Dr. Frank E. Talke

Professor, University of California, San Diego
Center for Magnetic Recording Research
Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Friday, November 18, 2011, at 3:00 PM
Warnock Engineering Building, Room 2250
Reception to follow at 4:00 PM

Seminar Abstract

Storage of information in hard disk drives is accomplished by the relative motion between a magnetic read/write element and a magnetic hard disk. In order to achieve a further increase in the storage density, the flying height of the read/write element must be reduced to less than 2 nm, and the track density must be increased to more than 500k tracks per inch. To reduce magnetic noise, each recorded bit must be isolated from its neighboring bits leading to the so-called “discrete track” or “bit patterned media” technology. Manufacturing of patterned media is a problem of nano-technology, requiring resolution of 5 nm or less. Heat assisted magnetic recording is also being considered where a laser beam is used to locally heat the magnetic media to reduce its coercivity during the write process.

In this talk, an overview of the present state of the art of disk drive technology is given and nano technology problems occurring in the storage of information in hard disk drives are discussed. Requirements for future disk drives are presented along with alternative methods of information storage.

About Dr. Talke

Professor Frank Talke is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, and holds an endowed chair in the Center for Magnetic Recording Research. Prior to joining UCSD, Professor Talke worked at the IBM Research and Development Laboratories, San Jose, CA, from 1969 to 1986. Prof. Talke is a Fellow of the ASME, the STLE, and the IEEE. He received the First Annual ASME-Seagate Tribology Award and was honored with the Max Planck Prize for International Cooperation in 2000 and the von Humboldt Research Prize in 2007. Professor Talke has been a member of the National Academy of Engineering since 1999, and a member of Acatech, the Academy of Technikwissen- schaften, Germany, since 2009. Professor Talke received the ASME medal in 2008 and the Tribology Gold Medal in 2010.

***The Department of Mechanical Engineering hosts a series every Fall and Spring semester featuring distinguished speakers in their related fields. Speakers come from all over the country from many different schools and industries to talk about their ground-breaking research and to show faculty and students their work. Some speakers have even been invited from other countries. A reception follows each seminar.