Advanced probe head for perpendicular recording

Basic design and recording performance of the advanced probe heads are described. Excellent writability of the advanced probe heads is demonstrated by a series of overwrite (OW) and nonlinear transition shift (NLTS) saturation measurements. Write currents as low as 5 mA_o-p are required for recording. Excellent OW can be obtained with both high and low OW ratios. Media with vibrating sample magnetometry coercivities as high as 7000 Oe can be recorded with OW of 30 dB. Better than -14 dB of NLTS was measured at a linear density of 600 kfci. Minimal side-writing has been observed using the advanced probe heads with square pole shape. External field sensitivity of the advanced probe heads has also been shown to be excellent as larger than 58 Oe of external field is required to erase a low density signal on a 3380-Oe disk. Modeling results also show that the basic architecture of advanced probe head is extendible to 0.1 μm square pole