As the market leader in thin-film deposition technology for the hard disk industry, Intevac is committed to delivering solutions that leverage the benefits of new technology. While new technology promises areal density gains, lean equipment delivers higher productivity by optimizing factory clean room space and minimizing non-value added activities like transport. Lean equipment not only reduces total cost of ownership but also enhances equipment extendibility by virtue of a modular architecture.
The 200 Lean® is ideally suited to deposit complicated structures for perpendicular recording media and follow-on generations. Increasing HDD areal density will require complex media with additional layers in order to control media noise and for thermal stability. Additional layers along with a slower heating requirement for alternative substrates will necessitate a progressive increase in the number of process stations required. The above figure gives a representation of a second-generation perpendicular magnetic recording media. The 10 sputtered layers shown here along with heating and sputter etching will require at least 13 stations and possibly more, particularly if a glass substrate is used. The 200 Lean has 24 vacuum stations and offers the flexibility to add more stations without redesign and without impacting the footprint significantly.
