Patent Grant
7471484
This invention relates to a patterned medium having land areas for storing data and trough areas for inhibiting storage of data, and to use of the patterned medium with a read wide/write narrow recording head.
A magnetic disk drive is a digital data storage device that stores digital data on magnetic medium known as a disk. The disk, in general, comprises a plurality of tracks for storing the digital data. Data is stored on the tracks of the disk in the form of magnetic polarity transitions induced into a magnetic layer covering the disk.
During operation of the disk drive, the disk is rotated about an axis by a spin motor at a substantially constant angular speed. To perform a transfer of data with the disk, a transducer, known as a recording head, is centered above a track of the rotating disk. Once centered, the head can be used to transfer data to the track (during a write operation) or to transfer data from the track (during a read operation). During writing, for example, a write current is delivered to the centered head to create an alternating magnetic field in a lower portion of the head that induces magnetic polarity transitions onto the track. During reading, the centered head senses magnetic fields emanating from the magnetic polarity transitions on the moving track to create an analog read signal representative of the data thereon.
The recording head may be a dual element head having a read element for performing a read operation and a write element for performing a write operation. It is known to make the read element wider than the write element provided that the write element contains erase bands on its edges to “erase” old data from a track on the disk and thereby prevent the read element from sensing that old data. This configuration is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,250 (McNeil et al.), the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference into this application as if set forth herein in full.
In general, in one aspect, the invention is a magnetic recording system that includes a patterned medium comprised of land areas and trough areas, a write element which writes the data to the patterned medium, and a read element which reads the data from the patterned medium. The read element is wider than the write element. The land areas store data and the trough areas inhibit storage of data. That is, the troughs prevent old data from being written outside of the land areas, making it possible to increase the width of the read element without causing the read element to sense out-of-track noise. Increasing the width of the read element can provide significant signal-to-noise advantages in the system.
The foregoing aspect may include one or more of the following features. The read element and the write element may be part of a recording head that flies over the patterned medium during reading and writing. The trough areas may have a depth relative to the recording head that is sufficient to prevent magnetic writing of data to the trough areas. The patterned medium may be made of a polymer layer disposed on a substrate, which layer defines the land areas and the trough areas. Examples of substrates include glass, NiP-clad aluminum alloy substrates, glass-ceramic substrates, and titanium substrates. The polymer layer also includes a magnetic layer. The read element may have a read width that is greater than the write width of the write element.
The patterned medium may include a rotatable magnetic disk having tracks that store the data. The tracks may be concentric, spiral, or of any other configuration. The tracks may include the land areas. The tracks may be separated on the rotatable magnetic disk by the trough areas. The land areas may include data islands that are isolated from one another by the trough areas. Each of the data islands may be capable of storing one bit.
In general, in another aspect, the invention is directed to a disk drive that includes a magnetic disk having a plurality of tracks which store data. The tracks include land areas for storing the data and trough areas which substantially isolate the land areas from one another. The disk drive also includes a recording head which transfers data to and from the magnetic disk. The recording head includes a write element and a read element. The read element has a width that is greater than a width of the write element.
This aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features. An actuator arm may be included in the disk drive for positioning the head over the disk. The recording head may fly over the disk during reading and writing. The trough areas may have a depth relative to the recording head that is sufficient to prevent magnetic writing of data to the trough areas. The magnetic disk may be a patterned medium comprised of a polymer layer disposed on a substrate. The polymer layer defines the land areas and the trough areas and includes a magnetic layer thereon.
The land areas on the tracks may include data islands which are isolated from one another by the trough areas. Each of the data islands may be capable of storing one bit. The tracks may have a different density at an inner diameter of the magnetic disk than at an outer diameter of the magnetic disk. The trough areas may function as erase bands during writing on the magnetic disk.
The width of the read element may be between a value Rmin and a value Rmax, where
Rmin=TW, and
Rmax=TW+2GAP−2RTMR,
where TW corresponds to track width, GAP corresponds to a distance between adjacent tracks, and RTMR corresponds to misregistration of the read element on a track.
The width of the write element may be between a value Wmin and a value Wmax, where
Wmin=TW+WTMR, and
Wmax=TW+2GAP−2SQ,
where TW corresponds to track width, GAP corresponds to a distance between adjacent tracks, WTMR corresponds to misregistration of the write element on a track, and SQ corresponds to a reduction in distance between tracks due to misregistration of the write element.
In general, in another aspect, the invention is directed to a patterned magnetic storage medium. The storage medium includes a substrate and a layer formed on the substrate. The layer defines land areas and trough areas. The land areas store data and the trough areas inhibit storage of data between the land areas. This aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features.
The land areas may be raised higher than the trough areas relative to the substrate. The trough areas may have a depth relative to the land areas that is sufficient to prevent magnetic writing of data to the trough areas. The land areas may include data islands that are isolated from one another by the trough areas. Each of the data islands may be capable of storing one bit. The land areas may be concentric or spiral tracks and the trough areas may separate the tracks from one another. The trough areas may function as erase bands for preventing writing of data between the land areas. The substrate may be glass, a NiP-clad aluminum alloy substrate, a glass-ceramic substrate, and/or a titanium substrate and the layer may be polymer having a magnetic layer deposited thereon.
In general, in another aspect, the invention is directed to an apparatus that includes storing means for storing data magnetically in data tracks. The data tracks are separated by erase bands that are physically stamped onto the storing means. The apparatus also includes a writing means which writes data to the storing means. Reading means reads data from the storing means. The reading means has a width that is greater than a width of the writing means. This aspect may include one or more of the following features.
The erase bands may be troughs that are formed on the storing means between the data tracks. The storing means may be a patterned medium formed of a polymer layer disposed on a substrate. The polymer layer may include the data tracks and the erase bands and may have a magnetic layer deposited thereon. The reading means and the writing means may be part of a recording means that flies over the storing means during reading and writing. The erase bands may be troughs that have a depth relative to the recording means that is sufficient to prevent magnetic writing of data to the troughs. The data tracks may include sequences of data islands separated by troughs.
In general, in another aspect, the invention is directed to a magnetic recording system which includes a patterned medium comprised of land areas and trough areas. The land areas store data and the trough areas inhibit storage of data. The system includes a recording head which reads and writes data to the land areas of the patterned medium. The recording head has a read element. The read element has a width that is greater than a width of the land areas. This aspect may include one or more of the following features.
The recording head may include a write element having a width that is less than the width of the read element and that is greater than the width of the land areas. The trough areas may have a depth relative to the recording head that is sufficient to prevent magnetic writing of data to the trough areas. The patterned medium may include a polymer layer disposed on a substrate. The polymer layer may define the land areas and the trough areas and may have a magnetic layer deposited thereon.
The patterned medium may be a rotatable magnetic disk having tracks which store data. The concentric tracks may be the land areas. The tracks may be separated on the rotatable magnetic disk by the trough areas. The land areas may include data islands which are isolated from one another by the trough areas. Each of the data islands may be capable of storing a block of data. A block of data may be one bit.
In general, in another aspect, the invention is directed to a magnetic recording medium that includes land areas which store data and trough areas which store servo information. Storing servo information in the trough areas makes it possible to provide continuous servo to a head scanning the recording medium, while at the same time increasing the amount of medium space available to store substantive data. This aspect may include one or more of the following.
The data in the land areas may be at a higher frequency than the servo information in the trough areas. The trough areas may include steps having a height that is less than the land areas relative to the troughs. The steps may comprise the servo information. A land area may be a data track; a first trough may border one side of the land area; and a second trough may border another side of the land area. The servo information in the first trough may be at a different frequency than the servo information in the second trough.
The troughs may include at least one of servo signals and grey code. The land and trough areas may be alternating concentric or spiral tracks. The land areas may include data islands isolated from one another by additional trough areas. Each of the data islands may be capable of storing a block of data. The block of data may be one bit.
In general, in another embodiment, the invention is directed to a magnetic recording system that includes a patterned medium comprised of land areas and trough areas. The land areas store data and the trough areas store servo information. The system includes a recording head that reads and writes data to the land areas of the patterned medium and reads servo information from the trough areas. This aspect may include one or more of the following features.
The recording head may include a read element and a write element. The read element may have a width that is greater than a width of the write element. The data in the land areas may be at a higher frequency than the servo information in the trough areas. The recording head may be positioned sufficiently close to the land areas to read higher-frequency data and sufficiently close to the trough areas to read lower-frequency servo information. The trough areas may include steps, which have a height that is less than the land areas relative to the troughs. The steps may comprise the servo information.
A land area may include a data track; a first trough may border one side of the land area; and a second trough may border another side of the land area. The servo information in the first trough may be at a different frequency than the servo information in the second trough. The troughs may include at least one of servo information and grey code.
The land areas and trough areas may be alternating concentric or spiral tracks. The land areas may include data islands which are isolated from one another by additional trough areas. Each of the data islands may be capable of storing a block of data. The block of data may be one bit. The patterned medium may be a rotatable magnetic disk having alternating tracks which comprise the lands and troughs. The patterned medium may contain a data sector which stores phase locked loop information.
The magnetic recording system may include a lowpass filter which receives the data and servo information and outputs the servo information, and a highpass filter which receives the data and servo information and outputs the data.
In general, in another aspect, the invention is directed to a method of accessing data. The method includes moving a recording head over a patterned medium comprised of land areas and trough areas, the land areas storing data and the trough areas storing servo information, transferring data on a land area, reading servo information from trough areas at the same time as transferring the data, and using the servo information to move the recording head relative to the land area. This aspect may include one or more of the following features.
The land area may include a data track; a first trough may border one side of the land area; and a second trough may border another side of the land area. The servo information is used to move the recording head by comparing servo information from the first trough to servo information from the second trough and re-positioning the recording head based on the comparison. The servo information in the first trough may be at a different frequency than the servo information in the second trough. The recording head may include a read element and a write element, the read element having a width that is greater than a width of the write element.
This summary has been provided so that the nature of the invention can be understood quickly. A description of illustrative embodiments of the invention is set forth below.
Like reference numerals in different figures indicate like elements.
During read and write operations in a disk drive, a recording head is maintained in a centered position above a desired track in a process known as track following. When using a dual element head, this process entails centering the write element during a write operation and centering the read element during a read operation. For various reasons, the write element of a dual element head is not always centered on a track when the corresponding read element is centered on the track and vice versa.
As shown in
To perform the track following function, a servo system (not shown) is generally implemented that uses feedback information, read from disk 18 by read element 26, to properly position recording head 16. Because read element 26 provides the feedback information to the servo system, the system will center read element 26, rather than write element 28, if additional information is not supplied to the servo system. During a write operation, therefore, a compensation value is delivered to the servo system to center write element 28, if additional information is not supplied to the servo system. The compensation value delivered to the servo system generally varies across the surface of the disk based on the combined effect of the skew angle and the offset between the elements.
Even when a servo system is being used by the disk drive to position the head, a certain amount of misalignment can exist between the centerline of an element of the recording head and the centerline of the desired track during normal disk drive operation. This misalignment is caused by various factors such as, for example, spindle run out, resonance and disk flutter, thermal track shift, head settling, actuator interactions, improper servo writing, and others. For a particular disk drive, the misalignment between the head element and the track during normal track following operations is specified by a track misregistration (TMR) value. The TMR value represents the maximum range of element misalignment that is probable during normal track following operations of the disk drive. That is, while the disk drive is track following, it is probable that the element centerline will be somewhere within the range specified by the TMR value and improbable that the head will be outside of this range. In general, the TMR is a statistically derived value based on past observation in similar or identical disk drive systems.
One type of dual element recording head is a magnetoresistive head that includes a magnetoresistive (MR) read element and a separate write element that is usually inductive. MR read elements include a small piece of magnetoresistive material having a variable resistivity that changes based on an applied magnetic field. That is, as the magnetic field applied to the material increases, the resistivity of the material, in general, decreases. In practice, the MR material is held near the desired track as a substantially constant current is run through the material. The magnetic field variations produced by the magnetic transitions on the rotating track change the resistance of the magnetic material, resulting in a variable voltage across the material that is representative of the data stored on the disk (i.e., a read signal). MR read elements have gained much popularity in recent years as they typically generate read signals having considerably higher voltage than those generated by inductive read elements.
Dual element heads of the past utilized a write wide/read narrow approach. It has been determined, however, that this approach results in problems associated with a nonlinear servo position signal transfer function. Accordingly, read wide/write narrow dual element heads were developed. In a read wide/write narrow dual element recording head, the width of the read element exceeds the width of the write element.
Dual element recording head 42 includes a write element 44 having a write width (W) and read element 46 having a read element width (R), where the read width is greater than the write width. Recording head 42 also includes a read element centerpoint 48 and a write element centerpoint 50 that are substantially laterally offset from one another with respect to direction of travel 52 of the recording head. Boundary lines 54A, 54B represent the TMR boundaries for data track 56.
In addition, write element 44 includes erase bands 58A and 58B for creating magnetic erase bands on either side of the data written onto track 56 by write element 44. The magnetic erase bands are formed of magnetic flux at the edges of write element 44. This flux is inherent in all write elements and may be increased or decreased to increase or decrease, respectively, the size of the magnetic erase bands. Although the operation of the magnetic erase bands is not strictly necessary for the present invention, a description thereof may aid in understanding benefits provided by the patterned media described below.
Instead of, or in addition to, providing magnetic erase bands on the write element, effective erase bands may be physically formed (e.g., stamped) onto a patterned medium. A patterned medium is a magnetic storage device, such as a magnetic disk, that contains land areas (“lands”) and trough areas (“troughs”). Referring to
Referring to
The troughs have a depth relative to the recording head and/or the lands that is sufficient to inhibit storage of data in the troughs at the frequency that the data is written. During a write operation, the read wide/write narrow recording head is positioned over the lands such that the lands are substantially covered by both the read and write elements. The read element is wider than the write element and the write element is at least as wide as the lands and may be wider.
During writing, the recording head “flies”, i.e., moves, over the patterned medium. The troughs are sufficiently far from the recording head to inhibit, and preferably to prevent, writing of data inside the troughs. That is, the troughs are far enough away from the recording head to prevent the flux transitions caused by the write element from affecting the magnetic polarity of the areas of the medium defined by the troughs. The lands, however, are sufficiently close to the recording head to permit magnetic writing of data thereon.
Thus, when data is written to patterned medium 72, the lands constitute the data tracks and the troughs constitute effective erase bands. On a circular magnetic disk, the lands and troughs may be formed as alternating concentric circles (taking into account any servo spokes formed onto the magnetic disk). The troughs isolate the lands (i.e., the data tracks) from one another, resulting in data tracks that are defined clearly both physically and magnetically.
Alternatively, the lands and troughs may be alternated spirals. Other track configurations also may be used.
Thus, if new data is written to land 70a, e.g., on a second pass by write element 84, there should be no residual data from the first pass on the land 70a or in the troughs 74a and 74b. Accordingly, when read element 82 reads data from track 70a, only data from the second pass will be read. To achieve these advantages, constraints may be placed on the widths of the read element and the write element.
Referring to
Rmin=TW,
where TW is the width of track 70a (i.e., lands) formed onto patterned medium 72. The width of the read element should not be less than the track width, i.e., R TW. The minimum width of the write element (Wmin) may be constrained as follows:
Wmin=TW+WTMR,
where TW is as defined above and WTMR is an amount of write element misregistration (i.e., the amount of TMR that may occur with respect to write element 84).
The read element TMR (RTMR) is the amount of TMR that may occur with respect to read element 82. The minimum off-track registration capacity of the recording head (OTRCmin) is defined as follows
OTRCmin=(R−TW)/2=RTMR.
Track spacing (Ts) is defined as the sum of TW and the gap (GAP) between adjacent tracks, such as 70a and 70b, or
Ts=TW+GAP.
Squeeze (SQ) is the amount by which the gap between adjacent tracks is reduced when write element 84 extends beyond the width TW of track 70 and into trough 74a. Squeeze is defined as follows
SQ=WFG+Overshoot,
where WFG is the “Write Fault Gate”, which corresponds to a predetermined limit that a head can write when it is off-track, the magnitude of which is determined by servo position information, and “Overshoot” is the amount by which the recording head exceeds the WFG when writing during seeking or during a shock event. Overshoot is a constant that is determined empirically based on parameters of the disk drive, and especially by the servo bandwidth.
The OTRC under a squeeze condition (OSQ) is defined as follows by setting the squeeze margin to zero
OSQmargin=Ts−TW/2−Wmax/2−SQ,
where Wmax is the maximum width of write element 84 and TS, TW and SQ are as defined above. Setting Osqmargin to zero and substituting “TW+GAP” for “Ts”, results in the following
0=TW+2GAP−TW/2−Wmax/2−SQ.
Solving for Wmax results in
Wmax=TW+2GAP−2SQ.
The maximum width of the read element (Rmax) may be defined based on the structure of the patterned medium and the dual element recording head as
Rmax=TW+2GAP−2RTMR.
Using a patterned medium, the read width of the read element can be increased significantly relative to read elements used with non-patterned media. One reason for this is that the troughs prevent old data from being written outside of the data track, making it possible to increase the width of the read element without fear of the read element sensing substantial amounts of old data. For example, in one embodiment, in which the TMR and track width tolerances scale at 110,000 tracks-per-inch (TPI, the width of the read element can be more than doubled, from 0.10 microns (μm) to 0.22μm. Increasing the width of the read element also provides signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio advantages. That is, the amount of valid data increases relative to noise from, e.g., old data. For example, it is possible to obtain a six (6) decibel (db) advantage in SNR using a patterned medium and read wide/write narrow recording head.
The invention is not limited to the above embodiments. The data tracks on the patterned medium may have the same or a different track or bit density at an inner diameter of the magnetic disk than at an outer diameter of the magnetic disk. For example, the data tracks may have a higher density at the inner diameter than at the outer diameter, i.e., Ts may vary.
The data tracks may include data “islands”, as shown in
Servo information (e.g., position error information) may also be stored on the lands. The servo information may be stored on the lands using servo bursts at the start of each sector of a magnetic disk. For example, referring to
In an alternative embodiment, the troughs of the patterned medium may contain data, such as servo information. The servo information may be written to the bottom surface (or “floor”) of the troughs (as magnetic transitions) at a lower frequency than the data written to the lands. For example, the servo information may be written at 1 MegaHertz (MHz) and the data on the lands may be written at 19 to 250 MHz. Writing the data and servo at these or other frequencies allows a read element, such the read element on read wide/write narrow recording head 80, to sense both data and servo information.
In more detail, the recording head is able to sense high-density data at a close distance. The recording head is also able to sense lower-density data at a farther distance. Accordingly, the data on the lands, which is closer to the recording head, can be written at a high density and the servo information in the troughs, which is farther away from the recording head, can be written at a lower density. Thus, the recording head can sense both simultaneously at the same flight height. In this embodiment, the read element is wider than the land and, accordingly, extends over the lands and into the troughs on either side of the land, allowing the read element to sense both the data and servo information.
The equation that governs the readability of data relative to the height of the recording head above the recording medium is called the Wallace equation. The Wallace equation is as follows:
In the Wallace equation, “FH” is the flying height of the recording head, i.e., the distance above the recording medium; “λ” is the wavelength in distance between two magnetic transitions that define data; “V1” is the amplitude of the low flying height of the read element above the data magnetic transitions on the recording medium of the lands; “Vh” is the amplitude of the high flying height of the read element above the servo magnetic transitions in the troughs; and “ln” is the natural logarithm function.
The flying height (FH) that enables the read element to read low frequency magnetic transitions in the troughs is determined by solving the Wallace equation. The Wallace equation may also be used to confirm that the read element is able to sense the high frequency magnetic transitions (i.e., the data) on the lands.
Moreover, because the data (as opposed to the servo information) is written at a high frequency, the write element will not be able to write data in the troughs. As a result, the troughs are still able to act as effective erase bands.
Instead of writing the servo information onto a smooth surfaced trough, patterned steps may be physically formed in the trough. The servo information includes the patterned steps, which create low frequency signals by the abrupt changes in magnetization created by the steps themselves.
In the example of
If the floor 116 of a trough is deep enough and the frequency of the steps is low enough, the servo information will be lower in bandwidth than the data, but still readable by the read element of the recording head. The Wallace equation is used to determine the flying height of the recording head relative to the steps and the lands and the frequencies of the data and servo information.
The servo information stored in the troughs (either on patterned steps or as magnetic transitions on the “floor”) is at different frequencies on either side of a land. As shown in
The servo information written to the troughs may include servo signals and/or grey code. The servo signals include data that is used to ascertain the position of the recording head. The grey code is data that defines the track addresses of data tracks on the magnetic recording medium.
In operation, as a recording head 120 moves over a land 112b, the read element (not shown) of the recording head senses servo information in troughs 114b and 114c that border the land 112b on the left and right, respectively. The read element reads the servo information from the troughs along with the data from the lands. Referring to
The lowpass filter 124 transmits low frequency servo information from troughs 114b and 114c to the controller. The controller compares (e.g., takes the difference between) the servo information from trough 114b and the servo information from trough 114c. The controller compares the resulting difference value to one or more preset values in order to determine if the recording head has veered too much into one trough or other. If so, the controller issues a signal to correct the position of the recording head.
The highpass filter 126 receives the output of preamplifier 122 and passes high-frequency signals only, i.e., data from the lands and PLL (phase locked loop) information (which is timing information that may be contained in dedicated data sectors on the magnetic recording medium).
By storing servo information and grey code in the troughs, the size of dedicated data sectors can be increased relative to recording media that also store the servo information and the grey code in dedicated data sectors. As a result, there is more room on the recording medium for data.
The invention is not limited to the specific embodiments set forth above. The different features of the various embodiments can be combined. For example, the data islands of
Other embodiments not specifically described herein are also within the scope of the following claims.
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/077,200 filed Feb. 15, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,019,924 which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/269,517, filed on Feb. 16, 2001, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
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| 3-142702 | Jun 1991 | JP |
| 3-142707 | Jun 1991 | JP |
| 6-318302 | Nov 1994 | JP |
| 10-149539 | Jun 1998 | JP |
| 2000099942 | Apr 2000 | JP |
| WO 0048172 | Aug 2000 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20060139814 A1 | Jun 2006 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60269517 | Feb 2001 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10077200 | Feb 2002 | US |
| Child | 10863648 | US |
