Materials Issues Driving Innovation in Large Technology Companies
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Materials Issues Driving Innovation in Large Technology Companies Interview with Jerry Glembocki, Seagate Technology We are probably most familiar with a number of large technology companies from the products that they provide, such as MP3 players, DVD recorders, personal computer systems, mobile communications, and other high-tech devices that have become a staple in our everyday life. We are seeing new products constantly being added at a faster and faster rate, but we may not be as aware of how these products are developed and some of the materials issues which drive these innovations and which are critical to further advancement in a particular industry. Understanding the close ties between materials and future product development can also give us a better perspective on what areas of materials research are especially important to these technology companies, as well as what type of educational backgrounds are needed in order to continue the fast-paced innovations. To give us a better understanding of how important materials can be for a technology company and its products, we present this interview with Jerry Glembocki, who is the senior vice president of Recording Heads and Recording Media at Seagate Technologies. —S.M. Prokes, interviewer As we all know, Seagate Technologies is a major hard disk drive manufacturer, with research and development (R&D) and manufacturing efforts in the United States and abroad. Yes, we also offer various storage systems for back-up and portable storage. Our industry is experiencing explosive growth as almost all forms of content— such as pictures, movies, music, computer data and programs—are digitized and stored digitally. Can you give us a brief description of the different parts and processes that are necessary in order to produce hard disks? At the heart of a disk drive is the recording system comprised of a recording head and a disk. The head writes data to the disk when data needs to be stored, and then reads it back when the user wants to retrieve it. The other major systems of a hard drive include a very compact motor to spin the disk, a suspension and head stack that suspend the head over the disk, a magnetic actuator that rapidly moves the head and stack from track to track, a printed circuit board with microprocessors, recording channel, analog and digital circuitry, and finally a base and cover assembly that encloses the drive and holds the various parts together. 368
Likewise, the disk has to be designed to keep a magnetic bit magnetized for decades without thermal erasure and to be easily written with a tiny magnetic flux pattern. This involves using sputter deposition to build the magnetic layers one by one on the disk. A series of layers containing cobalt, platinum, chrome, ruthenium, and other elements are deposited with a final protective layer of carbon. The disk is then covered with a thin lubricant to prevent wear when the head flies over it.
Jerry Glembocki, Senior Vice President of Recording Heads and Recording Media, gives a presentation to inspire his
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