Technology Outlook and Market Transitions for Thin Film Disks

Presented by

Michael A. Russak, Ph.D., President and CTO

Komag, Inc

at

The IDEMA Financial Conference

Westin Hotel, Santa Clara, CA

November 4, 2004

Ever Shrinking Bit Size

• Consequences of Shrinking Bit Size – Loss of Signal SNR must improve– Less grains/bit SNR must improve– More sensitive to defects – Thermal stability problems

60 Gb/in2 2800 x 380 Å 170 (80 Å)

90 Gb/in2 2000 x 365 Å 150 (70 Å)

120 Gb/in2 1540 x 350 Å 128 (65 Å)

Areal Density Bit size # Grains (size)

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

10

100

1000

10

1520

3040

60

80120

160240

320480

640960

1280

1920

100% CAGR60% CAGR40% CAGRDTR @ MR160DTR @ MR240DTR @ MR320

PerpendicularPerpendicular

Areal Density & Capacity vs. Time

YearYear

Are

al D

ensi

ty (

Gb

/inA

real

Den

sity

(G

b/in

22 ))

ConventionalConventional

SAFSAF

PatternedPatterned

HAMRHAMR

Long. AD DemoLong. AD Demo135 Gb/in135 Gb/in22

853 kbpi, 158 ktpi853 kbpi, 158 ktpi

Perp. AD DemoPerp. AD Demo111Gb/in111Gb/in22

850 kbpi, 131 ktpi850 kbpi, 131 ktpi

Current Longitudinal Media Structure Comparison

Ru

Mag. 1

Mag. 2

Stabilizing Layer

SAF Longitudinal Media Design

Synthetic Anti-Ferromagnetic

Underlayer 1

Underlayer 2

Mag 1

Mag. 2

Conventional

Conventional LongitudinalMedia Design

Underlayer 1

Underlayer 2

Nucleation Layer

Carbon Film

Carbon Film\

Challenges of SAF Media Manufacturing

• Some capital expense to upgrade existing sputter equipment

• Addition of more sputter chambers and/cathodes for additional layer deposition

• Rebalance sputter throughputs

• Very evolutionary process

1

10

100

1000

10000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Year

Are

al D

ensi

ty (

Gb

/in

2)

Year

Product Introductions

Areal Density Trend

100 %

20 GB

30 GB40 GB

60 GB80 GB

100 GB

120 GB

30 %

160 GB240 GB

-100

-50

0

50

100

150

200

Th

ick

nes

s S

epar

atio

n(Å

)

20 50 100 150

Areal Density (Gb/in2)

Fly height

Half Mag Thk

Disk O/C

Head O/C

PTR

PTP

Magnetic Spacing Budget

GMR Head

A New Tribology Environment

CONTACT

recession

Typical minimum fl y height

2- 3nmalumina protrusion

AlTiC/ Al O2 3

Al OGMR transducer

2 3

alumina protrusion

Design implications: Head-disk clearance improvement A more particle tolerant interface Magnetic design point must be selected to reduce Iw

requirement

CoCrPt-Oxide Perpendicular Media Structure

Inter-layers

Substrate (AlMg or Glass)Substrate (AlMg or Glass)

OvercoatOvercoat

CoCrPtOCoCrPtO Hard Magnetic Layer (~15 nm)Hard Magnetic Layer (~15 nm)

Seed LayerSeed LayerRu (10 – 40 nm)Ru (10 – 40 nm)

Ru layer(AFC – coupled)

Soft Magnetic Layer (100 – 200 nm)Soft Magnetic Layer (100 – 200 nm)

Challenges for Perpendicular Media Manufacturing

• More difficult than SAF evolution• Disparate film thickness, (SUL and multilayer

magnetic structures), present throughput challenges

• Approaches under consideration– Process development to accommodate existing

equipment

– Buy new equipment

– Two tool strategy

Discrete Track Recording (DTR) Technology

250nm 550nm

60nm

Land-groove cross-section

Cross-sectional TEM: Close-up

75 n

mMagneticlayers

NiP

Carbon Longitudinal – Oriented Media

BF TEM Image of DTR Disk

Perpendicular Media

Source: TrendFOCUS 2004 Rigid Disk Media Information System

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

2004 2005 2006 2007

466.58

528.78

572.15

615.94

12.2%

13.3%

8.2%

7.7%10.3% CAGR

307.32

351.65

380.80

401.30

9%

14%

8%

5% 9.2% CAGR

107.94128.95

143.25 165.40

21%19%

11%15%

16.6% CAGR

37.25 29.50 23.40 19.70-2% -21% -21% -16% -15.1% CAGR

10.05 13.04 14.97 16.8097% 30% 15% 22% 34.7% CAGR4.02 5.64 9.73 12.74185% 40% 73% 31% 73.4% CAGR

Total Units

95mm

65-75mm

84mm48mm

<=27mm

Total Media Market Forecast (000) by Size

Disk Form Factor Migrations

• Desktop and Consumer Electronics (CE)– 95 mm Diameter is the mainstay of desktop

computer and large capacity CE applications– Exclusively AlMg media with micro-actuators

for heads and/or increased thickness to deal with TMR issues

Disk Form Factor Migrations

• Portable PC Applications– 65 mm Diameter; Mainstay of portable PC

applications– Exclusively glass based media

• AlMg may be lurking

– 48 mm based HDD gaining some traction in mini-portable PC applications

Disk Form Factor Migrations

• 48 mm: I-pod & Mini Portable PCs– Exclusively glass based media

• AlMg may be lurking

• 27 mm: Mini-I-pod, Cameras, etc.– Exclusively glass based media

• 21 mm: Cell phones and smaller consumer application – Exclusively glass based media

Summary & Conclusions

• While Areal Density Growth Rate has slowed, technology remains extendable and viable – The physics of recording remains the same

– Extend longitudinal recording

– Enable perpendicular recording

– Discreet track and/or patterned media

• Mechanical tolerances and requirements have become much more demanding.