field intensity was varied by changing the current supplied to the
recording coil. The medium was at the ground potential.
[0245] Referring now to FIG. 25, there is graphically illustrated
the result of the evaluation. FIG. 25 shows a relation between a
voltage Ve applied to the electron emitter and GMR read output
voltage Vs per 1 .mu.m of track width in which a current Iw
supplied to the recording coil is taken as parameter. In FIG. 25,
only two examples, Iw of 20 mA and Iw of 40 mA, are shown. However,
when the applied voltage Ve was lower than 7.5 V, no read output
could be provided with the supplied current Iw increased to a
largest possible one. On the contrary, when a voltage Ve applied to
the electron emitter was higher than 15 V with the current Iw
supplied to the recording coil being 40 mA which is a practical
value for use in the magnetic disc drive, and more preferably when
the applied voltage Ve was higher than about 25 V with the supplied
current Iw being 20 mA, a high saturation read output could be
provided, which proves that the present invention is highly
advantageous.
[0246] More specifically, when the applied voltage Ve was less than
7.5 V, the medium was heated insufficiently or not heated by the
emitted electrons, so since the coercive force Hc0 of the medium
was higher than the intensity of a magnetic field developed by the
recording magnetic pole, no recording could be made. As the applied
voltage Ve exceeds 10V, the medium is more heated with the emitted
electrons and thus the medium temperature is elevated, the coercive
force Hc0 will start gradually falling, a recording is enabled and
the read signal will start increasing. When the supplied current Iw
is yet small, the intensity of the magnetic field developed by the
magnetic pole is low and recording will be enabled at an applied
voltage Ve of about 20 V when the medium temperature is higher.
[0247] Note that in the basic example of the recording head, the
low recording frequency was selected in order to examine the
behavior of the signal output definitely but of course this is also
true for a recording at a higher linear density.
[0248] Second example:
[0249] Next, the protective layer of the magnetic head according to
the eighth embodiment of the present invention was examined about
its effect. For this examination, there were prepared a magnetic
head constructed similarly to the first example and a comparative
magnetic head having no protective C (carbon) layer provided
therein. These magnetic heads were tested on write and read
similarly to the first example. As the result proved, there was
found no important difference in the write characteristic between
the heads. However, the comparative head crushed in about one hour
after start of the experiment and no further experiment could be
made.
[0250] The air bearing surface (ABS) of the comparative head was
elaborately observed using SEM (scanning electron microscope). Many
deposits were found near the magnetic pole and the head structure
was found partially broken. It is considered that this was caused
by the absence of the protection by the C layer. Note however that
the comparative head can be used in a magnetic recording device
with a levitation of about 30 nm or when a clean atmosphere is kept
in the drive and when the medium is smooth. That is, the protective
C layer should be provided depending upon a system requirement.
[0251] Third example:
[0252] As a third example of the eighth embodiment of the present
invention, a magnetic head having the return magnetic pole provided
recessed as shown in FIG. 20, and subjected to a similar write and
read experiment to that for the first example. This magnetic head
was prepared by forming it similarly to the first example and then
working it by the FIB (focused ion beam). The recessed distance R
of the return magnetic pole 215 was 50 nm. Owing to the recessing,
no discharge took place from the return magnetic pole 215 and a
stable discharge could take place. As the result, the medium noise
was reduced by about 3 dB as compared with the characteristic shown
in FIG. 25. Namely, the recessing is evidently effective for a ring
type magnetic head as well. Since the cost for the FIB working will
add to the total cost of the head, however, it should appropriately
be selected depending upon the system requirement whether or not
the return magnetic pole is be recessed. Otherwise, the magnetic
pole 215 may initially be recessed by patterning, not by the FIB
working.
[0253] Fourth example:
[0254] As a fourth example of the eighth embodiment, a magnetic
head was experimentally prepared which had fine irregularities
formed on the top end face of the magnetic face. More specifically,
the similar process for the aforementioned third example was
adopted to reduce the power of ion beam during the FIB working and
directing ion beam intermittently during scan, thereby forming the
fine irregularities on the air bearing surfaces (ABS) of the main
magnetic pole 214 and return magnetic pole 215, respectively.
[0255] The magnetic head thus formed was set on the similar write
and read tester (spin-stand) to that for the first example to
examine the variation of the discharge current during rotation.
FIG. 26 graphically shows the emission current characteristic. In
FIG. 26, the horizontal axis shows a mean surface roughness Ra (nm)
being a general index while the vertical axis shows an integration
of the discharge current, as an index of the current variation
(normalized with a value which would be when Ra=5 nm). As seen from
FIG. 26, when Ra<0.5 nm, the discharge suddenly became more
unstable. That is, when the surface roughness was decreased, there
was found a variation of the discharge current which seemed to have
been caused by an instability of the discharging position of the
magnetic pole. On the other hand, when Ra>10 nm, the head
crushed frequently and no stable levitation was possible.
[0256] Also, a magnetic head was prepared in which Ra of the main
magnetic pole was set to 3 nm with the intensity of ion beam varied
during FIB working while Ra of the return magnetic pole was set to
0.5 nm or less (with no FIB working), and tested on write and read
characteristics similarly to the first example. Since Ra (mean
surface roughness) of the main magnetic pole was set to 3 nm,
little instability of the discharge took place at the return
magnetic pole. As the result, the medium noise was reduced by about
2 dB as compared with the characteristic shown in FIG. 25.
Apparently, this treatment is effective for the ring type magnetic
head as well. With different degrees of mean surface roughness, the
test was repeated. It was found that the effect of medium noise
reduction can be assured so long as Ra of the main magnetic pole is
larger than Ra of the return magnetic pole. Since the cost for the
FIF working adds to the total cost of the magnetic head, however,
it should appropriately be selected depending on the system
requirement whether the surface is to be roughed.
[0257] Fifth example:
[0258] As a fifth example of the eighth embodiment, a magnetic head
was experimentally prepared in which the main magnetic pole had
projections formed on the top end thereof. More specifically, the
same process as for the fourth example was adopted to control the
pattern of scanning with ion beam during the FIB working, thereby
forming on the surface of the main magnetic pole 214 projections
241 each having the section shape as shown in FIG. 21. Four
projections 241 were formed. The magnetic head was set in the write
and read evaluation apparatus (spin stand) similarly to the first
example to examine a variation of the discharge current during
rotation. As a result, it was confirmed that the projections 241
contributed to the stability of discharging portion and the
variation of the discharge current could be suppressed to a level
equivalent to the standard value 1 in FIG. 26. Also, no discharge
took place at the return magnetic pole 215 and the medium noise was
reduced by about 3 dB as compared with the characteristic shown in
FIG. 25. Evidently, the projections will be effective for the ring
type magnetic head as well.
[0259] The projections can be formed by the FIB working as well as
by patterning during formation of the head. The patterning is
advantageous in saving of the labor for the FIB working but
disadvantageous in that fine projections cannot easily be formed
depending upon a process of forming the projections. It should
appropriately be selected depending upon the system requirement how
to form the projections. Needless to say, the number of the
projections is not limited to four. In case a single projection 241
is provided, the heating point is limited so that the single
projection is preferable for a delicate heating. However, the
single projection is disadvantageous in that the supplied power
cannot easily be increased. On the contrary, a larger number of the
projections 241 will enable to more positively minimize the
instability of discharge but will add more cost for the
working.
[0260] Sixth example:
[0261] All techniques associated with the recording head according
to the present invention such as recessing, provision of protective
layer, surface roughness adjustment and forming of a projection are
evidently applicable to the ring type magnetic head schematically
shown in FIG. 22. This is because the basic concept and effect of
the provision of the electron emitter on the magnetic pole (the
magnetic pole is used to emit electrons) is independent of the form
of the head.
Ninth Embodiment
[0262] The present invention will further be described herebelow
concerning the ninth embodiment thereof.
[0263] This embodiment provides a magnetic head and
thermally-assisted magnetic reproducing device, in which the
magnetic yoke or magnetic pole of the magnetic read head is used as
electron emitter. This construction will enable high density
read.
[0264] Referring now to FIG. 27, there is provided a conceptual
sectional view of the essential portion of the magnetic read head
according to the ninth embodiment of the present invention. The
read head shown is a GMR head having a so-called "yoke type"
structure. The head is moved in the direction of arrow A in FIG.
27. In FIG. 27, reference numeral 261 indicates a GMR element, 262
a leading-side magnetic pole, 263 a trailing-side magnetic pole,
264 an auxiliary lead, 265 a lead through which a current is
supplied to the GMR element, and 266 a lead to detect a voltage
based on a resistance variation equivalent to a read signal. A
fringing field developed from a magnetic domain of the recording
medium by the yoke or magnetic pole 212 is transmitted to the GMR
element 261. Note that the construction shown in FIG. 27 is just an
example and a TMR (tunneling magnetoresistance effect) element or
any one of various magnetic detecting elements may be adopted in
place of the GMR element 261.
[0265] In the construction shown in FIG. 27, the voltage lead 217
is connected to the yoke 212 to emit electrons from the yoke
terminal on the ABS and heat the recording medium (not shown). As
in the eighth embodiment, the heat source and magnetic detector can
be placed very near to each other to enable an ultra-high
thermally-assisted magnetic read.
[0266] The detail of the thermally-assisted magnetic read is
disclosed in the report by H. Katayama et al. in the Journal of
Magnetic Society of Japan, vol. 23, No. S1, p. 233, 1999.
[0267] The thermally-assisted magnetic read will be outlined below.
For example, a ferrimagnetic alloy of an amorphous rare earth metal
and a transition metal has a magnetic characteristic as shown in
FIG. 28. As seen from FIG. 28, the coercive force of the alloy will
increase as the alloy temperature is elevated. At a temperature
(compensation temperature: Tcomp in FIG. 28), the coercive force
will diverge infinitely and the magnetization will be changed from
one direction to the other. Note that the compensation temperature
Tcomp can be adjusted at a ratio between the rare earth metal and
transition metal in the alloy.
[0268] In a medium designed for Tcomp to be near the room
temperature, the magnetic domain wall after the recording will not
easily move (since the coercive force is extremely large) and
information holding characteristic will advantageously increase.
However, since the medium is little magnetized in this condition,
no signal can be provided even if read by the magnetic read head.
When the medium is heated up to a temperature indicated with Tr in
FIG. 28 for example during reading, a fringing field will take
place with an intensity proportional to the magnetization at that
temperature and thus the signal can be read.
[0269] According to the report by H. Katayama et al., the medium is
heated by a focused laser light. This method is convenient for
write in a size of about 1 .mu.m but because of the limit of light
diffraction, no magnetic recording is possible with a high density
assumed for the magnetic recording device according to the present
invention. Therefore, the medium is head by electron beam. As
mentioned above, the incident electron beam enables to heat a very
small area.
[0270] Also to the magnetic read head according to this embodiment,
the techniques such as recessing, provision of protective layer,
surface roughness adjustment, forming of the projection, etc.
related to the recording head and having been described concerning
the eighth embodiment are applicable as they are.
[0271] Note that the GMR element 261 and yoke 212 may possibly be
in electrical contact with each other. In case electrons are
emitted from the trailing-side yoke 263, a current for the emitted
electrons will flow to the GMR element 261. When this is a problem,
the techniques such as recessing, surface roughness adjustment,
forming of the projection, etc. should be used to prevent the
electron emission from taking place at the trailing side as having
been described concerning the eighth embodiment. With the auxiliary
lead 264 being provided, no potential difference will develop
across the GMR element 261 irrespectively of the presence or
absence of electron emission, and thus no current will flow to the
GMR element 261. The above construction needs any working or an
increased number of leads, so it should appropriately be adopted
depending upon the magnitude of the current flowing to the GMR
element 261.
[0272] The magnetic read head according to the ninth embodiment
will further be described below concerning examples thereof:
[0273] Seventh example:
[0274] A medium having a layer of a ferrimagnetic alloy (R-T) of
amorphous rare earth metal and transition metal was prepared and
evaluated similarly to the first example. The medium thus formed is
composed of a heat sink layer of Al alloy formed, recording layer
of TbFeCo, protective layer of C and a lubricant layer formed in
this order on a glass substrate. The heat sink layer was provided
to adjust the thermal response of the recording layer. The
composition of the recording layer was adjusted so that the
coercive force at a temperature near the room temperature (read
temperature) would have such a value as could not be measured even
by a VSM hose maximum applied field is 20 kOe. The medium was set
along with the thermally-assisted magnetic read head in the
spin-stand type write and read evaluation apparatus similarly to
the first example to evaluate the read characteristic. Although the
medium had a recording magnetic domain formed by the magnetic
recording head used in the first example, no signal could be
detected by ordinary GMR magnetic read head.
[0275] FIG. 29 graphically shows the result of the experiment on
the information read by the magnetic read head according to the
present invention. In FIG. 29, the horizontal axis indicates a
voltage applied o the yoke while the vertical axis indicates a GMR
read output voltage Vs (normalized by peak value) per 1 .mu.m of
the track width. Since the medium is heated insufficiently or is
not heated at all by emitted electrons when the applied voltage Ve
is less than 7.5 V, the medium will not be magnetized so much as to
develop a fringing field which can be detected by the GMR element,
and so no signal can be acquired. As the applied voltage Ve exceeds
10 V or more, the medium is heated more by emitted electrons and
the medium temperature is elevated, the magnetization will start
gradually increasing and read signal intensity will increase. When
the applied voltage Ve is about 25 V with which the medium
temperature will be higher, the medium temperature is higher than
Tr shown in FIG. 28 and so the read signal intensity will fall.
Thus, it was confirmed that the thermally-assisted magnetic read
head according to this embodiment could detect magnetic information
from a fine magnetic domain from which the conventional magnetic
head could not read.
Tenth Embodiment
[0276] The present invention will further be described herebelow
concerning the tenth embodiment thereof.
[0277] This embodiment provides an electron beam recording device
capable of an ultra-high density of recording even in the
atmosphere or in any atmosphere approximate to the latter. This
embodiment can write and read information with a higher density to
and from various media such as magnetic recording medium as well as
optical recording medium.
[0278] Experiment on field emission:
[0279] Before proceeding to the explanation of the electron beam
recording device according to the present invention, the
experiments the Inventors of the present invention conducted and
results of the experiments will be described in detail below.
Namely, the Inventors worked out the construction of this
embodiment after repeating these experiments on the construction of
the electron emitter and how the atmosphere around the electron
emitter should be.
[0280] The experimental apparatus and devices the Inventors used in
the experiments are similar to those having already been described
with reference to FIG. 13. As having been described concerning the
seventh embodiment, the Inventors used a modified STM (scanning
tunneling microscopy) emitter. The STM emitter was modified in the
same four respects and same manner as those having been described
with reference to FIG. 13. Therefore, the experimental apparatus
and procedure will not be described in detail.
[0281] First, the Inventors used carbon (C) as the material for the
probe, and made Fowler-Nordheim plotting of the I-V characteristic
measured at atmospheric pressure.
[0282] FIG. 30 graphically shows the Fowler-Nordheim plotting of
the I-V characteristic. In the experiment, the interval between the
probe tip and sample surface was fixed to 8 nm. Disregarding the
effect of field concentration at the probe tip and assuming a
uniform electric field, a voltage of 1 V corresponds to a field
intensity of 1.25.times.10.sup.6 V/cm.
[0283] As apparent from FIG. 30, the I-V characteristic follows the
Fowler-Nordheim expression when the applied voltage is 3.17 V or
more, which proves that a field emission current could surely be
acquired even in the atmosphere. The emission current when a
voltage of 10 V was applied arrived at a value as large as 61 .mu.A
which is a sufficient value to heat the medium in the actual
recording device to the recording temperature. The effective work
function (a value resulted from division of the work function of a
diamond-like carbon (DLC) layer by a shape enhancement
coefficient), determined from the gradient of the straight line in
FIG. 30, is 0.235 eV as a uniform field. Using this value and work
function of the DLC layer (1.51 eV), the shape enhancement
coefficient .alpha. is calculated to be 6.42. This value can be
said to be a reasonable one since the radius of curvature of the
tip of the C probe is 5 nm (thickness of the C layer coated on a Pt
tip) and the interval between the probe and sample surface is 8
nm.
[0284] Note that an experiment made with the probe separated more
from the sample surface revealed that the shape enhancement
coefficient was doubly increased with the distance being longer.
This experiment result is also reasonable since the field
concentration can be considered to be remarkable with a longer
interval between the probe tip and sample surface. Similar
experiments were conducted with probes made of Ta and Si in
addition to the C probe. As the result, the turn-on voltage of the
field emission (a voltage with which the Fowler-Nordheim starts
being linear) was higher than that of the C probe and the emission
current was small. in any case, the Fowler-Nordheim plotting had a
straight line portion, which proved that a field emission took
place. Carbon (C) should preferably be used to assure that
application of a low voltage results in a large field emission
current.
[0285] Next, an applied voltage was set so that the emission
current would be constant at some voltages in a range of 5 to 60
.mu.A, to examine the time change of the emission current. In this
experiment, a variety of atmospheres was selectively used in the
container in which the probe was placed, including the atmosphere
(atmosphere 1), a high purity rare gas atmosphere charged at 0.5 to
1 atm. after evacuation of the container (atmosphere 2), a high
purity dry nitrogen atmosphere charged at 1 atm. after evacuation
of the container (atmosphere 3) and a high purity oxygen atmosphere
introduced at 1 atm. after evacuation of the container (atmosphere
4).
[0286] In the atmospheres 3 and 4, the field emission current was
unstable even in a continuous operation of each of the C, Ta and Si
probes for several tens of hours. In the atmospheres 1 and 2, the C
probe provided a table field emission current but the field
emission current was lower before the time of operation reached 10
hours. The material for a probe used in an inert gas atmosphere is
not limited to any special one, but the carbon (C) should
preferably be used to form a probe which is to be used in the
atmosphere.
[0287] Supplemental explanation will be given of the mean free path
of electrons in an atmosphere under a pressure near the atmospheric
pressure. The reason why the electron beam is used under a vacuum
in the conventional TEM (transmission electron microscopy) and SEM
(scanning electron microscopy) systems is that when the electrons
collide with gas molecules, they will be scattered (elastic
collision) and lose energy (inelastic collision). However, the
Inventors of the present invention worked out the fact that in case
the spacing between the electron beam emitter and medium is
sufficiently small, electron beam will little collide with gas
molecules and can be incident upon the medium.
[0288] FIGS. 31 and 32 graphically show the collision cross section
of collision of electrons in nitrogen (N.sub.2) as a function of
the electron energy (Ee) and that of electrons in oxygen (O.sub.2)
as a function of the electron energy (Ee), respectively.
[0289] FIG. 33 graphically shows the momentum-conversion collision
rate (Pc) of electrons in H.sub.2O (water).
[0290] In the following description, symbols Qm, Qv, Qex, Qd, Qi
and Qa will appear. Qm is a collision cross section at momentum
conversion (elastic collision), Qv is a collision cross section at
oscillating excitation, Qex is a collision cross section at
excitation, Qd is a collision cross section at dissociation, Qi is
a collision cross section at ionization, and Qa is a collision
cross section at adhesion. The momentum-conversion collision rate
(Pc) is a collision rate of an electron during travel over 1 cm
under a gas pressure of 1 Torr, and it has a following relation
with a collision cross section at a momentum conversion (elastic
collision) (Qm):
Pc=3.54.times.10.sup.16.times.Qm(cm.sup.-)
[0291] As seen from each collision cross section shown in FIGS. 31
and 32, Qm is largest. So, this collision cross section will first
be explained. This is a collision cross section of electron at
momentum conversion. In the collision of an electron with a
molecule, the electron will lose little energy and change the
direction of movement.
[0292] However, since the collision probability cannot easily be
known from Qm itself, Qm is converted to a mean free path
(.lambda.) to better know the momentum conversion collision cross
section. The relation between Qm and .lambda. is given by the
following expression:
.lambda.=(n.times.Qm).sup.-1(cm)
[0293] where n is molecular density and its value at atmospheric
pressure at the room temperature (25.degree. C.) is given by the
following expression:
n=2.46.times.10.sup.19(cm.sup.-3)
[0294] As apparent from FIGS. 31 and 33, the momentum conversion
collision cross section (Qm) shows a largest value at Ee of about
2.5 (eV) in an N.sub.2 gas atmosphere and also at Ee of about 1
(eV) in H.sub.2O. With a Qm value of about
2.times.10.sup.-15(cm.sup.2) at this time, the mean free path
(.lambda.) will be about 200 nm. For example, when the distance
between the electron emitter and medium is 10 nm, the probability
of collision of the electron emitted from the emitter with gas
molecule before it is incident upon the medium can be calculated to
be 5% or so (1-e.sup.-0.05). This value is a one when the mean free
path (.lambda.) is shortest. As seen from FIG. 31, the mean free
path .lambda. is 400 nm or more except for electrons of 1 to 4 (eV)
in N.sub.2 gas as will be seen from FIG. 31. With this value of
.lambda., the collision probability of electrons will be on the
order of 2.5%. It cannot be said that no collision occurs but that
the elastic collision-caused scattering loss is extremely
small.
[0295] Next, the inelastic collision will be described. First, the
inelastic collision of electrons in N.sub.2 and O.sub.2 gas
atmospheres will be explained. As seen from FIGS. 31 and 32, the
collision cross section is large in the order of Qv, Qex, Qd and Qa
within a range of Ee being about 10 (eV). For each of these
collision cross sections, collision probability will be estimated
as for Qm. This estimation will be made concerning gases in which
each collision cross section is large. The maximum probability with
which the electron will collide gas molecules on a way from
emission from the emitter until incidence upon the surface of a
medium 10 nm off the emitter is estimated to be 1.2% in N.sub.2 gas
at oscillating excitation, 0.1% in O.sub.2 gas at excitation, be
0.07% at dissociation (O.sub.2.fwdarw.O+O) and 0.004% at adhesion
(O.sub.2+e.fwdarw.O.sup.-+O.sup.+). The energy loss of the electron
at each collision is equivalent to the value along the horizontal
axis in FIGS. 31 and 32, for example, on the order of 1 to 4 (eV)
at oscillating excitation and 5 to 10 (eV) at excitation and
dissociation. The energy loss due to one inelastic collision is not
ignorable but the probability of the inelastic collision itself is
very low, so the total energy loss may be regarded as ignorably
small.
[0296] The inelastic collision cross section in H.sub.2O is
unknown, but it is considered that an oscillating excitation will
take place in H.sub.2O. Also, since the energy of the dissociation
of H.sub.2O.fwdarw.H+OH and OH.fwdarw.O+H are 0.2 eV and 4.8 eV,
respectively, the dissociation collision should be taken in
consideration. Since the collision of dissociated species with
elections is stepwise, it is considered to be ignorably small.
Since the ionization thresholds of H and O being the dissociated
species of H.sub.2O are 13.5 eV and 13.6 eV, respectively, the
ionization of H.sub.2O may not be taken in consideration. If it can
be estimated that the inelastic collision cross section in H.sub.2O
is same as in N.sub.2 and O.sub.2, the energy loss in H.sub.2O can
be judged to be extremely small.
[0297] As seen from the above, when the spacing between the
electron emitter and medium surface is smaller than several
hundreds of nm, electrons from the emitter will incur little
scattering loss and energy loss on a way until incidence upon the
medium surface. However, an excitation collision and dissociation
collision will take place but not frequently. Practically, it will
be important whether those of dissociated species and excited
species which are diffused to the emitter or medium without being
recombined or de-excited will cause the deterioration. Major ones
to be taken in consideration are inert gases such as OH radical and
O radical. Therefore, partial pressure of these gases should
appropriately be selected taking in consideration any influence of
them on the lubricant layer on the emitter surface and medium
outermost surface.
[0298] Static data write:
[0299] The aforementioned experiment results have proved that a
sufficient field emission current for heating the medium can be
provided stably. Actually, a magneto-optical recording medium,
phase-change recording medium and dye layer medium were actually
prepared as samples. First, STM was used to make write experiment
on each of them being static o relatively still in the
atmosphere.
[0300] The sample was an Si wafer substrate on which a recording
layer used in each medium was formed to a thickness of about 50 nm.
The magneto-optical layer was formed from a transition metal-rich
layer (whose compensation point is lower than the room temperature)
and uniformly magnetized with the layer directed downward. The
phase-change recording layer was initially crystallized uniformly.
The write and read was evaluated using the same apparatus as in
FIG. 13.
[0301] The write test was done with the C-coated probe separated
about 10 nm from he sample surface, a voltage was applied in a
pulsed manner for field emission of a current flow to heat the
medium. The voltage applied to the probe (namely, emission current
value) and voltage pulse duration were taken as parameters. At each
write, the sample was canned about 100 nm and a record mark was
formed in the form of a matrix, which was intended for easy finding
a location of the record mark in a next mark observation test
(static read).
[0302] In the write test on the magneto-optical layer, the sample
was applied uniformly with an upward recording magnetic field of
200 Oe. Taking as parameters the voltage applied to the probe and
voltage duration, a transition magnetic domain rows were defined,
and then the mark rows were observed using MFM.
[0303] In the test on the phase-change recording layer, the voltage
applied to the probe and voltage pulse duration were taken as
parameters and amorphous marks were recorded, and then the marks
were observed using SPOM.
[0304] Also, in the test on the dye layer, the voltage applied to
the probe and voltage pulse duration were taken as parameters and
deformation of the dye layer was recorded. Thereafter, the marks
were observed using STM switched to STM mode.
[0305] FIG. 34 graphically shows together the result of static
write and read test, the field emission current I being indicated
along the vertical axis while the voltage pulse time t is indicated
along the horizontal axis. In FIG. 34, the reference A indicates
the result of the test made on the magneto-optical recording layer,
B the result of the test on the phase-change recording layer, and C
the result of the test made on the dye layer. Each curve in FIG. 34
indicates a boundary of an area above the curve in which the record
marks could be found. The resolution of the observation depends
upon the means for observation but it is on the order of 10 nm.
Thus, no definite observation was possible of the record marks of
less than 10 nm. The curves A, B and C in FIG. 34 mean that the
record marks of about 10 nm were formed under the conditions above
them. When the current I is large or pulse duration t is long, the
marks were large and saturated at a size of 20 nm or so. It means
that the spot size of the electron beam on the medium surface was
20 nm or so. Since the field emission current is emitted from the
tip of 10 nm or so in diameter of the probe and the spacing between
the probe and medium was 10 nm or so, the test results may be said
to be reasonable. As having been described above, since the time of
voltage application was relatively long in the static write test,
even a current of as low as 1 to 10 .mu.A could form such record
marks.
[0306] Dynamic write and read:
[0307] As in the above, the static write and read were successfully
made. Next, the Inventors of the present invention experimentally
prepared a recording device and operated it for recording.
[0308] FIG. 35 is a conceptual view of the essential portion of the
recording head usable in the electron beam recording device
according to the present invention. In FIG. 35, reference numeral
301 indicates a head substrate, 302 a emitter electrode layer, 303
an insulative member, 304 a gate electrode, 305 an emitter, and 306
a voltage source. The surface of the gate electrode layer 304 in
FIG. 35 works as the air bearing surface (ABS), namely, a surface
opposite to a medium during magnetic recording.
[0309] The substrate 301 should preferably be formed from an ALTIC
substrate used as a magnetic head slider or an ALTIC substrate
having an Si wafer joined thereon. In the latter case, the emitter
can be formed by surface orientation selective etching of Si
material. The emitter electrode 302 may be formed from any
conductive material but preferably from Cu (copper), Al (aluminum),
Au (gold), Ag (silver) or an alloy using any of them as base, which
has a high electrical conductivity.
[0310] The insulative member 303 may be an dielectric material or
resist, for example, SiO.sub.2. The gate electrode 304 may not
always be provided. In a construction without the gate electrode, a
voltage is applied directly between the emitter and medium. Also in
the construction with no gate electrode, the top end of the emitter
should preferably be recessed from the ABS as shown in FIG. 35 in
order to prevent abrasion of the emitter top end. For a contact
recording, the recessed distance will define a distance between the
emitter and medium. For an levitated recording, no recessing is
required.
[0311] The gate electrode 304 may be formed from a similar or same
material as for the emitter electrode 302. The emitter may be
formed from any material which is capable of field emission of
electrons, and preferably from Ta, Si or C, and more preferably,
from C (DLC). Alternatively, a suitable metal may be worked to be a
cone and DLC be coated to a thin layer on the cone. The voltage
source 306 may be either DC or pulsed one, or a modulated one. In
the last case, it is should be modulated to prevent variation of
emission current due to variation of levitation, or record mark
size is multivalued for a higher density of recording.
[0312] The electron beam recording head constructed as in FIG. 35
can be constructed as in the following. First, the emitter
electrode layer 302 is formed on the ALTIC substrate 301 by
sputtering or evaporation, and worked to a predetermined pattern by
etching. The predetermined pattern means electrical connection
between the emitter electrode and emitter and leading of the
emitter to a pad for connection to the voltage source 306.
[0313] Next, the insulative member 303 is formed by sputtering,
evaporation, CVD process or the like. For using a resist as the
insulative member 303, the spin coating is employed. Next, the gate
electrode layer is formed by sputtering or evaporation, and then is
subjected to PEP process in which a gate electrode on which an
emitter is to be provided and an insulation under the electrode are
removed by etching. The insulation may be removed by anisotropic
etching or isotropic etching. In the latter case, a cavity will be
formed near a working hole for the gate electrode. A construction
using no gate electrode, the gate electrode portion may be formed
from any material other than electroconductive material, and the
material may be the same as for the insulative member 303.
[0314] Next, the emitter material is formed by sputtering. For
example, by sputtering with an appropriate anisotropy from above
the gate, a conic emitter can be formed spontaneously owing to
"shadowing effect" peculiar to sputtering. The "shadowing effect"
is such that a layer formed on the top of he gate 304 by sputtering
will grow in the form of a debris from around the gate hole towards
center and the emitter will grow on the emitter electrode behind
the debris.
[0315] Next, the emitter layer is removed from the gate by CMP
(chemical mechanical polishing) for example. Then, with the pads of
the emitter and gate electrodes being exposed, Au is grown on the
pads by frame plating to form terminals. After that, the terminal
was cut into chips and each chip was worked into a slider. The chip
was assembled by head gimbal assembling, the terminal was connected
to the lead from the voltage source to complete the recording head
installable in the electron beam recording device according to the
present invention.
[0316] The present invention is not limited to any special head
type but it may be applied to a so-called planer type head in which
a film element is formed on the lateral side of a slider, a head
prevailing in the current field of he magnetic recording head and
in which a film element is formed on the rear end face of a slider,
or to a head in which an electron beam source is attached to a
slider with a PEP precision. For example, the electron emitter may
be formed on the lateral side or rear end face of a slider by using
a wedge-like mask to make an oblique sputtering, thus forming a DLC
layer on the wedge-like mask (whereby an emitter having a sharp tip
formed owing to the "shadowing effect" can be formed), or by
sharpening the tip of an emitter, once formed, by FIB working for
example at the later stage of process.
[0317] In addition to forming an emitter directly on a slider in
the layer or film forming process, the following method is also
possible. Namely, a convex pattern is formed on a slider substrate
with a slider-size pitch, then a concave pattern corresponding to
the convex pattern the slider substrate is provided on a substrate
on which the emitter is to be formed, and the substrates are joined
to each other and chipped to provide the emitter.
[0318] The electron beam recording according to the present
invention can be effected as in the following with the recording
head formed as in the above being installed to a head of the
spin-stand type magnetic write and read evaluation apparatus for
example.
[0319] FIG. 36 is a sectional view of an example of the recording
medium usable in the embodiments of the present invention. In FIG.
36, reference numeral 307 indicates a medium substrate, 308 a seed
layer, 309 a recording layer, and 310 a protective layer. The
construction of this medium varies from one reading method to
another. The construction shown in FIG. 36 is suitable for a probe
type reading as in the aforementioned static write and read test.
When a near-field light is used for an optical reading, the
construction should be of an optical interference type similarly to
that used in ordinary optical discs.
[0320] In any case, it is important that for writing, the electron
emitter and medium should be placed near each other with a distance
smaller than the mean free path of electrons in the operating
atmosphere, and that for reading with a high resolution, the probe
or near-field light source and medium should be disposed near each
other as in the writing.
[0321] The medium substrate 307 may be formed from glass, Si or
polycarbonate, and address information, servo control information,
etc. may be formatted by either pre-formatting or
soft-formatting.
[0322] The pre-formatting may be such that pre-pits and pre-grooves
are formed in the medium substrate by the 2P process for example,
or in case of a polycarbonate substrate, pit and land pattern may
be formed directly in the substrate by injection molding.
[0323] The seed layer 308 is not always necessary. In case a
phase-change layer is used as the recording layer 309, however, the
seed layer 308 should preferably be formed from a metal layer,
nitride layer, oxide layer or metal microparticle-dispersed layer
to promote the crystallization speed and control the crystal
particle size. In case the recording layer 309 is formed from a
magneto-optical layer, the seed layer 308 should preferably be
formed from a metal layer, metal alloy layer or the like to control
the pinning site of the domain walls. In case the recording layer
309 is formed from a dye layer, the seed layer 308
should-preferably be formed from a light-absorbing metal layer or
an organic layer other than dye for promotion of deformation of the
dye. In case the recording layer 309 is formed from a magnetic
recording layer, the seed layer 308 should preferably be formed
from Cr or V polycrytalline layer to control the crystal magnetic
anisotropy. In case of a vertical magnetization recording layer,
the seed layer 308 should preferably be formed from a soft-magnetic
layer.
[0324] The recording layer 309 may be formed from any of the
phase-change, magneto-optical, dye and magnetic layers which are
typical ones in the field of art. However, it is not limited to
these materials but it may be formed from a material whose
temperature can be elevated by incident electron beams and in which
some physical change will take place also by the electron
beams.
[0325] The protective layer 310 should be formed from a ceramic and
DLC such as oxide, nitride, carbide and boride. The protective
layer should preferably have coated thereon a lubricant layer used
in the magnetic recording.
[0326] The medium shown in FIG. 36 can be formed by a combination
of preformat process and sputtering process. When the medium is to
be soft-formatted, it can be formed by a combination of sputtering
process and soft-format process (e.g., servo write process as in
magnetic recording head).
[0327] The electron beam recording head according to the present
invention and the above-mentioned medium were tested as in the
foregoing with them set in the spin-stand type write and read
evaluation apparatus.
[0328] FIG. 37 is a block diagram of the electron beam
recording/reproducing device according to the present invention,
showing an example thereof. In FIG. 37, reference numeral 511
indicates a disc-shaped recording medium, 512 a spindle motor, 513
a write/read head provided with a write electron emitter and read
probe or near-field light source, 514 a servo motor system to drive
the head, 515 a preamplifier to amplify read signal, 516 a variable
gain amplifier, 517 an A/D converter to convert the amplified read
signal to digital form, 518 a linear-equalizer such as Viterbi
decoder, 520 a data detection circuit to restore the read signal to
original signal, 521 a decoder, 522 a drive controller to control
transfer of write and read data, 523 an interface, 524 a circuit to
drive and control the spindle motor and head drive servo motor, 525
an electron emitter driver, and 526 a modulation circuit.
[0329] Note that the necessary components for the present invention
are the, recording system including the interface 523, drive
controller 522, electron emitter driver 525, drive control circuit
524, head drive servo motor 514, recording head 513 provided with
an electron emitter, medium drive spindle motor 512 and recording
medium 511, and the other components related to the reading are not
essential.
[0330] In the construction shown in FIG. 37, the medium 511 is
rotated by the spindle motor 512 to guide the head 513 on which the
electron emitter is formed to a predetermined recording track, and
the electron emitter driver 525 drives the electron emitter to
direct an electron beam towards the medium, thereby writing data to
the medium. This is the basic concept of the present invention. In
case the electron source has a gate electrode, the driver 525
should be a one which can control both the voltage between the
emitter and gate and voltage between the gate and medium.
[0331] In the foregoing, the present invention has been described
concerning the embodiments thereof and examples of the embodiments.
However, it should be noted that the present invention is not
limited to these embodiments and examples.
[0332] For example, a structure and material of each of the
elements composing together the electron emission source and
magnetic head can appropriately be selected by those skilled in the
art from the well-known range, in addition to those having been
described in the foregoing, to attain the same effect as that of
the present invention.
[0333] Also, the recording medium may be a one capable of a
magnetic recording, whether so-called "in-plane recording" or
"vertical recording". For example, the recording medium may be any
of various types including "keepered media" having a magnetic
recording layer and soft-magnetic layer.
[0334] Furthermore, the recording medium is not limited to
so-called hard disc but may be any of other media capable of
magnetic recording such as flexible disc, magnetic card.
[0335] Similarly, the magnetic recording device may be a one
intended only for magnetic write or a one intended for both write
and read. The magnetic head and medium may be disposed in a
geometrical relation with each other, such as so-called "levitated
slide" or "contact slide". Moreover, the magnetic recording device
may be a so-called "removable" type one from which the recording
medium can be removed.
[0336] While the present invention has been disclosed in terms of
the preferred embodiment in order to facilitate better
understanding thereof, it should be appreciated that the invention
can be embodied in various ways without departing from the
principle of the invention. Therefore, the invention should be
understood to include all possible embodiments and modification to
the shown embodiments which can be embodied without departing from
the principle of the invention as set forth in the appended
claims.
[0337] The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No.
H11-375042 filed on Dec. 28, 1999 including specification, claims,
drawings and summary is incorporated herein by reference in its
entirety.
* * * * *