MFM study of edge overwrite in perpendicular thin film recording media

This paper presents a magnetic force microscopy (MFM) study on recording and edge overwrite in a keepered perpendicular thin film medium with a pole-tip head which is in-contact with the disk surface during the recording. The MFM image of a single recorded track shows that the edge of the recorded track is well defined by transition overshoot at track edges. The images of edge overwrite patterns show that at track edges, there is no separation between the newly recorded and residual previous tracks. It is argued that the sharp track edges and lack of edge erase band in perpendicular single pole head recording can be advantageous as well as disadvantageous depending on system and track serving designs.>