Dual Easy Axes Effect on Nanosized Near-Spherical Particles for Advanced Tape Storage

Conventional needle-shaped tape particles utilize shape anisotropy to enable magnetic storage. Developed with near-spherical shape and strong crystalline anisotropy, the nanosized composite advanced particles (NanoCAP) are one of the potential candidates for future tape data storage. However, because of the imperfect shape in fabrication, significant shape anisotropy still exists in NanoCAP, forming a second easy axis in addition to that of the crystalline anisotropy. In this paper, the effect of the dual easy axes is studied by micromagnetic modeling. The analysis shows that the parasitic shape anisotropy degrades media performance. Schemes for reducing the parasitic shape anisotropy are quantitatively evaluated.