Sunken Plasmonic Plate NFT Heat Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) devices face performance degradation and potential failure of the near-field transducer (NFT) due to excessive temperature increase, which limits the storage density and reliability of magnetic recording media.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a nanorod between a plasmonic plate and a heat sink in the NFT, with diffusion barrier plates to resist material diffusion and enhance heat dissipation, allowing for improved thermal management and increased thermal gradient of the hot spot.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the NFT concentrates energy from the light source into a tiny spot in the recording layer, then the local temperature of the media increases enabling high-density recording, but the temperature of the NFT itself increases too much causing performance degradation and potential failure
Solution Approach 1:
A heat sink is introduced as an intermediary component between the nanorod and the surrounding environment. The heat sink absorbs excess heat from the nanorod through thermal conduction, preventing the NFT from overheating while allowing the hot spot to maintain high temperature for effective recording. This mediator resolves the contradiction by providing a thermal management pathway that protects the NFT while enabling high-density recording.
Solution Approach 2:
The thermal conductivity parameter of the NFT structure is modified by integrating materials with different thermal properties. The heat sink has high thermal conductivity to draw heat away from the nanorod, while the nanorod itself maintains appropriate thermal properties for generating the hot spot. This parameter change enables the system to simultaneously achieve high recording density and maintain NFT reliability through controlled heat management.
2Reliability
If the NFT heats a larger area of the recording media, then the NFT operates more reliably with better heat dissipation, but the heated area increases reducing the areal density of the recording media
Solution Approach 1:
The heat sink is designed with spatially varying thermal properties and geometry. The region closest to the nanorod has high thermal conductivity and close proximity to efficiently extract heat, while the overall heat sink structure is configured to limit the lateral spread of heat to the recording media. This local quality approach ensures reliable NFT operation through effective heat dissipation while maintaining a concentrated hot spot for high areal density recording.
3Power
If the nanorod is directly exposed to the plasmonic plate, then the electric field concentration is maximized, but material diffusion between the plasmonic plate and nanorod degrades performance
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful material diffusion process is extracted and eliminated from the system by introducing a diffusion barrier layer between the plasmonic plate and the nanorod. This barrier layer prevents interdiffusion of metal atoms that would otherwise occur due to thermal and mechanical interactions, thereby maintaining the structural integrity and performance stability of the NFT while allowing the electric field concentration function to continue operating effectively.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration increases the longevity and reliability of the NFT, enabling closer data storage bits and potentially higher areal density in magnetic recording media by efficiently dissipating heat and reducing the heated area.
Implementation Method 1
a plasmonic plate configured to concentrate an electric field to the nanorod, upon excitation by an electromagnetic wave, or light
Implementation Method 2
a nanorod configured to heat a hotspot on a recording media
Implementation Method 3
a heat sink configured to dissipate heat from the nanorod
Data Source
AI summary
A recording head includes a nanorod configured to heat a hotspot on a recording media, a plasmonic plate configured to concentrate an electric field to excite the nanorod, and a heat sink configured to dissipate heat from the nanorod. The recording head includes a first diffusion barrier plate configured to resist diffusion of materials between the plasmonic plate and the nanorod and a second diffusion barrier plate configured to resist diffusion of materials between the heat sink and the nanorod. The first diffusion barrier plate is disposed between the nanorod and the plasmonic plate and is coupled to a bottom surface of the nanorod. The second diffusion barrier plate is disposed between the heat sink and the nanorod and is coupled to the top surface of the nanorod.