Development of Barium Ferrite Tape With a High Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Thermal Stability

We developed an advanced particulate magnetic tape using fine barium ferrite (BaFe) particles with a high broadband signal-to-noise ratio (BB-SNR) and thermal stability. The newly developed tape achieved a BB-SNR 4 dB higher than that of the commercially available BaFe tape used for linear tape-open generation 7 tape-storage systems, at a linear density of 350 kilo flux changes per inch. Furthermore, the thermal decay rate, which is an index of thermal stability, of this tape was sufficiently high, 0.029 dB/decade, although the tape is composed of fine particles. This value is acceptable for long-term archiving over approximately 30 years. This paper describes the characteristics of the new tape particles and medium, which are expected to be employed in the future high-capacity linear tape systems.