3D analysis of medium field with consideration of perpendicular head-medium combinations

Abstract

This paper describes the comparison of the microgrid method [6] and a 3D FEM for predicting the medium field in perpendicular recording systems. The microgrid method uses Fourier series expansion to simulate the three dimensional (3D) field emanated from the perpendicular medium under the air bearing surface (ABS) of the read sensor. The proposed method can account for the effect of the recorded transitions (in downtrack direction) and track edge effect of neighboring recorded tracks (in crosstrack direction). The described method is particularly useful for the reconstruction of the playback waveforms of a large number of recorded transitions. Computed medium field in the gap region under the read head agrees well with numerical simulations using 3D finite element method (FEM). The purpose of this study aims at validating a developed model for generation of playback signals with consideration of varying perpendicular head-media combinations.