METHOD FOR PERFORMING MAGNETIC RECORDING ON PATTERNED MULTILEVEL PERPENDICULAR RECORDING MEDIUM BY USING THERMAL ASSISTANCE AND FIXED WRITE CURRENT

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a magnetic recording method taking advantages of both of a patterned medium and multilevel recording. SOLUTION: The method uses a fixed write current and thermal assistance to record on the patterned perpendicular magnetic recording medium. The patterned medium has magnetic blocks, i.e. islands 52, each of which contains a stack of a plurality of individual magnetic cells 22 and 32 to provide multilevel recording. Each cell is formed of a material provided with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and is a single magnetic domain. Each cell is magnetically decoupled from the other cells in the island 52 by nonmagnetic spacer layers 30. Thus each cells 22 and 32 has a magnetization (magnetic moment) in one direction of two directions (into or out of the plane of the layer constituting the cell), and this magnetization is independent of the magnetization of the other cells in the island 52. This permits multiple magnetic levels or states to be recorded in each magnetic island. COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI