From perpendicular magnetic recording to Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording

Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) is considered as one of the leading technology candidates for enabling continuous areal density growth to beyond perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) and increase the storage capacity of the hard disk drives. In this paper, we give a brief review of the technology development over the past decade, from PMR to the current progress in HAMR from various perspectives and show how HAMR can extend areal density growth beyond PMR. We will also look into the fundamental aspects of HDD technology and show the challenges for beyond current state of HAMR technology.