Seagate Technology

Axial cooling fans are widely used in data center dense Hard Disk Drive (HDD) storage systems. However, these fans emit high noise levels and degrade HDD performance at certain frequencies. Flow at the fan's inlet can be highly turbulent due to the wake generated by fan components such as struts, finger guards, stators/guide vanes, shrouds, and other external system components such as connectors and mounts, power cables and components, circuits etc. The wake-fan interaction also causes high tonal noise. Therefore a proper understanding of this noise mechanism will help optimize the cooling system in next-generation high-performance HDD enclosure systems. This paper focuses on studying this phenomenon using numerical simulations of a typical data center cooling fan combined with various simplified strut geometries as the obstacle. The high-fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) method, Large Eddy Simulation (LES), was used to obtain a transient flow field. The Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings acoustic analogy was used to predict far-field noise.

An exchange bias (EB) model taking the setting process into account is developed to study the effect of the crucial parameters, such as the AFM anisotropy constant ([Formula: see text]), the setting temperature ([Formula: see text]), and the physical microstructure on the exchange bias field of an AFM/FM system. The magnetization dynamics of the EB system is treated using the kinetic Monte Carlo approach and by integrating the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation for AFM and FM layers, respectively. We first investigate the variation of the exchange bias field ([Formula: see text]) as a function of [Formula: see text] in the IrMn/CoFe system. It is found that [Formula: see text] strongly depends on the energy barrier dispersion determined by dispersions of [Formula: see text] and the grain volume. It is shown that the [Formula: see text] is affected by the physical microstructure of the IrMn layer: film thickness and grain diameter. We also demonstrate that the maximum setting fraction ([Formula: see text]) related to [Formula: see text] can be achieved by optimizing the value of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. The simulation results of the setting process are in good agreement with previous experimental works. This confirms the validity of the EB model, including the setting process that can be used as a powerful tool for the application of spintronics, especially for read sensor design to achieve high thermal stability with scaling down of components.

Here we describe experimental spin stand measurements as well as simulations of the time constants associated with thermal transients in heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) media. The thermal transients associated with both increasing and decreasing steps in laser power contain at least two time constants each, one on the order of 1 ns and another on the order of 10 ns. These time constants are associated with the central thermal peak in the media and the diffuse thermal background, respectively. Additionally, the measured thermal fall time is longer than the thermal rise time due to the disk’s motion relative to the head. Whereas in conventional HAMR a constant laser power is applied during writes, a number of proposed advanced recording schemes use pulsed laser power to improve either recording performance or reliability. The thermal time constants reported here suggest care must be taken when implementing such schemes so that transition locations are not shifted to the detriment of areal density capability.

Ionic liquids (ILs) have attracted intensive research interest due to their outstanding physiochemical properties. However, comprehensive design is necessary for targeted applications and has rarely been conducted. As a result, the industry-scale application of ILs is still very limited. In this academia–industry collaborative research among the University of Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech. University, and Seagate Technology LLC, we report the design, synthesis, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, and characterization of a nanometer-thick IL, which contains abundant fluorinated segments and a hydroxyl endgroup, as the next-generation nano-lubricant for hard disk drives (HDDs). The lab- and industry-level testing results indicate that the IL lubricant performs significantly better than the state-of-the-art lubricant, that is, perfluoropolyether (PFPE) that has been utilized for three decades in the HDD industry in two key functions: thermal stability and fly clearance. Meanwhile, the IL lubricant also shows excellent lubricity and durability. The outstanding performance of the IL has been attributed to its unique molecular structure on the solid substrate, which is supported by MD simulation results. Our work establishes the IL as a promising candidate among the next-generation media lubricants in HDD industry. Meanwhile, the finding obtained here has important implications in many other applications involving nano-lubricants.

Inside Back Cover: The cover image is based on the Research Article A functionalized ionic liquid as the next‐generation nano‐lubricant by Wang et al. This paper demonstrates that a novel nanometer‐thick ionic liquid (IL) lubricant performs better than the state‐of‐the‐art lubricant, i.e., perfluoropolyether (PFPE), which establishes the IL as the promising candidate for the next‐generation media lubricant in hard disc drive (HDD) industry. Meanwhile, the finding here has important implications in many other applications involving nano‐lubricants.

Long-range ordering is typically associated with a decrease in entropy. Yet, it can also be driven by increasing entropy in certain special cases. Here we demonstrate that artificial spin-ice arrays of single-domain nanomagnets can be designed to produce such entropy-driven order. We focus on the tetris artificial spin-ice structure, a highly frustrated array geometry with a zero-point Pauling entropy, which is formed by selectively creating regular vacancies on the canonical square ice lattice. We probe thermally active tetris artificial spin ice both experimentally and through simulations, measuring the magnetic moments of the individual nanomagnets. We find two-dimensional magnetic ordering in one subset of these moments, which we demonstrate to be induced by disorder (that is, increased entropy) in another subset of the moments. In contrast with other entropy-driven systems, the discrete degrees of freedom in tetris artificial spin ice are binary and are both designable and directly observable at the microscale, and the entropy of the system is precisely calculable in simulations. This example, in which the system’s interactions and ground-state entropy are well defined, expands the experimental landscape for the study of entropy-driven ordering. Long-range order is normally related to an entropy decrease. Yet, an increase in entropy in one part of a system can induce long-range order in another. A new form of such entropy-driven order is now demonstrated in an artificial spin-ice system.

Conventional solid injection molding (CIM) and microcellular injection molding (MIM) of a highly filled polycarbonate (PC) composite with glass fibers and carbon black were performed for molding ASTM tensile test bars and a box-shape part with variable wall thickness. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to examine the microstructure at the fractured surface of the tensile test bar samples. The fine and uniform cellular structure suggests that the PC composite is a suitable material for foaming applications. Standard tensile tests showed that, while the ultimate strength and elongation at break were lower for the foamed test bars at 4.0–11.4% weight reduction, their specific Young’s modulus was comparable to that of their solid counterparts. A melt flow and transition model was proposed to explain the unique, irregular “tiger-stripes” exhibited on the surface of solid test bars. Increasing the supercritical fluid (SCF) dosage and weight reduction of foamed samples resulted in swirl marks on the part surface, making the tiger-stripes less noticeable. Finally, it was found that an injection pressure reduction of 25.8% could be achieved with MIM for molding a complex box-shaped part in a consistent and reliable fashion.

Increasingly manufacturing companies are looking to use sensors to collect data from production lines to help analyse their performance. More rigorous approaches are needed to process and analyse the resulting data, particularly when considering missingness. In this paper, we present the results from a major study into missingness in Seagate’s disc head manufacturing process in Londonderry UK. Working in collaboration with company staff, a detailed approach for analysing missingness has been developed. The work shows how missing data analytics can be employed to analyse the quality of the data, identify relationships and diagnose the presence of any patterns.

In this paper we review key technological milestones in system embedded optical interconnects in data centers that have been achieved between 2014 and 2020 on major European Union research and development projects. This includes the development of proprietary optically enabled data storage and switch systems and optically enabled data storage and compute subsystems. We report on four optically enabled data center system demonstrators: LightningValley, ThunderValley2, Pegasus and Aurora, which include advanced optical circuits based on polymer waveguides and fibers and proprietary electro-optical connectors. We also report on optically enabled subsystems including Ethernet-connected hard disk drives and microservers. Both are designed in the same pluggable carrier form factor and with embedded optical transceiver and connector interfaces, thus allowing, for the first time, both compute and storage nodes to be optically interchangeable and directly interconnectable over long distances. Finally, we present the Nexus platform, which allows different optically enabled data center test systems and subsystems to be interconnected and comparatively characterized within a data center test environment.