BEYOND DISCRETE TRACKS - OTHER ASPECTS OF PATTERNED MEDIA

The surface of a thin-film disk can be patterned using standard lithographic techniques to form discrete tracks as narrow as 0.5-mu-m. These studies have been extended to patterns formed when an etched track is broken into discrete segments by etching away some portions of a discrete track. Abrupt changes in the magnetization can be obtained by dc erasing the medium, giving readback signals with approximately 50% of the amplitude of conventional transitions when the gap of the readback head is aligned with the edge of the media pattern. The implications of these results for servo and read-only applications are discussed.