Influence of media background on write/read performance in perpendicular media with an antiferromagnetic layer

A perpendicular medium with a soft underlayer (SUL) combined with a single-pole head (SPH) is the most common implementation of perpendicular recording. This paper discusses the influence of media background on the write/read performance for both media's. The introduction of an antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer underneath SUL is also reported to help avoid additional media noise due to the domain wall instabilities of the SUL. However, such AFM layer can increase stray fields arising from the recording layer giving rise to notable effect on recording performance.