Hybrid recording features and material candidates beyond Tera bit/in/sup 2/

Magnetic recording will face very serious problems beyond Tera bit/in/sup 2/, such as: recorded bit thermal stability in a size range of less than 20 nm×30 nm; very strong magnetic field necessary to write on a high coercive media, estimated over 15 kOe; write frequency limited to a few GHz, depending on the natural resonance of the magnetic material. In a hybrid recording scheme, writing is done at a high temperature around 150-230 °C, while archiving at room temperature. Such a simple concept brings solutions to solve the above difficulties. This paper outlines various hybrid recording device configurations and checks out the applicability of several materials for this type of application.