GOALI: Nanopatterned thermally stable graded media

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The objective of this research is to explore a novel idea for circumventing the fundamental superparamagnetic limit that causes thermal instability leading to arbitrary switching of the nano-sized magnetic elements required for increasingly high density disk drives beyond 1 Tbit/in2. The approach is to fabricate nano-patterned graded anisotropy magnetic media using top-down nano-imprint lithography patterning of sputter-deposited films. Recent theoretical predictions indicate that by creating nano-columns of magnetic media that gradually change from a soft magnetic material with low anisotropy at one end to a hard magnetic material with high anisotropy at the other end, the thermal instability may be avoided. Moreover, small magnetic fields can be used to switch high anisotropy materials, making it easier to design the read-write head that is the other essential component of the disk drive.The intellectual merit of this project is that it will address a fundamental physical problem that is at the heart of the current limitations of data storage. The project is interdisciplinary in nature, and the shared graduate student will combine an in-depth study of various magnetic materials for creating the graded media with device aspects related to the actual nano-column fabrication and testing. The broader impacts resulting from this GOALI project will be the multi-disciplinary education and exposure of a female graduate student to industrial pressures as well as academic rigor, and the opportunity for experimental proof of a revolutionary concept for future data storage.