Memory Devices

Pricer, W.D., Katz, R.H., Lee, P.A., Mansuripur, M.
Memory Devices
The Electrical Engineering Handbook
Ed. Richard C. Dorf
Boca Raton: CRC Press LLC, 2000
2000 by CRC Press LLC
S0
Nemory IevIces
80.1 Integiated Ciicuits (RAM, ROM)
Dynamic RAMs (DRAMs) Static RAMs (SRAMs) Nonvolatile
Piogiammable Memoiies Read-Only Memoiies (ROMs)
80.2 Basic Disk System Aichitectuies
Basic Magnetic Disk System Aichitectuie Chaiacteiization of I/O
Woikloads Extensions to Conventional Disk Aichitectuies
80.3 Magnetic Tape
A Biief Histoiical Review Intioduction Magnetic Tape Tape
Foimat Recoiding Modes
80.4 Magneto-Optical Disk Data Stoiage
Pieliminaiies and Basic Defnitions The Optical Path Automatic
Focusing Automatic Tiacking Theimomagnetic Recoiding
Piocess Magneto-Optical Readout Mateiials of Magneto-Optical
Data Stoiage
80.1 Integrated Circuits [RAM, ROM)
W. Dovd Prcer
The majoi foims of semiconductoi memoiy in descending oidei of piesent economic impoitance aie
1. Dynamic Random-Access Memoiies (DRAMs)
2. Static Random-Access Memoiies (SRAMs)
3. Nonvolatile Piogiammable Memoiies (PROMs, EEPROMs, EAROMs, EPROMs)
4. Read-Only Memoiies (ROMs)
DRAMs and SRAMs diffei little in theii applications. DRAMs aie distinguished fiom SRAMs in that no
bistable electionic ciicuit inteinal to the stoiage cell maintains the infoimation. Instead DRAM infoimation is
stoied dynamically" as chaige on a capacitoi. All modein designs featuie one feld-effect tiansistoi (FET) to
access the infoimation foi both ieading and wiiting and a thin flm capacitoi foi infoimation stoiage. SRAMs
maintain theii bistability, so long as powei is applied, by a cioss-coupled paii of inveiteis within each stoiage
cell. Almost always two additional tiansistois seive to access the inteinal nodes foi ieading and wiiting. Most
modein cell designs aie CMOS, with two P-channel and foui N-channel FETs.
Piogiammable memoiies opeiate much like iead-only memoiies with the impoitant attiibute that they can
be piogiammed at least once, and some can be iepiogiammed a million times oi moie. Stoiage is almost always
by means of a oating-gate FET. Infoimation in such stoiage cells is not indefnitely nonvolatile. The dischaige
time constant is on the oidei of ten yeais. ROMs aie geneially piogiammed by a custom infoimation mask
within the fabiication sequence. As the name implies, infoimation thence can only be iead. The infoimation
thus stoied is tiuly nonvolatile, even when powei is iemoved. This is the most dense foim of semiconductoi
stoiage (and the least exible). Othei foims of semiconductoi memoiies, such as associative memoiies and
chaige-coupled devices, aie used iaiely.
W. IavId rIcer
IM
Randy H. Kafz
Inverry of Co|forno, er|e|ey
efer A. Lee
Deorrmenr of Trode ond Indurry,
Iondon
N. NansurIpur
Inverry of Arzono, Tucon
Dynamic RAMs [DRAMs)
The univeisally used stoiage cell ciicuit of one tiansistoi and
one capacitoi has iemained unchanged foi ovei 20 yeais. The
physical implementation, howevei, has undeigone much
diveisity and many iefnements. The innovation in physical
implementation is diiven piimaiily by the need to maintain
a neaily constant value of capacitance while the suiface aiea
of the cell has decieased. A neaily fxed value of capacitance
is needed to meet two impoitant design goals. The cell has no
inteinal amplifcation. Once the infoimation is accessed, the
stoied voltage is vastly attenuated by the much laigei bit line
capacitance (see Fig. 80.1). The iesulting signal must be kept
laigei than the iesolution limits of the sensing amplifei.
DRAMs in paiticulai aie also sensitive to a pioblem called soft
eiiois. These aie typically initiated by atomic events such as
the incidence of a single alpha paiticle. An alpha paiticle can
cause a spuiious signal of 50,000 elections oi moie. All mod-
ein DRAM designs iesolve this pioblem by constiucting the
capacitoi in space out of the plane of the tiansistois (see
Fig. 80.2 foi examples). Placing the capacitoi in space unusable foi tiansistoi fabiication has allowed gieat
stiides in DRAM density, geneially at the expense of fabiication complexity. DRAM chip capacity has incieased
by about a factoi of foui eveiy thiee yeais.
DRAMs aie somewhat slowei than SRAMs. This ielationship deiives diiectly fiom the smallei signal available
fiom DRAMs and fiom ceitain constiaints put on the suppoit ciicuitiy by the DRAM aiiay. DRAMs also
FIGURE 80.2 (a) Cioss section of tiench capacitois" etched veitically into the semiconductoi suiface of a DRAM inte-
giated ciicuit. (Couitesy of IBM.) (b) Cioss section of stacked" capacitois fabiicated above the semiconductoi suiface of
a DRAM integiated ciicuit. (Sourte. M. Taguchi et al., A 40-ns 64-b paiallel data bus aichitectuie," IEEE J. So|J Sae
Crtus, vol. 26, no. 11, p. 1495. C 1991 IEEE. With peimission.)
FIGURE 80.1 Cell and bit line capacitance.
iequiie peiiodic inteivals to iefiesh" lost chaige fiom the capacitoi. This chaige is lost piimaiily acioss the
semiconductoi junctions and must be ieplenished eveiy few milliseconds. The manufactuiei usually supplies
these housekeeping" functions with on-chip ciicuitiy.
Signal detection and amplifcation iemain a ciitical focus of good DRAM design. Figuie 80.3 illustiates an
aiiangement called a folded bit line." This design cancels many of the noise souices oiiginating in the aiiay
and decieases ciicuit sensitivity to manufactuiing piocess vaiiations. It also achieves a high iatio of stoiage
cells pei sense amplifei. Note the piesence of the dummy cells, which cieate a iefeience signal midway between
a one" and a zeio" foi the convenience of the sense amplifei. The stoied iefeience voltage in this case is
cieated by shoiting two diiven bit lines aftei one of the stoiage cells has been wiitten.
Laige DRAM integiated ciicuit chips fiequently piovide othei featuies that useis may fnd useful. Fastei
access is piovided between ceitain adjacent addiesses, usually along a common woid line. Some designs featuie
on-chip buffei memoiies, low standby powei modes, oi eiioi coiiection ciicuitiy. A few DRAM chips aie
designed to mesh with the constiaints of paiticulai applications such as image suppoit foi CRT displays. Some
on-chip featuies aie effectively hidden fiom the usei. These may include iedundant memoiy addiesses which
the makei activates by lasei to impiove manufactuiing yield.
The laigest single maiket foi DRAMs is with miciopiocessois in peisonal computeis. Rapid miciopiocessoi
peifoimance impiovements have led DRAM manufactuieis to offei impiovements especially designed foi the
PC" enviionment. Extended Data Out mode (EDO) keeps the data accessed fiom a DRAM valid ovei a longei
peiiod of the DRAM cycle. EDO mode is intended to ease the synchionization pioblem between a DRAM and
the incieasingly highei speed miciopiocessoi. Synchionous DRAM (SDRAM) allows the iapid sequential
TH RVLITI !
LCTRICS TCHLCY
he last thiee decades have witnessed a ievo-
lution in electiical and, especially, election-
ics technology. This ievolution was paced by
changes in solid-state electionics that gieatly
expanded capabilities while at the same time iadi-
cally ieduced costs. The entiie feld of electiical engi-
neeiing has giown fai beyond the boundaiies that
chaiacteiized it just a geneiation ago. Electiical engi-
neeis have become the cieatois and masteis of the
most peivasive technology of oui time, with pio-
found effects on society and on theii piofession.
The effects of the electionics ievolution aie com-
plex. Foi the piofession, the most obvious impact
has been explosive giowth. The inciease in the num-
bei of students studying in the feld continues to be
diamatic and shows no signs of slowing. The elec-
tiical engineeiing community iepiesents the laigest
single technical gioup in the woild, and the mem-
beis of the IEEE make up the woild`s laigest engi-
neeiing society. (Couitesy of the IEEE Centei foi the
Histoiy of Electiical Engineeiing.)
This 64-kB iandom access memoiy chip, developed
by IBM in 1978, was one of the densest of its time. It
could stoie as many as 64,000 bits of infoima-
tion-ioughly equivalent to 1,000 eight-lettei woids.
(Photo couitesy of the IEEE Centei foi the Histoiy of
Electiical Engineeiing.)
T
tiansfei of laige blocks of data between the miciopiocessoi and the DRAM without extensive signal hand-
shaking". While SDRAMs do nothing to impiove the access time to fist data, they gieatly impiove the band-
width" between miciopiocessoi and DRAM.
Static RAMs [SRAMs)
The piimaiy advantages of SRAMs as compaied to DRAMs aie high speed and ease of use. In addition, SRAMs
fabiicated in CMOS technology exhibit extiemely low standby powei. This latei featuie is effectively used in
much poitable equipment like pocket calculatois. Bipolai SRAMs aie geneially fastei but less dense than FET
veisions. Figuie 80.4 illustiates two cells. SRAM peifoimance is dominated by the speed of the suppoit ciicuits,
leading some manufactuieis to design bipolai suppoit ciicuits to FET aiiays.
Bipolai designs fiequently incoipoiate ciicuit consolidation unavailable in FET technology, such as the multi-
emittei cell shown in Fig. 80.4(a). Heie one of the two lowei emitteis is noimally foiwaid biased, tuining one
inveitei on and the othei off foi bistability. The uppei emitteis can be used eithei to extiact a diffeiential signal
NILTICRIIAT IICITAL
I!RNATI STRAC IVIC
Jay V. Forreser
PaeneJ Fe|ruary 28, 1956
#2,7J6,880
p to this time, digital data stoiage was
geneially done by encoding binaiy data
on iotating magnetic diums oi othei
means wheie data had to be stoied and ietiieved
sequentially. This patent desciibes a system
wheieby data could be stoied and ietiieved ian-
domly by a simple addiessing scheme. It used
tiny doughnut-shaped feiiomagnetic coies with
windings to magnetically polaiize the mateiial
in one diiection oi the othei. This was about
one hundied times fastei than iotating diums
and took up peihaps 2% of the volume. A
4-Kbyte coie memoiy module would take up
about 60 cubic inches and could access data in
less than one millisecond. Random access mem-
oiy (RAM) was boin. Coie memoiy (as it has
become known) was non-volatile; that is, the
infoimation would not be lost when powei was
cut. Modein non-volatile ash" memoiy is yet
again thousands of times fastei and achieves
data density of ovei 100,000 times gieatei than
the bieakthiough magnetic coie memoiy
desciibed by Foiiestei. (Copyiight C 1995,
DewRay Pioducts, Inc. Used with peimission.)
U
oi to dischaige one collectoi towaids giound in oidei to wiite the cell. The woid line is pulsed positive to both
iead and wiite the cell.
A few RAMs use polysilicon load iesistois of veiy high iesistance value in place of the two P-channel
tiansistois shown in Fig. 80.4(b). Most aie full CMOS designs like the one shown. Sometimes the P-channel
tiansistois aie constiucted by thin flm techniques and aie physically placed ovei the N-channel tiansistois to
impiove density. When both P- and N-channel tiansistois aie fabiicated in the same plane of the single-ciystal
semiconductoi, the standby cuiient can be extiemely low. Typically this can be micioamps foi megabit chips.
The low standby cuiient is possible because each cell souices and sinks only that cuiient needed to oveicome
the actual node leakage within the cell.
Selecting the piopei tiansconductance foi each tiansistoi is an impoitant focus of the designei. The accessing
tiansistois should be laige enough to extiact a laige iead signal but insuffciently laige to distuib the stoied
infoimation. Duiing the wiite opeiation, these same tiansistois must be capable of oveiiiding the cuiient diive
of at least one of the inteinal CMOS inveiteis.
The supeiioi peifoimance of SRAMs deiives fiom theii laigei signal and the absence of a need to iefiesh
the stoied infoimation as in a DRAM. As a iesult, SRAMs need fewei sense amplifeis. Likewise these amplifeis
aie not constiained to match the cell pitch of the aiiay. SRAM design engineeis have exploited this fieedom
to iealize highei-peifoimance sense amplifeis.
FIGURE 80.3 Folded bit line aiiay.
FIGURE 80.4 (a) Bipolai SRAM cell. (b) CMOS SRAM cell.
Piactical SRAM designs ioutinely achieve access times of a few nanoseconds to a few tens of nanoseconds.
Cycle time typically equals access time, and in at least one pipelined design, cycle time is actually less than
access time.
SRAM integiated ciicuit chips have fewei special on-chip featuies than DRAM chips, piimaiily because no
special peifoimance enhancements aie needed. By contiast, many othei integiated ciicuit chips featuie on-
chip SRAMs. Foi example, many ASICs (application-specinc integrated circuits) featuie on-chip RAMs
because of theii low powei and ease of use.
All modein miciopiocessois include one oi moie on-chip cache" SRAM memoiies which piovide a high
speed link between piocessoi and memoiy.
Nunvu!ati!e Prugrammab!e Memuries
A few nonvolatile memoiies aie piogiammable just once. These have
aiiays of diodes oi tiansistois with fuses oi antifuses in seiies with
each semiconductoi cioss point. Aluminum, titanium, tungsten,
platinum silicide, and polysilicon have all been successfully used as
fuse technology (see Fig. 80.5).
Most nonvolatile cells iely on tiapped chaige stoied on a oating
gate in an FET. These can be iewiitten many times. The tiapped
chaige is subject to veiy long teim leakage, on the oidei of ten yeais.
The numbei of times the cell may be iewiitten is limited by pio-
giamming stiess-induced degiadation of the dielectiic. Chaige
ieaches the oating gate eithei by tunneling oi by avalanche injec-
tion fiom a iegion neai the diain. Both phenomena aie induced by
ovei-voltage conditions and hence the degiadation aftei iepeated
eiase/wiite cycles. Commeicially available chips typically piomise
100 to 100,000 wiite cycles. Eiasuie of chaige fiom the oating gate
may be by tunneling oi by exposuie to ultiaviolet light. Aspeiities
on the polysilicon gate and silicon-iich oxide have both been shown
to enhance chaiging and dischaiging of the gate. The nomenclatuie
used is not entiiely consistent thioughout the industiy. Howevei,
EPROM is geneially used to desciibe cells which aie electionically
wiitten but UV eiased. EEPROM is used to desciibe cells which aie
electionically both wiitten and eiased.
Cells aie of eithei a two- oi a one-tiansistoi design. Wheie two
tiansistois aie used, the second tiansistoi is a conventional enhance-
ment mode tiansistoi (see Fig. 80.6). The second tiansistoi woiks
to minimize the distuib of unselected cells. It also iemoves some
constiaints on the wiiting limits of the piogiammable tiansistoi, which in one state may be depletion mode.
The two tiansistois in seiies then assume the thieshold of the second (enhancement) tiansistoi, oi a veiy high
thieshold as deteimined by the piogiammable tiansistoi. Some designs aie so cleveily integiated that the
featuies of the two tiansistois aie meiged.
Flash EEPROMs desciibe a family of single-tiansistoi cell EPPROMs. Cell sizes aie about half that of two-
tiansistoi EEPROMs, an impoitant economic consideiation. Caie must be taken that these cells aie not
piogiammed into the depletion mode. An aiiay of depletion mode cells would confound the iead opeiation
by pioviding multiple signal paths. Piogiamming to enhancement only thiesholds can be accomplished by a
sequence of paitial piogiam and then monitoi subcycles, until the thieshold is biought to compliance with
specifcation limits. Flash EEPROMs iequiie bulk eiasuie of laige poitions of the aiiay.
NVRAM is a teim used to desciibe a SRAM oi DRAM with nonvolatile ciicuit elements. The cell is built to
opeiate as a RAM with noimal powei applied. On command oi with powei failuie imminent, the EEPROM
elements can be activated to captuie the last state of the RAM cell. The nonvolatile infoimation is iestoied to
a SRAM cell by noimal inteinal cell iegeneiation when powei is iestoied.
FIGURE 80.5 PROM cells.
Read-On!y Memuries [ROMs)
ROMs aie the only foim of semiconductoi stoiage which is
peimanently nonvolatile. Infoimation is ietained without
powei applied, and theie is not even veiy giadual infoima-
tion loss as in EEPROMs. It is also the most dense foim of
semiconductoi stoiage. ROMs aie, howevei, less used than
RAMs oi EEPROMs. ROMs must be peisonalized by a mask
in the fabiication piocess. This method is cumbeisome and
expensive unless many identical paits aie to be made. Fui-
theimoie it seems much peimanent" infoimation is not
ieally peimanent and must be occasionally updated.
ROM cells can be foimed as diodes oi tiansistois at eveiy
inteisection of the woid and bit lines of a ROM aiiay (see
Fig. 80.7). One of the masks in the chip fabiication piocess
piogiams which of these devices will be active. Clevei layout and ciicuit techniques may be used to obtain
fuithei density. Two such techniques aie illustiated in Figs. 80.8 and 80.9. The X aiiay shaies bit and viitual
giound lines. The AND aiiay places many ROM cells in seiies. Each of these seiies AND ROM cells is eithei
FIGURE 80.6 Cioss section of two-tiansistoi EEPROM cells.
FIGURE 80.8 Layout of ROS X aiiay.
FIGURE 80.7 ROM cell.
an enhancement oi a depletion channel of an FET. Sensing is accomplished by pulsing the gates of all seiies
cells positive except the gate which is to be inteiiogated. Cuiient will ow thiough all seiies channels only if
the inteiiogated channel is depletion mode.
ROM applications include look-up tables, machine-level instiuction code foi computeis, and small aiiays
used to peifoim logic (see PLA in Section 81.4 of this handbook).
Dehning Terms
Antifuse: A fuse-like device which when activated becomes low impedance.
Application-specinc integrated circuits (ASICs): Integiated ciicuits specifcally designed foi one paiticulai
application.
Avalanche injection: The physics wheieby elections highly eneigized in avalanche cuiient at a semiconductoi
junction can penetiate into a dielectiic.
Depletion mode: An FET which is on when zeio volts bias is applied fiom gate to souice.
Enhancement mode: An FET which is off when zeio volts bias is applied fiom gate to souice.
Polysilicon: Silicon in polyciystalline foim.
Tunneling: A physical phenomenon wheieby an election can move instantly thiough a thin dielectiic.
Re!ated Tupic
25.3 Application-Specifc Integiated Ciicuits
Relerences
H. Kaltei et al., A 50 nsec 16 Mb DRAM with 10 nsec data iate and on-chip ECC," IEEE Journa| o[ So|J-Sae
Crtus, vol. SC 25, no. 5, 1990.
H. Kato, A 9 nsec 4 Mb BiCMOS SRAM with 3.3 V opeiation," Dges o[ Tet|nta| Paers ISSCC, vol 35, 1992.
H. Kawague, and N. Tsuji, Minimum size ROM stiuctuie compatible with silicon-gate E/D MOS LSI," IEEE
Journa| o[ So|J Sae Crtus, vol. SC 11, no. 2, 1976.
Further Inlurmatiun
W. Donoghue et al., A 256K H CMOS ROM using a foui state cell appioach," IEEE Journa| o[ So|J-Sae
Crtus, vol. SC20, no. 2, 1985.
FIGURE 80.9 Layout of ROS AND aiiay.
D. Fiohmann-Bentchkowsky, A fully decoded 2048 bit electionically piogiammable MOS-ROM," Dges o[
Tet|nta| Paers ISSCC, vol. 14, 1971.
L. A. Glassei and D. W. Dobbeipuhl, T|e Desgn anJ na|yss o[ VLSI Crtus, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley,
1985.
F. Masuoka, Aie you ieady of the next geneiation dynamic RAM chips," IEEE Setrum Maga:ne, vol. 27, no.
11, 1990.
R. D. Pashley and S. K. Lai, Flash memoiies: The best of two woilds," IEEE Setrum Maga:ne, vol. 26, no.
12, 1989.
80.2 Basic Disk System Architectures
Fondy H. Korz
Aichitects of high-peifoimance computeis have long been foiced to acknowledge the existence of a laige gap
between the speed of the CPU and the speed of its attached I/O devices. A numbei of techniques have been
developed in an attempt to naiiow this gap, and we shall ieview them in this chaptei.
A key measuie of magnetic disk technology is the giowth in the maximum numbei of bits that can be stoied
pei squaie inch, i.e., the bits pei inch in a disk track times the numbei of tiacks pei inch of media. Called
MAD, foi maximal areal density, the Fiist Law in Disk Density" piedicts Fiank, 1987]:
MD 10
(Yeai-1971)/10
(80.1)
This is plotted against seveial ieal disk pioducts in Fig. 80.10. Magnetic disk technology has doubled capacity
and halved piice eveiy thiee yeais, in line with the giowth iate of semiconductoi memoiy. Between 1967 and
1979 the giowth in disk capacity of the aveiage IBM data piocessing system moie than kept up with its giowth
in main memoiy, maintaining a iatio of 1000:1 between disk capacity and physical memoiy size Stevens, 1981].
In contiast to piimaiy memoiy technologies, the peifoimance of conventional magnetic disks has impioved
only modestly. These met|anta| devices, the elements of which aie desciibed in moie detail in the next section,
aie dominated by seek and iotation delays: fiom 1971 to 1981, the iaw seek time foi a high-end IBM disk
impioved by only a factoi of two while the iotation time did not change Haikei et al., 1981]. Gieatei iecoiding
density tianslates into a highei tiansfei iate once the infoimation is located, and extia positioning actuatois
foi the iead/wiite heads can ieduce the aveiage seek time, but the iaw seek time only impioved at a iate of
7% pei yeai. This is to be compaied to a doubling in piocessoi powei eveiy yeai, a doubling in memoiy density
eveiy two yeais, and a doubling in disk density eveiy thiee yeais. The gap between piocessoi peifoimance and
disk speeds continues to widen, and theie is no ieason to expect a iadical impiovement in iaw disk peifoimance
in the neai futuie.
To maintain balance, computei systems have been using even laigei main memoiies oi solid-state disks to
buffei some of the I/O activity. This may be an acceptable solution foi applications whose I/O activity has
locality of iefeience and foi which volatility is not an issue, but applications dominated by a high iate of iandom
iequests foi small pieces of data (e.g., tiansaction piocessing) oi by a small numbei of sequential iequests foi
massive amounts of data (e.g., supeicomputei applications) face a seiious peifoimance limitation.
The iest of the chaptei is oiganized as follows. In the next section, we will biiey ieview the fundamentals
of disk system aichitectuie. The thiid section desciibes the chaiacteiistics of the applications that demand high
I/O system peifoimance. Conventional ways to impiove disk peifoimance aie discussed in the last section.
Basic Magnetic Disk System Architecture
We will ieview heie the basic teiminology of magnetic disk devices and contiolleis and then examine the disk
subsystems of thiee manufactuieis (IBM, Ciay, and DEC). Thioughout this section we aie conceined with
technologies that suppoit iandom access, iathei than sequential access (e.g., magnetic tape). A moie detailed
discussion, focusing on the stiuctuie of small dimension disk diives, can be found in Vasudeva 1988]. The
basic concepts aie illustiated in Fig. 80.11. A spindle consists of a collection of platteis. Platteis aie metal disks
coveied with a magnetic mateiial foi iecoiding infoimation. Each plattei contains a numbei of ciiculai
iecoiding rat|s. A sectoi is a unit of a tiack that is physically iead oi wiitten at the same time. In tiaditional
magnetic disks, the constant angulai iotation of the platteis dictates that sectois on innei tiacks aie iecoided
moie densely than sectois on the outei tiacks. Thus, the plattei can spin at a constant iate and the same amount
of data can be iecoided on the innei and outei tiacks.
1
Some modein disks use zone iecoiding techniques to
moie densely iecoid data on the outei tiacks, but this iequiies moie sophisticated iead/wiite electionics.
The iead/wiite |eaJ is an electiomagnet that pioduces switchable magnetic felds to iead and iecoid bit
stieams on a plattei`s tiack. It is associated with a disk arm, attached to an actuatoi. The head ies" close to,
but nevei touches, the iotating plattei (except peihaps when poweied down). This is the classical defnition of
a Winchester disk. The actuatoi is a mechanical assembly that positions the head electionics ovei the appio-
piiate tiack. It is possible to have multiple iead/wiite mechanisms pei suiface, e.g., multiple heads pei aim-at
one extieme, one could have a head-pei-tiack position, that is, the disk equivalent of a magnetic dium-oi
1
Some optical disks use a technique called constant lineai velocity (CLV), wheie the plattei iotates at diffeient speeds
depending on the ielative position of the tiack. This allows moie data to be stoied on the outei tiacks than the innei tiacks,
but because it takes moie delay to vaiy the speed of iotation, the technique is bettei suited to sequential iathei than iandom
access.
FIGURE 80.10 Maximal aieal density law. Squaies iepiesent piedicted density; tiiangles aie the MAD iepoited foi the
indicated pioducts.
FIGURE 80.11 Disk teiminology. Heads ieside on aims which aie positioned by actuatois. Tiacks aie concentiic iings on
platteis. A sectoi is the basic unit of iead/wiite. A cylindei is a stack of tiacks at one actuatoi position. An HDA is eveiything
in the fguie plus the aii-tight casing. In some devices it is possible to tiansfei fiom multiple suifaces simultaneously. The
collection of heads that paiticipate in a single logical tiansfei that is spiead ovei multiple suifaces is called a head gioup.
multiple aims pei suiface thiough multiple actuatois. Due to costs and technical limitations, it is usually
uneconomical to build a device with a laige numbei of actuatois and heads.
A cylinder is a stack of tiacks at one actuatoi position. A head disk assembly (HDA) is the collection of
platteis, heads, aims, and actuatois, plus the aii-tight casing. A Js| Jre is an HDA plus all associated
electionics. A Js| might be a plattei, an actuatoi, oi a diive depending the context.
We can illustiate these concepts by desciibing two fist-geneiation supeicomputei disks, the Ciay DD-19
and the CDC 819 Buchei and Hayes, 1980]. These weie state-of-the-ait disks aiound 1980. Each disk has
40 iecoiding suifaces (20 platteis), 411 cylindeis, and 18 (DD-19) oi 20 (CDC 819) 512-byte sectois pei tiack.
Both disks possess a limited paiallel iead-out" capability. A given data woid is actually byte inteileaved ovei
foui suifaces. Rathei than a single set of iead/wiite electionics foi the actuatoi, these disks have foui sets, so
it is possible to iead oi wiite with foui heads at a time. Foui heads on adjacent aims aie called a |eaJ grou.
A disk tiack is thus composed of the stacked iecoiding tiacks of foui adjacent suifaces, and theie aie 10 tiacks
pei cylindei, spiead ovei 40 suifaces. The advances ovei the last decade can be illustiated by the Ciay DD-49,
which is a typical high-end supeicomputei disk of today. It consists of 16 iecoiding suifaces (9 platteis),
886 cylindeis, 42 4096-byte sectois pei tiack, with 32 iead/wiite heads oiganized into eight head gioups, foui
gioups on each of two independent actuatois. Each actuatoi can sweep the entiie iange of tiacks, and by
scheduling" the aims to position the actuatoi closest to the taiget tiack of the pending iequest, the aveiage
seek time can be ieduced. The DD-49 has a capacity of 1.2 Gbytes of stoiage and can tiansfei at a sustained
iate of 9.6 Mbytes/s.
A vaiiety of standaid and piopiietaiy inteifaces aie defned foi tiansfeiiing the data iecoided on the disk
to oi fiom the host. We concentiate on industiy standaids heie. On the disk suiface, infoimation is iepiesented
as alteinating polaiities of magnetic felds. These signals need to be sensed, amplifed, and decoded into
synchionized pulses by the iead electionics. Foi example, the pulse-level piotocol ST506/412 standaid desciibes
the way pulses can be extiacted fiom the alteinating ux felds. The bit-level ESDI, SMD, and IPI-2 standaids
desciibe the bit encoding of signals. At the packet level, these bits must be aligned into bytes, eiioi coiiecting
codes need to be applied, and the extiacted data must be deliveied to the host. These intelligent" standaids
include SCSI (small computei standaid inteiface) and IPI-3.
The ST506 is a low-cost but piimitive inteiface, most appiopiiate foi inteifacing oppy disks to peisonal
computeis and low-end woikstations. Foi example, the contiollei must peifoim data sepaiation on its own;
this is not done foi it by the disk device. As a iesult, its tiansfei iate is limited to 0.625 Mbytes/s. The SMD
inteiface is highei peifoimance and is used extensively in connecting disks to mainfiame disk contiolleis. ESDI
is similai, but geaied moie towaids smallei disk systems. One of its innovations ovei the ST506 is its ability to
specify a seek to a paiticulai tiack numbei iathei than iequiiing tiack positioning via step-by-step pulses. Its
peifoimance is in the iange of 1.25-1.875 Mbytes/s. SCSI has so fai been used piimaiily with woikstations
and minicomputeis, but offeis the highest degiee of integiation and intelligence. Implementations with pei-
foimance at the level of 1.5-4 Mbytes/s aie common. The newei IPI-3 standaid has the advantages of SCSI,
but piovides even highei peifoimance at a highei cost. It is beginning to make inioads into mainfiame systems.
Howevei, because of the veiy widespiead use of SCSI, many believe that SCSI-2, an extension of SCSI to widei
signal paths, will become the de facto standaid foi high-peifoimance small disks.
The connection pathway between the host and the disk device vaiies widely depending on the desiied level
of peifoimance. A low-end woikstation oi peisonal computei would use a SCSI inteiface to diiectly connect the
device to the host. A highei end fle seivei oi minicomputei would typically use a sepaiate disk contiollei to
manage seveial devices at the same time. These devices attach to the contiollei thiough SMD inteifaces. It is the
contiollei`s iesponsibility to implement eiioi checking and coiiections and diiect memoiy tiansfei to the host.
Mainfiames tend to have moie devices and moie complex inteiconnection schemes to access them. In IBM
teiminology Buzen and Shum, 1986], the t|anne| a|, i.e., the set of cables and associated electionics that
tiansfei data and contiol infoimation between an I/O device and main memoiy, consists of a t|anne|, a sorage
Jretoi, and a |eaJ o[ srng (see Fig. 80.12). The collection of disks that shaie the same pathway to the head
of stiing is called a srng.
In eailiei IBM systems, a channel path and channel aie essentially the same thing. The channel piocessoi is
the haidwaie that executes channel piogiams, which aie fetched fiom the host`s memoiy. A su|t|anne| is the
execution enviionment of a channel piogiam, similai to a piocess on a conventional CPU. Foimeily, a
subchannel was statically assigned foi execution to a paiticulai channel, but a majoi innovation in high-end
IBM systems (308X and 3090) allows subchannels to be dynamically switched among channel paths. This is
like allocating a piocess to a new piocessoi within a multipiocessoi system eveiy time it is iescheduled foi
execution.
I/O piogiam contiol statements, e.g., rans[er n t|anne|, aie inteipieted by the channel, while the stoiage
diiectoi (also known as the Jete tonro||er oi tonro| un) handles seek and data-tiansfei iequests. Besides
these contiol functions, it may also peifoim ceitain datapath functions, such as eiioi detection/coiiection and
mapping between seiial and paiallel data. In iesponse to iequests fiom the stoiage diiectoi, the device will
position the access mechanism, select the appiopiiate head, and peifoim the iead oi wiite. If the stoiage diiectoi
is simply a contiol unit, then the datapath functions will be handled by the head of stiing (also known as a
srng tonro||er).
To minimize the latency caused by copying into and out of buffeis, the IBM I/O system uses little buffeiing
between the device and memoiy.
1
In a high-peifoimance enviionment, devices spend a good deal of time
waiting foi the pathway`s iesouices to become fiee. These iesouices aie used foi time peiiods ielated to disk
tiansfei speeds, measuied in milliseconds. One possible method foi impioving utilization is to suppoit dis-
connect/ieconnect. A subchannel can connect to a device, issue a seek, disconnect to fiee the channel path foi
othei iequests, and ieconnect latei to peifoim the tiansfei when the seek is completed. Unfoitunately, not all
ieconnects can be seiviced immediately, because the contiol units aie busy seivicing othei devices. These RPS
msses (to be desciibed in moie detail in the next section) aie a majoi souice of delay in heavily utilized IBM
stoiage subsystems Buzen and Shum, 1987]. Peifoimance can be fuithei impioved by pioviding multiple paths
between memoiy and devices. To this puipose, IBM`s high-end systems suppoit Jynamt a| retonnet, a
1
Only the most iecent geneiation of stoiage diiectois (e.g., IBM 3880, 3990) incoipoiate disk caches, but caie must be
taken to avoid cache management-ielated delays Buzen, 1982].
FIGURE 80.12 Host-to-device pathways. Foi laige IBM mainfiames, the connection between host and device must pass
thiough a channel, stoiage diiectoi, and stiing contiollei. Note that multiple stoiage diiectois can be attached to a channel,
multiple stiing contiolleis pei stoiage diiectoi, and multiple devices pei stiing contiollei. This multipathing appioach makes
it possible to shaie devices among hosts and to piovide alteinative pathways to bettei utilize the diives and contiolleis.
While logically coiiect, the fguie does not ieect the tiue physical components of high-end IBM systems (308X, 3090). The
concept of channel has disappeaied fiom these systems and has been ieplaced by a channel path.
mechanism that allows a subchannel to change its channel path each time it cycles thiough a disconnect/iecon-
nect with a given device. Rathei than wait foi its cuiiently allocated path to become fiee, it can be assigned to
anothei available path.
Tuining to supeicomputei I/O systems, we will now examine the I/O aichitectuie of the Ciay machines.
Because the Ciay I/O system (IOS) vaiies fiom model to model, the following discussion concentiates on the
IOS found on the Ciay X-MP and Y-MP Ciay, 1988]. In geneial, the IOS consists of two to foui I/O piocessois
(IOPs), each with its own local memoiy and shaiing a common buffei memoiy with the othei IOPs. The IOP
is designed to be a simple, fast machine foi contiolling data tiansfeis between devices and the cential memoiy
of the Ciay main piocessois. Since it executes the contiol statements of an I/O piogiam, it is not unlike the
IBM channel piocessoi in teims of its functionality, except that IO piogiams ieside in its local memoiy iathei
than in the host`s. An IOP`s local memoiy is connected thiough a high-speed communications inteiface, called
a t|anne| in Ciay teiminology, to a disk contiol unit (DCU). A given poit into the local memoiy can be time
multiplexed among multiple channels. Data is tiansfeiied back and foith between devices and the main
piocessois thiough the IOP`s local memoiy, which is inteifaced to cential memoiy thiough a 100-Mbyte/s
channel paii (one pathway foi each diiection of tiansfei).
The DCU piovides the inteiface between the IOP and the disk diives and is similai in functionality to IBM`s
stoiage diiectoi. It oveisees the data tiansfeis between devices and the IOP`s local memoiy, piovides speed
matching buffei stoiage, and tiansmits contiol signals and status infoimation between the IOP and the devices.
Disk stoiage units (DSUs) aie attached to the DCU thiough point-to-point connections. The DSU contains
the disk device and is iesponsible foi dealing with its own defect management, by using a technique called
sectoi slipping. Figuie 80.13 summaiizes the elements of the Ciay I/O system.
Digital Equipment Coipoiation`s high-end I/O stiategy is desciibed in teims of the digital stoiage aichitectuie
(DSA) and is embodied in system confguiations such as the VAXClustei shaied disk system (see Fig. 80.14).
The aichitectuie piovides a iigoious defnition of how stoiage subsystems and host computeis inteiact. It
achieves this by defning a client/seivei message-based model foi I/O inteiaction based on device-independent
inteifaces Massiglia, 1986; Kionenbeig et al., 1986]. A mass sorage su|sysem is viewed at the aichitectuial
level as consisting of logical block machines capable of stoiing and ietiieving fxed blocks of data, i.e., the I/O
system suppoits the tiansfei of logical blocks between CPUs and devices given a logical block numbei. Fiom
the viewpoint of physical components, a subsystem consists of tonro||ers which connect computeis to Jres.
The softwaie aichitectuie is divided into foui levels: the Oerang Sysem C|en (also called the Class Diivei),
the C|ass Serer (Contiollei), the Dete C|en (Data Contiollei), and the Dete Serer (Device). The Disk
Class Diivei, iesident on a host CPU, accepts iequests foi disk I/O seivice fiom applications, packages these
FIGURE 80.13 Elements of the Ciay I/O system foi the Y-MP. An IOS contains up to foui IOPs. The MIOP connects to
the opeiatoi woikstation and peifoims mainly maintenance functions. The XIOP suppoits block multiplexing and is most
appiopiiate foi contiolling ielatively slow speed devices, such as tapes. The BIOP and DIOP aie designed foi contiolling
high-speed devices like disks. Up to foui disk stoiage units (DSUs) can be attached thiough the disk contiol unit (DCU)
to the IOP. Thiee DCUs can be connected to each of the BIOP and DIOP, leading to a total of 24 disks pei IOS. The Y-MP
can be confguied with two IOSs, foi a system total of 48 devices.
iequests into messages, and tiansmits them via a communications inteiface (such as the Comuer Inertonnet
poit diivei) to the Disk Class Seivei iesident within a contiollei in the I/O subsystem. The command set
suppoited by the Class Seivei includes such ielatively device-independent opeiations as iead logical block,
wiite logical block, biing on-line, and iequest status. The Disk Class Seivei
1
inteipiets the tiansmitted com-
mands, handles the scheduling of command execution, tiacks theii piogiess, and iepoits status back to the
Class Diivei. Note the absence of seek oi select head commands. This inteiface can be used equally well foi
solid-state disks as foi conventional magnetic disks. Device-specifc commands aie issued at a lowei level of
the aichitectuie, i.e., between the Device Client (disk contiollei) and Device Seivei (disk device). The foimei
piovides the path foi moving commands and data between hosts and diives, and it is usually iealized physically
by a piece of haidwaie that coiiesponds to the device contiollei. The lattei coincides with the physical diives
used foi stoiing and ietiieving data.
It is inteiesting to contiast these piopiietaiy appioaches with an industiy standaid appioach like SCSI,
admittedly taigeted foi the low to mid iange of peifoimance. SCSI defnes the logical and physical inteiface
between a host bus adaptei (HBA) and a disk contiollei, usually embedded within the assembly of the disk
device. The HBA accepts I/O iequests fiom the host, initiates I/O actions by communicating with the contiolleis,
and peifoims diiect memoiy access tiansfeis between its own buffeis and the memoiy of the host. Requesteis
of seivice aie called initiatois, while piovideis of seivice aie called taigets. Up to eight nodes can ieside on a
single SCSI stiing, shaiing a common pathway to the HBA. The embedded contiollei peifoims device handling
and eiioi iecoveiy. Physically, the inteiface is implemented with a single daisy-chained cable, and the 8-bit
datapath is used to communicate contiol and status infoimation, as well as data. SCSI defnes a layeied
communications piotocol, including a message layei foi piotocol and status, and a command/status layei foi
taiget opeiation execution. The HBA ioughly coiiesponds to the function of the IBM channel piocessoi oi
Ciay IOP, while the embedded contiollei is similai to the IBM stoiage diiectoi/stiing contiollei oi the Ciay
DCU. Despite the diffeiences in teiminology, the systems we have suiveyed exhibut signifcant commonality
of function and similai appioaches foi paititioning these functions among haidwaie components.
Characterizatiun ul I]O Wurk!uads
Befoie chaiacteiizing the I/O behavioi of diffeient woikloads, it is necessaiy to fist undeistand the elements
of disk peifoimance. Disk peifoimance is a function of the seivice time, which consists of thiee main compo-
nents: see| me, roaona| |aenty, and Jaa rans[er me.
2
Seek time is the time needed to position the heads
1
Othei kinds of class seiveis aie also suppoited, such as foi tape diives.
2
In a heavily utilized system, delays waiting foi a device can match actual disk seivice times, which in ieality is composed
of device queuing, contiollei oveihead, seek, iotational latency, ieconnect misses, eiioi ietiies, and data tiansfei.
FIGURE 80.14 VAXClustei aichitectuie. CPUs aie connected to HSCs (hieiaichical stoiage contiolleis) thiough a dual CI
(computei inteiconnect) bus. Thiity-one hosts and 31 HSCs can be connected to a CI. Up to 32 disks can be connected to
an HSC-70.
to the appiopiiate tiack position containing the desiied data. It is a function of a substantial initial stait-up
cost to acceleiate the disk head (on the oidei of 6 ms) as well as the numbei of tiacks that must be tiaveised. Typical
aveiage seek times, i.e., the time to tiaveise between two iandomly selected tiacks (appioximately 28% of the data
band), aie in the iange of 10 to 20 ms. The tiack-to-tiack seek time is usually below 10 ms and as low as 2 ms.
The second component of seivice time is rotational latency. It takes some time foi the desiied sectoi to
iotate undei the head position befoie it can be iead oi wiitten. Today`s devices spin at a iate of appioximately
3600 ipm, oi 60 ievolutions pei second (we expect to see iotation speeds inciease to 5400 ipm in the neai
futuie). Foi today`s disks, a full ievolution is 16 ms, and the aveiage latency is 8 ms. Note that the woist-case
latencies aie compaiable to aveiage seeks.
The last component is the transfer time, i.e., the time to physically tiansfei the bytes fiom disk to the host.
While the tiansfei time is a stiong function of the numbei of bytes to be tiansfeiied, seek and iotational
latencies times aie independent of the tiansfei blocksize. If data is to be iead oi wiitten in laige chunks, it
makes sense to choose a laige blocksize, since the fxed cost" of seek and latency is bettei amoitized acioss a
laige data tiansfei.
A low-peifoimance I/O system might dedicate the pathway between the host and the disk foi the entiie
duiation of the seek, iotate, and tiansfei times. Assuming small blocksizes, tiansfei time is a small component
of the oveiall seivice time, and these pathways can be bettei utilized if they aie shaied among multiple devices.
Thus, highei peifoimance systems suppoit independent seeks, in which a device can be diiected to detach itself
fiom the pathway while seeking to the desiied tiack (iecall the discussion of dynamic path ieconnect in the
pievious section). The advantage is that multiple seeks can be oveilapped, ieducing oveiall I/O latency and
bettei utilizing the available I/O bandwidth.
Howevei, to make it possible foi devices to ieattach to the pathway, the I/O system must suppoit a mechanism
called rotational position sensing, i.e., the device inteiiupts the I/O contiollei when the desiied sectoi is undei
the heads. If the pathway is cuiiently in use, the device must pay a full iotational delay befoie it can again
attempt to tiansfei. These iotational positional ieconnect miss delays (RPS delays) iepiesent a majoi souice of
degiadation in many existing I/O systems Buzen and Shum, 1987]. This aiises fiom the lack of device buffeiing
and the ieal-time seivice iequiiements of magnetic disks. At the time that these aichitectuies weie established,
buffei memoiies weie expensive and the demands foi high I/O peifoimance weie less piessing with slowei
speed CPUs. An alteinative, made moie attiactive by today`s ielative costs of electionic and mechanical com-
ponents, is to associate a track buffer with the device that can be flled immediately. This can then be used as
the souice of the tiansfei when the pathway becomes available Houtekamei, 1985].
I/O intensive applications vaiy widely in the demand they place on the I/O system. They iun the gamut
fiom piocessing small numbeis of bulk I/Os that must be handled with minimum delay (supeicomputei I/O)
to laige numbeis of simple tasks that touch small amounts of data (tiansaction piocessing). An impoitant
design challenge is to develop an I/O system that can handle the peifoimance needs of these diveise woikloads.
A given woikload`s demand foi I/O seivice can be specifed in teims of thiee metiics: |roug|u, |aenty,
and |anJwJ|. Throughput iefeis to the numbei of iequests foi seivice made pei unit time. Latency measuies
how long it takes to seivice an individual iequest. Bandwidth gauges the amount of data owing between
seivice iequesteis (i.e., applications) and seivice piovideis (i.e., devices).
As obseived by Buchei and Hayes 1980], supeicomputei I/O can be chaiacteiized almost entiiely by
sequential I/O. Typically, computation paiameteis aie moved in bulk fiom disk to in-memoiy data stiuctuies,
and iesults aie peiiodically wiitten back to disk. These woikloads demand laige bandwidth and minimum
latency, but aie chaiacteiized by low thioughput. Contiast this with tiansaction piocessing, which is chaiac-
teiized by enoimous numbeis of iandom accesses, ielatively small units of woik, and a demand foi modeiate
latency with veiy high thioughput.
Figuie 80.15 shows anothei way of thinking about the vaiying demands of I/O intensive applications. It
shows the peicentage of time diffeient applications spend in the thiee components of I/O seivice time. Tians-
action piocessing systems spend the majoiity of theii seivice time in seek and iotational latency; thus techno-
logical advances which ieduce the tiansfei time will not affect theii peifoimance veiy much. On the othei
hand, scientifc applications spend a moie equal amount of time in seek and data tiansfei, and theii peifoimance
is sensitive to any impiovement in disk technology.
Extensiuns tu Cunventiuna! Disk Architectures
In this subsection, we will focus on techniques foi impioving the peifoimance of conventional disk systems,
i.e., methods which allow us to ieduce the seek time, iotational latency, oi tiansfei time of conventional disks.
By ieducing disk seivice times, we also deciease device queuing delays. These techniques include fxed-head
disks, paiallel tiansfei disks, incieased disk density, solid-state disks, disk caches, and disk scheduling.
Fixed-Head Disk
The concept of a fxed-head disk is to place a iead/wiite head at eveiy tiack position. The need foi positioning
the heads is eliminated, thus eliminating the seek time altogethei. The appioach does not assist in ieducing
iotational latencies, noi does it lessen the tiansfei time. Fixed-head disks weie often used in the eaily days of
computing systems as a back-end stoie foi viitual memoiy. Howevei, since modein disks have hundieds of
tiacks pei suiface, placing a head at eveiy position is no longei viewed as an economical solution.
Para!!e! Transler Disks
Some high-peifoimance disk diives make it possible to iead oi wiite fiom multiple disk suifaces at the same
time. Foi example, the Ciay DD-19 and DD-49 disks desciibed in the second section have a paiallel tiansfei
capability. The advantage is that much highei tiansfei iates can be achieved, but no assistance is piovided foi
seek oi iotational latency. Thus tiansfei units aie coiiespondingly laigei in these systems.
A numbei of economic and technological issues limit the usefulness of paiallel tiansfei disks. Fiom the
economic peispective, pioviding moie than one set of iead/wiite electionics er atuaor is expensive. Fuithei,
cuiient disks use sophisticated contiol systems to lock onto an individual tiack, and it is diffcult to do this
simultaneously acioss tiacks within the same cylindei. Hence, the Ciay stiategy is limiting head gioups to only
foui suifaces. Theie appeais to be a fundamental tiade-off between tiack density and the numbei of platteis:
as the tiack density incieases, it becomes evei moie diffcult to lock onto tiacks acioss many platteis, and the
numbei of suifaces that can paiticipate in a paiallel tiansfei is ieduced. Foi example, cuiient Ciay tiack densities
aie aiound 980 tiacks/inch, and iequiie a iathei sophisticated closed-loop tiack-following seivo system to
position the heads accuiately with fnely contiolled voice coil actuatois. A lowei cost ($/megabyte) high-
peifoimance disk system can be constiucted fiom seveial standaid diives than fiom a single paiallel tiansfei
device, in pait because of the ielatively small sales volume of paiallel tiansfei devices compaied to standaid diives.
Increasing Disk Density
As desciibed in the fist section, the impiovements in disk iecoiding density aie likely to continue. Highei bit
densities aie achieved thiough a combination of the use of thinnei flms on the disk platteis (e.g., densities
impiove fiom 16,000 bpi to 21,000 bpi when thick iion oxide is ieplaced with thin flm mateiials), smallei gaps
between the poles of the iead/wiite head`s electiomagnet, and heads which y closei to the disk suiface.
FIGURE 80.15 I/O system paiameteis as a function of application. Tiansaction piocessing applications aie seek and
iotational latency limited, since only small blocks aie usually tiansfeiied fiom disk. Image-piocessing applications, on the
othei hand, tiansfei huge blocks and thus spend most of theii I/O time in data tiansfei. Scientifc computing applications
tend to fall in between. (Sourte. I. Y. Buchei and A. H. Hayes, I/O peifoimance measuiement on Ciay-1 and CDC 7600
computeis," Prot. Cray Users Crou Con[erente, Octobei 1980. With peimission.)
While veitical iecoiding techniques have long been touted as the technology of the futuie, advances in head
technology make it possible to continue using conventional hoiizontal methods, but still keep disks on the
MAD cuive. These magneo-resse |eaJs employ noninductive methods foi ieading, which woik well with
dense hoiizontal iecoiding felds. Howevei, a moie conventional head is needed foi wiiting, but this dual-head
oiganization peimits sepaiate optimizations foi iead and wiite.
Also, the choice of coding technique can have a signifcant effect on density. Standaid modifed fiequency
modulation techniques iequiie appioximately one ux change pei bit, while moie advanced iun-length limited
codes can inciease density by an additional factoi of 50%. Densities as high as 31,429 bpi can be attained with
these techniques. As the iecoiding densities inciease, the tiansfei times deciease, as moie bits tiansit beneath
the heads pei unit time. Of couise, this appioach piovides no impiovement in seek and latency times. Most
of the inciease in density comes fiom incieases in the numbei of tiacks pei inch, which does not impiove (and
may actually ieduce) peifoimance.
Although incieased densities aie inevitable, the pioblem is piimaiily economic. Incieasing the tiacks pei
inch may make seeks slowei as it becomes moie time consuming foi the heads to coiiectly lock" onto the
appiopiiate tiack. The sensing electionics get moie complex and thus moie expensive. Once again, it can be
aigued that highei capacity can be achieved at lowei cost by using seveial smallei disks iathei than one expensive
high-density disk.
Su!id-State Disks
Solid-state disks (SSD), constiucted fiom ielatively slow memoiy chips, can be viewed eithei as a kind of laige
and slow main memoiy oi as a small and high-speed disk. When viewed as laige main memoiy, the SSD is
often called expanded stoiage (ES). The expanded stoiage found in the IBM 3090 class machines Buzen and
Shum, 1986] suppoits opeiations foi paging data blocks fiom and to main memoiy. Usually, the expanded
stoiage looks to the system moie like memoiy than an I/O device: it is diiectly attached to main memoiy
thiough a high-speed bus iathei than an I/O contiollei. The maximum tiansfei bandwidth on the IBM 3090
between expanded stoie and memoiy is two oideis of magnitude fastei than conventional devices: appioxi-
mately 216 Mbytes/s-one woid each 18.5 ns!
Fuithei, unlike conventional devices, a tiansfei between memoiy and expanded stoiage is peifoimed syn-
chionously with the CPU. This is viewed as acceptable, because the tiansfei iequiies so little time and does not
involve the usual opeiating system oveiheads of I/O set-up and inteiiupts. Note that to tiansfei data fiom ES
to disk iequiies the data to be fist staged into main memoiy.
The Ciay X-MP and Y-MP also suppoit SSDs, which can come in confguiations of up to 4096 Mbytes,
appioximately foui times the capacity of the DD-49. The SSD has the potential foi enoimous bandwidth. It
can be attached to the Ciay IO system oi diiectly to the CPU thiough up to two 1000-Mbyte/s channels. Access
can be aiianged in one of thiee ways Reinhaidt, 1988]. The fist alteinative is to tieat the SSD as a logical
disk, with useis iesponsible foi staging heavily accessed fles to it. Unfoitunately, this leads to the inevitable
contention foi SSD space. Fuithei, the opeiating system`s disk device diiveis aie not tuned foi the special
capabilities of SSDs, and some peifoimance is lost. The second alteinative is to use the SSD as an extended
memoiy, in much the same mannei as IBM`s extended stoiage. Special system calls foi accessing the SSD bypass
the usual disk-handling code, and a 4096-byte sectoi can be accessed in 25 s. The last alteinative is to use the
SSD as a logical device cache, i.e., as a second-level cache foi multitiack chunks of fles that iesides between
the system`s in-main memoiy fle cache and the physical disk devices. Ciay engineeis have obseived woikload
speedups foi theii UNIX-like opeiating system of a factoi of foui ovei conventional disk when the cache is
enabled. These iesults indicate that SSDs aie most appiopiiate foi containing hot spot" data Gawlick, 1987].
Conventional wisdom has it that 20% of the data ieceives 80% of the accesses, and this has been widely obseived
in tiansaction piocessing systems Gawlick, 1987].
If SSDs aie to be used to ieplace magnetic disks, then they must be made nonvolatile, and heiein lies theii
gieatest weakness. This can be achieved thiough batteiy back-up, but the technique is contioveisial. Fiist, it is
diffcult to veiify that the batteiies will be fully chaiged when needed, i.e., when conventional powei fails.
Second, it is diffcult to deteimine how long is long enough when poweiing the SSD with batteiies. This should
piobably be long enough to off-load the disk`s contents to magnetic media. Foitunately, low-powei DRAM
and wafei scale integiation technology aie making feasible longei batteiy hold times.
Anothei weakness is theii cost. At the piesent time, theie is moie than a 10 to 20 times diffeience in piice
between the cost of a megabyte of magnetic disk memoiy and a megabyte of DRAM. While wafei scale integiation
may biing this piice down in the futuie, foi the neai teim SSDs will be limited to a staging oi caching function.
Disk Caches
Disk caches place buffei memoiies between the host and the device. If disk data is likely to be ie-iefeienced,
caches can be effective in eliminating the seek and iotational latencies. Unfoitunately, this effectiveness depends
ciitically on the access behavioi of the applications. Tiuly iandom access with little ie-iefeiencing cannot make
effective use of disk caches. Howevei, applications that exhibit a laige degiee of sequential access can use a
cache to good puipose, because data can be staged into the cache befoie it is actually iequested.
Disk caches can become even moie useful if they aie made nonvolatile using the batteiy back-up techniques
desciibed in the pievious subsection (and with the same potential pioblems). A nonvolatile cache will allow
fast wiites": the application need not wait foi the wiite I/O to actually complete befoie it is notifed that it
has completed. Foi some applications enviionments, disk caches have the benefcial effect of ieducing the
numbei of ieads and thus the numbei of I/O iequests seen by the disks. This has the inteiesting side effect of
incieasing the peicentage of wiites found in the I/O mix, and some obseiveis believe that wiites may dominate
I/O peifoimance in futuie systems.
As alieady mentioned, a disk cache can also lead to bettei utilization of the host-to-device pathways. A device
can tiansfei data into a cache even if the pathway is in use by anothei device on the same stiing. Thus caches
aie effective in avoiding iotational position sensing misses.
Disk Schedu!ing
The mechanical delays as seen by a set of simultaneous I/O iequests can be ieduced thiough effective disk
scheduling. Foi example, seek times can be ieduced if a s|ores-see|-me-frs scheduling algoiithm is used
Smith, 1981]. That is, among the queue of pending I/O iequests, the one next selected foi seivice is the one
that iequiies the shoitest seek time fiom the cuiient location of the iead/wiite heads. The liteiatuie on disk
scheduling algoiithms is vast, and the effectiveness of a paiticulai scheduling appioach depends ciitically on
the woikload. It has been obseived that scheduling algoiithms woik best when theie aie long queues of pending
iequests; unfoitunately, this situation seems to occui iaiely in existing systems Smith, 1981].
Disk Arrays
An alteinative to the appioaches just desciibed is to exploit paiallelism by giouping togethei a numbei of
physical disks and making these appeai to applications as a single logical disk. This has the advantage that the
bandwidth of seveial disks can be hainessed to seivice a single logical I/O iequest oi can suppoit multiple
independent I/Os in paiallel. Fuithei, aiiays can be constiucted using existing, widely available disk technology,
iathei than the moie specialized and moie expensive appioaches desciibed in the pievious subsection. Foi
example, Ciay offeis a device called the DS-40, which appeais as a single logical disk device but which is actually
implemented inteinally as foui diives. A logical tiack is constiucted fiom sectois acioss the foui disks. The
DS-40 can tiansfei at a peak iate of 20 Mbyte/s, with a sustained tiansfei iate of 9.6 Mbyte/s, and thus is stiictly
fastei than the DD-49.
Dehning Terms
Arm: A mechanical assembly that positions the head to the coiiect tiack foi ieading oi wiiting.
Bandwidth: The amount of data pei unit time owing between host computeis and stoiage devices.
Cylinder: A stack of tiacks at one acuatoi position.
Disk drive: An HDA plus all associated electionics.
Head: An electiomagnet that pioduces switchable magnetic felds to iead and iecoid bit stieams on a plattei`s
tiack.
Head disk assembly (HDA): The collection of platteis, heads, aims, and actuatois, plus the aii-tight casing,
that makes up the stoiage device. Basically, this is eveiything but the electionics foi contiolling the diive
and inteifacing it to a computei system.
Latency: How long it takes to seivice an individual iequest.
Maximal areal density (MAD): The maximum numbei of bits that can be stoied pei squaie inch. Computed
by multiplying the bits pei inch in a disk tiack times the numbei of tiacks pei inch of media.
Platters: Metal disks coveied with a magnetic mateiial foi iecoiding infoimation.
Rotational latency: The time it takes foi the desiied sectoi to iotate undei the head position befoie it can be
iead oi wiitten.
Rotational position sensing: A stoiage device inteiiupts the I/O contiollei when the desiied sectoi is undei
the heads.
Sector: A unit of a stoiage that is physically iead oi wiitten at the same time.
Seek time: The time needed to position the heads to the appiopiiate tiack position containing the desiied data.
Spindle: The collection of disk platteis.
Track buffer: A memoiy buffei embedded in the disk diive. It can hold the contents of the cuiient disk tiack.
Tracks: The ciiculai iecoiding iegions on a plattei.
Transfer time: The time taken to physically tiansfei the bytes fiom disk to the host.
Throughput: The numbei of iequests foi disk seivice pei unit time.
Winchester disk: A magnetic disk in which the iead/wiite heads y above the iecoiding suiface on an aii
beaiing. This is in contiast to contact iecoiding, such as a oppy disk, in which the head and the magnetic
media aie actually touching.
Re!ated Tupic
36.2 Magnetic Recoiding
Relerences
I. Y. Buchei and A. H. Hayes, I/O peifoimance measuiement on Ciay-1 and CDC 7600 computeis," ProteeJngs
o[ |e Cray Users Crou Con[erente, Octobei 1980.
J. Buzen, BEST/1 analysis of the IBM 3880-13 cached stoiage contiollei," Prot. CMC XIII Con[erente, 1982.
J. P. Buzen and A. Shum, I/O aichitectuie in MVS/370 and MVS/XA," CMC Transatons, vol. 54, pp. 19-26,
Fall 1986.
J. P. Buzen and A. Shum, A unifed opeiational tieatment of RPS ieconnect delays," Prot. 1987 Sgmerts
Con[erente, Peifoimance Evaluation Review, vol. 15, no. 1, May 1987.
Ciay Reseaich, Inc., CRAY Y-MP Computei Systems Functional Desciiption Manual," HR-4001, Januaiy 1988.
P. D. Fiank, Advances in head technology," piesentation at Challenges in Disk Technology Shoit Couise,
Institute foi Infoimation Stoiage Technology, Univeisity of Santa Claia, Santa Claia, Calif., Decembei
12-15, 1987.
D. Gawlick, Piivate Communication, Novembei 1987.
J. M. Haikei et al., A quaitei centuiy of disk fle innovation," IBM Journa| o[ Researt| anJ Dee|omen, vol.
25, no. 5, pp. 677-689, Septembei 1981.
G. Houtekamei, The local disk contiollei," Prot. 1985 Sgmerts Con[erente, August 1985.
N. P. Kionenbeig, H. Levy, and W. D. Stieckei, VAXClusteis: A closely-coupled distiibuted system," CM Trans.
on Com. Sysems, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 130-146, May 1986.
P. Massiglia, Dga| Large Sysem Mass Sorage HanJ|oo|, Coloiado Spiings, Col.: Digital Equipment Coipo-
iation, 1986.
S. Reinhaidt, A bluepiint foi the UNICOS opeiating system," Cray C|anne|s, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 20-24, Fall
1988.
A. J. Smith, Input/output optimization and disk aichitectuies: A suivey," in Per[ormante anJ Ea|uaon 1,
Noith-Holland Publishing Company, 1981, pp. 104-117.
L. D. Stevens, The evolution of magnetic stoiage," IBM Journa| o[ Researt| anJ Dee|omen, vol. 25, no. 5,
pp. 663-675, Septembei 1981.
A. Vasudeva, A case foi disk aiiay stoiage system," Prot. Re|a||y Con[erente, Santa Claia, Calif., 1988.
J. Voelckei, Winchestei disks ieach foi a gigabyte," IEEE Setrum, pp. 64-67, Febiuaiy 1987.
Further Inlurmatiun
Inteinational Business Machines (IBM) Coipoiation developed the fist iotating magnetic stoiage device in
the mid-1950s and has always been an industiy leadei in the stoiage industiy. In honoi of the 25-yeai anniveisaiy
of the invention of the magnetic disk, IBM's Journa| o[ Researt| anJ Dee|omen in Septembei 1981 ieviewed
the development of the technology up to that time. Two paiticulaily notable papeis aie
L. D. Stevens, The evolution of magnetic stoiage," IBM Journa| o[ Researt| anJ Dee|omen, vol. 25, no. 5,
pp. 663-675, Septembei 1981.
J. M. Haikei et al., A quaitei centuiy of disk fle innovation," IBM Journa| o[ Researt| anJ Dee|omen, vol. 25,
no. 5, pp. 677-689, Septembei 1981.
Foi a moie up-to-date ieview of piogiess in the disk diive industiy, see:
J. Voelkei, Winchestei disks ieach foi a gigabyte," IEEE Setrum, pp. 64-67, Febiuaiy 1987.
80.3 Magnetic Tape
1
Perer A. Iee
Computeis depend on memoiy to execute piogiams and to stoie piogiam code and data. They also need access
to stoied piogiam code and data in a nonvolatile memory (i.e., a foim in which the infoimation is not lost
when the powei is iemoved fiom the computei system). Diffeient types of memoiy have been developed foi
diffeient tasks. This memoiy can be categoiized accoiding to its piice pei bit, access time, and othei paiameteis.
Table 80.1 shows a typical hieiaichy foi memoiy which places the smallest and fastest memoiy at the top in
level 0 and in geneial the laigest, slowest, and cheapest at the bottom in level 4 Ciminieia and Valenzano,
1987]. Auxiliaiy (secondaiy oi mass) memoiy of level 4 foims the laige stoiage capacity foi piogiam and code
that aie not cuiiently iequiied by the CPU. This is usually nonvolatile and is at a low cost pei bit. Computei
magnetic tape falls within this categoiy and is the subject of this section.
A Briel Histurica! Reviev
Piobably the fist iecoided stoiage device, developed by Schickaid in 1623, used mechanical positions of cogs
and geais to woik a semi-automatic calculatoi. Then came Pascal`s calculating machine based on 10 digits pei
wheel. In 1812 punched caids weie used in weaving looms to stoie patteins foi woven mateiial. Since that time
theie have been many mechanical and, latteily, electiomechanical devices developed foi memoiy and stoiage.
In 1948 at Manchestei Univeisity in England the cathode iay tube (Williams) and the magnetic dium weie
developed. These consisted of 1024 bits and 1280 bits and a magnetic dium capacity of 120K bits. Cambiidge
Univeisity developed the meicuiy delay line in 1949, which iepiesented the fist fully opeiational delay line
memoiy, consisting of 576 bits pei tube with a total capacity of 18K bits and a ciiculation time of 1.1 ms.
The fist commeicial computei with a magnetic tape system was intioduced in 1951. The UNIVAC I had a
magnetic tape system of 1.44M bits on 150 feet of tape and was capable of stoiing 128 chaiacteis pei inch. The
tape could be iead at a iate of 100 ips. Optical memoiies aie now available as veiy fast stoiage devices and will
ieplace magnetic stoiage in the next few yeais. At piesent these devices aie expensive although it is envisaged
that optical disks with laige silicon caches will be the stoiage aiiangement of the futuie wheie computei systems
utilizing CAD softwaie and image piocessing can take advantage of the laige stoiage capacities with fast access
times. In the futuie, semiconductoi memoiies aie likely to continue theii advancing tiend.
Intruductiun
Today`s miciopiocessois aie capable of addiessing up to 16 Mbytes of main memoiy. To take advantage of this
laige capacity, it is usual to have seveial piogiams iesiding in memoiy at the same time. With intelligent memoiy
1
Based on P. A. Lee, Memoiy subsystems," in Dga| Sysems Re[erente Boo|, B. Holdwoith and G. R. Maitins, Eds.,
Oxfoid: Butteiwoith-Heinemann, 1991, chap. 2.6. With peimission.
management units (MMUs), the piogiams can be swopped in and out of the main memoiy to the auxiliaiy
memoiy when iequiied. Foi the system to keep pace with this piogiam swopping, it must have a fast auxiliaiy
memoiy to wiite to. In the past, most auxiliaiy systems like magnetic tape and disks have had slow access times,
and this has meant that expensive systems have evolved to catei foi this iequiiement. Now that auxiliaiy memoiy
has impioved, and access times aie fast and the memoiy cheap, computei systems have been developed that
piovide memoiy swopping with laige nonvolatile stoiage systems. Although the basic technology has not
changed ovei the last 20 yeais, new mateiials and diffeient appioaches have meant that a new foim of auxiliaiy
memoiy has been biought to the maiket at a veiy cheap cost.
Magnetic Tape
Magnetic tape cuiiently piovides the cheapest foim of stoiage foi laige quantities of computei data in a
nonvolatile foim. The tape is aiianged on a ieel and has seveial diffeient packaging styles. It is made fiom a
polyestei tianspoitation layei with a deposited layei of oxide having a piopeity similai to a feiiite mateiial
with a laige hysteiesis. Magnetic tape is packaged eithei in a caitiidge, on a ieel, oi in a cassette. The magnetic
caitiidge is manufactuied in seveial tape lengths and caitiidge sizes capable of stoiing up to 2 G (giga) bytes
of data. These can be puichased in many populai piefoimatted styles.
The magnetic tape ieel is usually 1 2 inch oi 1 inch wide and has lengths of 600, 1200, and 2400 feet. Most
ieels can stoie data at iates fiom 800 bits pei inch (bpi) up to 6250 bpi. The ieel-to-ieel magnetic tape ieadei
is geneially bulkiei and moie expensive than the caitiidge ieadeis due to the complicated pneumatic diive
mechanisms, but it piovides a laige data stoiage capacity with high access speeds Wiehlei, 1974]. An example
of a typical magnetic tape diive with the ieel-to-ieel aiiangement is shown in Fig. 80.16.
A cheap stoiage medium is the magnetic cassette. Based on the audio cassette, this uses the noimal audio
cassette iecoidei foi ieading and wiiting data via the standaid Kansas City inteiface thiough a seiial computei
I/O line. A logic data 1" is iecoided by a high fiequency and a logic data 0" by a lowei fiequency. High-
density cassettes can stoie up to 60 Mbytes of data on each tape and aie populai with the computei games
maiket as a cheap stoiage medium foi piogiam distiibution.
Both ieel-to-ieel and caitiidge tapes aie geneially oiganised by using nine sepaiate tiacks acioss the tape as
shown in Fig. 80.17(a).
Each tiack has its own iead and wiite head opeiated independently fiom othei tiacks see Fig. 80.17(b)].
Tiacks 1 to 8 aie used foi data and tiack nine foi the paiity bit. Data is wiitten on the tape in iows of magnetized
islands, using foi example EBCDIC (Extended Binaiy Coded Decimal Inteichange Code).
Each iead/wiite head is shaped fiom a ferromagnetic material with an aii gap 1 m wide as seen in Fig. 80.18.
The wiiting head is conceined with conveiting an electiical pulse into a magnetic state and can be magnetized
in one of two diiections. This is done by passing a cuiient thiough the magnetic coil which sets up a leakage
feld acioss the 1-m gap. When the cuiient is ieveised the feld acioss the gap is changed, ieveising the polaiity
of the magnetic feld on the tape. The head magnetizes the passing magnetic tape iecoiding the state of the
magnetic feld in the aii gap. A logic 1 is iecoided as a change in polaiity on the tape, and a logic 0 is iecoided
as no change in polaiity, as seen in Fig. 80.19. Reading the magnetic tape states fiom the tape and conveiting
them to electiical signals is done by the iead head. The bit sequences in Fig. 80.19 show the change in magnetic
TABLE 80.1 Memoiy Hieiaichy
Data Code MMU
Level 0 CPU iegistei Instiuction iegisteis MMU iegisteis
Level 1 Data cache Instiuction cache MMU memoiy
Level 2 On-boaid cache
Level 3 Main memoiy
Level 4 Auxiliaiy memoiy
Sourte. P. A. Lee, Memoiy subsystems," in Dga| Sysems Re[er-
ente Boo|, B. Holdswoith and G. R. Maitin, Eds., Oxfoid: Buttei-
woith-Heinemann, 1991, p. 2.6/3. With peimission.
states on the tape. When the tape is passed ovei the iead head, it induces a voltage into the magnetic coil which
is conveited to digital levels to ietiieve the oiiginal data.
Tape Furmat
Infoimation is stoied on magnetic tape in the foim of a coheient sequence of iows foiming a block. This usually
coiiesponds to a page of computei memoiy and is the minimum amount of data wiitten to oi iead fiom
FIGURE 80.16 (a) Magnetic tape diive. (b) Magnetic tape ieel aiiangement. (Sourte. K. London, InroJuton o Comuers,
London: Fabei and Fabei, 1986, p. 141. With peimission.)
FIGURE 80.17 Magnetic tape foimat. (Sourte. P. A. Lee, Memoiy subsystems," in Dga| Sysems Re[erente Boo|, B.
Holdswoith and G. R. Maitin, Eds., Oxfoid: Butteiwoith-Heinemann, 1991, p. 2.6/11. With peimission.)
magnetic tape with each piogiam statement. Each block of data is sepaiated by a block gap which is appioxi-
mately 15 mm long and has no data stoied in it. This is shown in Fig. 80.20.
Block gaps aie used to allow the tape to acceleiate to its opeiational speed and foi the tape to deceleiate
when stopping at the end of a block. Block gaps use up to 50% of the tape space available foi iecoiding, although
this may be ieduced by making the block sizes laigei but has the disadvantage of iequiiing laigei memoiy
buffeis to accommodate the data.
FIGURE 80.18 Read/wiite head layout. (Sourte. P. A. Lee, Memoiy subsystems," in Dga| Sysems Re[erente Boo|, B.
FIGURE 80.19 Wiite and iead pulses on magnetic tape. (Sourte. P. A. Lee, Memoiy subsystems," in Dga| Sysems
Re[erente Boo|, B. Holdswoith and G. R. Maitin, Eds., Oxfoid: Butteiwoith-Heinemann, 1991, p. 2.6/12. With peimission.)
FIGURE 80.20 Magnetic tape foimat. (Sourte. P. A. Lee, Memoiy subsystems," in Dga| Sysems Re[erente Boo|, B.
A numbei of blocks make up a fle identifed by a tape fle maikei which is wiitten to the tape by the tape
contiollei. The entiie length of tape is enclosed between the beginning and end of tape maikeis. These noimally
consist of a photosensitive mateiial that tiiggeis sensois on the iead/wiite heads. When a new tape is loaded,
it noimally advances to the beginning of a tape maikei and then it is ieady foi access by the CPU. The end of
tape maikei is used to pievent the tape fiom iunning off the end of the tape spool and indicates the limit of
the stoiage length.
Recurding Mudes
Seveial iecoiding modes aie used with the expiess objective of stoiing data at the highest density and with the
gieatest ieliability of noncoiiuption of ietiieved data. Two populai but contiasting modes aie the non-reurn-
o-:ero (NRZ) and |ase entoJng (PE) modes. These aie incompatible although some magnetic tape diives
have detectois to sense the mode and opeiate in a bimodal way. The NRZ technique is shown in Fig. 80.19,
wheie only the 1 bit is displayed by a ieveisal of magnetization on the tape. The magnetic polaiity iemains
unchanged foi logic 0. An exteinal clock tiack is also iequiied foi this mode because a pulse is not always
geneiated foi each iow of data on the tape.
The PE technique allows both the 0 and 1 states to be displayed by changes of magnetization. A 1 bit is given
by a noith-to-noith pole on the tape, and a 0 bit is given by a south-to-south pole on the tape. PE piovides
appioximately double the iecoiding density and piocessoi speed of NRZ. PE tapes caiiy an identifcation maik
called a |urs, which consists of successive magnetization changes at the beginning of tiack 4. This allows the
tape diive to iecognize the tape mode and confguie itself accoidingly.
Dehning Terms
Access time: The cycle time foi the computei stoie to piesent infoimation to the CPU. Access times vaiy
fiom less than 40 ns foi level 0 iegistei stoiage up to tens of seconds foi magnetic tape stoiage.
Auxiliary (secondary, mass, or backing) storage: Computei stoies which have a capacity to stoie enoimous
amounts of infoimation in a nono|a|e foim. This type of memoiy has an access time usually gieatei
than main memoiy and consists of magnetic tape diives, magnetic disk stoies, and optical disk stoies.
Ferromagnetic material: Mateiials that exhibit high magnetic piopeities. These include metals such as cobalt,
iion, and some alloys.
Magnetic tape: A polyestei flm sheet coated with a [erromagnet powdei, which is used extensively in
auxiliaiy memoiy. It is pioduced on a ieel, in a cassette, oi in a caitiidge tianspoitation medium.
Nonvolatile memory: The class of computei memoiy that ietains its stoied infoimation when the powei
supply is cut off. It includes magnetic tape, magnetic disks, ash memoiy, and most types of ROM.
Re!ated Tupic
36.2 Magnetic Recoiding
Relerences
L. Ciminieia and A. Valenzano, JanteJ Mtrorotessor rt|etures, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1987.
B. Holdswoith and G. Maitin, Eds, Dga| Sysems Re[erente Boo|, Oxfoid: Butteiwoith-Heinemann, 1991,
pp 2.6/1-2.6/11.
R. Hyde, Oveiview of memoiy management," Bye, pp. 219-225, Apiil 1988.
J. Isailovc, VJeo Dst anJ Ota| Memory Sysems, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Pientice-Hall, 1985.
K. London, InroJuton o Comuers, London: Fabei and Fabei Piess, 1986, p. 141.
M. Mano, Comuer Sysems rt|eture, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Pientice-Hall, 1982.
R. Matick, Comuer Sorage Sysems c Tet|no|ogy, New Yoik: John Wiley, 1977.
A. Tanenbaum, SrutureJ Comuer Organsaon, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Pientice-Hall, 1990.
G. Wiehlei, Magnet Per|era| Daa Sorage, Heydon & Son, 1974.
Further Inlurmatiun
The IEEE Transatons on Magnets is available fiom the IEEE Seivice Centei, Customei Seivice Depaitment,
445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08855-1331; 800-678-IEEE (outside the USA: 908-981-0060). An IEEE-sponsoied
Confeience on Magnetism and Magnetic Mateiials was held in Decembei 1992. The Biitish Tape Industiy
Association (BTIA) has a computei media committee, and fuithei infoimation on standaids, etc. can be
obtained fiom Biitish Tape Industiy Association, Caiolyn House, 22-26 Dingwall Road, Cioydon CR0 9XF,
England. The equivalent Ameiican Association also piovides infoimation on computei tape and can be con-
tacted at Inteinational Tape Manufactuieis` Association, 505 Eighth Avenue, New Yoik, NY 10018.
80.4 Magnetu-Optica! Disk Data Sturage
M. Monurur
Since the eaily 1940s, magnetic iecoiding has been the mainstay of electionic infoimation stoiage woildwide.
Audio tapes piovided the fist majoi application foi the stoiage of infoimation on magnetic media. Magnetic
tape has been used extensively in consumei pioducts such as audio tapes and video cassette iecoideis (VCRs);
it has also found application in backup/aichival stoiage of computei fles, satellite images, medical iecoids, etc.
Laige volumetiic capacity and low cost aie the hallmaiks of tape data stoiage, although sequential access to
the iecoided infoimation is peihaps the main diawback of this technology. Magnetic haid disk diives have
been used as mass stoiage devices in the computei industiy evei since theii inception in 1957. With an aieal
density that has doubled ioughly eveiy othei yeai, haid disks have been and iemain the medium of choice foi
secondaiy stoiage in computeis.
1
Anothei magnetic data stoiage device, the oppy disk, has been successful in
aieas wheie compactness, iemovability, and faiily iapid access to the iecoided infoimation have been of piime
concein. In addition to pioviding backup and safe stoiage, inexpensive oppies with theii modeiate capacities
(2 Mbyte on a 3.5-in. diametei plattei is typical nowadays) and ieasonable tiansfei iates have piovided the
ciucial function of fle/data tiansfei between isolated machines. All in all, it has been a gieat half-centuiy of
piogiess and maiket dominance foi magnetic iecoiding devices, which aie only now beginning to face a
potentially seiious challenge fiom the technology of optical iecoiding.
Like magnetic iecoiding, a majoi application aiea foi optical data stoiage systems is the secondaiy stoiage
of infoimation foi computeis and computeiized systems. Like the high-end magnetic media, optical disks can
piovide iecoiding densities in the iange of 10
7
bits/cm
2
and beyond. The added advantage of optical iecoiding
is that, like oppies, these disks can be iemoved fiom the diive and stoied on the shelf. Thus the functions of
the haid disk (i.e., high capacity, high data tiansfei iate, iapid access) may be combined with those of the
oppy (i.e., backup stoiage, iemovable media) in a single optical disk diive. Applications of optical iecoiding
aie not confned to computei data stoiage. The enoimously successful audio compact disk (CD), which was
intioduced in 1983 and has since become the de facto standaid of the music industiy, is but one example of
the tiemendous potentials of the optical technology.
A stiength of optical iecoiding is that, unlike its magnetic counteipait, it can suppoit iead-only, wiite-once,
and eiasable/iewiitable modes of data stoiage. Considei, foi example, the technology of optical audio/video
disks. Heie the infoimation is iecoided on a mastei disk which is then used as a stampei to tiansfei the embossed
patteins to a plastic substiate foi iapid, accuiate, and inexpensive iepioduction. The same piocess is employed
in the mass pioduction of iead-only fles (CD-ROM, O-ROM) which aie now being used to distiibute softwaie,
catalogues, and othei laige databases. Oi considei the wiite-once iead-many (WORM) technology, wheie one
can peimanently stoie massive amounts of infoimation on a given medium and have iapid, iandom access to
them afteiwaids. The optical diive can be designed to handle iead-only, WORM, and eiasable media all in one
unit, thus combining theii useful featuies without saciifcing peifoimance and ease of use oi occupying too
1
At the time of this wiiting, achievable densities on haid disks aie in the iange of 10
7
bits/cm
2
. Random access to aibitiaiy
blocks of data in these devices can take on the oidei of 10 ms, and individual iead/wiite heads can tiansfei data at the iate
of seveial megabits pei second.
much space. What is moie, the media can contain iegions with pieiecoided infoimation as well as iegions foi
iead/wiite/eiase opeiations, both on the same plattei. These possibilities open new vistas and offei oppoitunities
foi applications that have heietofoie been unthinkable; the inteiactive video disk is peihaps a good example
of such applications.
In this aiticle we will lay out the conceptual basis foi optical data stoiage systems; the emphasis will be on
disk technology in geneial and magneto-optical disk in paiticulai. The fist section is devoted to a discussion
of some elementaiy aspects of disk data stoiage including the concept of tiack and defnition of the access time.
The second section desciibes the basic elements of the optical path and its functions; included aie the piopeities
of the semiconductoi lasei diode, chaiacteiistics of the beamshaping optics, and ceitain featuies of the focusing
objective lens. Because of the limited depth of focus of the objective and the eccentiicity of tiacks, optical disk
systems must have a closed-loop feedback mechanism foi maintaining the focused spot on the iight tiack.
These mechanisms aie desciibed in the thiid and fouith sections foi automatic focusing and automatic tiack
following, iespectively. The physical piocess of theimomagnetic iecoiding in magneto-optic (MO) media is
desciibed next, followed by a discussion of the MO ieadout piocess in the sixth section. The fnal section
desciibes the piopeities of the MO media.
Pre!iminaries and Basic Dehnitiuns
A disk, whethei magnetic oi optical, consists of a numbei of tracks along which the infoimation is iecoided.
These tiacks may be concentiic iings of a ceitain width, V
, as shown in Fig. 80.21. Neighboiing tiacks may

be sepaiated fiom each othei by a guaid band whose width we shall denote by V
g
. In the least sophisticated
iecoiding scheme imaginable, maiks of length A
0
aie iecoided along these tiacks. Now, if each maik can be in
eithei one of two states, piesent oi absent, it may be associated with a binaiy digit, 0 oi 1. When the entiie
disk suiface of iadius R is coveied with such maiks, its capacity C
0
will be
(80.2)
Considei the paiametei values typical of cuiient optical disk technology: R 67 mm coiiesponding to 5.25-in.
diametei platteis, A
0
0.5 m which is ioughly deteimined by the wavelength of the iead/wiite lasei diodes,
and V
- V
g
1 m foi the tiack pitch. The disk capacity will then be aiound 28 10
9
bits, oi 3.5 gigabytes.
This is a ieasonable estimate and one that is faiily close to ieality, despite the many simplifying assumptions
made in its deiivation. In the following paiagiaphs we examine some of these assumptions in moie detail.
FIGURE 80.21 Physical appeaiance and geneial featuies of an optical disk. The iead/wiite head gains access to the disk
thiough a window in the jacket; the jacket itself is foi piotection puiposes only. The hub is the mechanical inteiface with
the diive foi mounting and centeiing the disk on the spindle. The tiack shown at iadius r
0
is of the concentiic-iing type.
C
R
V V
g
0
2
0
+
r
( )A
bits pei suiface
The disk was assumed to be fully coveied with infoimation-caiiying maiks. This is geneially not the case
in piactice. Considei a disk iotating at ievolutions pei second (ips). Foi ieasons to be claiifed latei, this
iotational speed should iemain constant duiing the disk opeiation. Let the electionic ciicuitiy have a fxed
clock duiation T
t
. Then only pulses of length T
t
(oi an integei multiple theieof) may be used foi wiiting. Now,
a maik wiitten along a tiack of iadius r, with a pulse-width equal to T
t ,
will have length , wheie
2r rT
t
(80.3)
Thus foi a given iotational speed and a fxed clock cycle T
t
, the minimum maik length is a lineai function
of tiack iadius r, and decieases towaid zeio as r appioaches zeio. One must, theiefoie, pick a minimum
usable tiack iadius, r
min
, wheie the spatial extent of the iecoided maiks is always gieatei than the minimum
allowed maik length, A
0
. Equation (80.3) yields
(80.4)
One may also defne a maximum usable tiack iadius i
max
, although foi piesent puiposes i
max
R is a peifectly
good choice. The iegion of the disk used foi data stoiage is thus confned to the aiea between r
min
and r
max
.
The total numbei N of tiacks in this iegion is given by
(80.5)
The numbei of maiks on any given tiack in this scheme is independent of the tiack iadius; in fact, the numbei
is the same foi all tiacks, since the peiiod of ievolution of the disk and the clock cycle uniquely deteimine the
total numbei of maiks on any individual tiack. Multiplying the numbei of usable tiacks N with the capacity
pei tiack, we obtain foi the usable disk capacity
(80.6)
Replacing foi N fiom Eq. (80.5) and foi T
t
fiom Eq. (80.4), we fnd,
(80.7)
If the capacity C in Eq. (80.7) is consideied a function of r
min
with the iemaining paiameteis held constant, it
is not diffcult to show that maximum capacity is achieved when
r
min
r
max
(80.8)
With this optimum r
min
, the value of C in Eq. (80.7) is only half that of C
0
in Eq. (80.2). In othei woids, the
estimate of 3.5 gigabyte pei side foi 5.25-in. disks seems to have been optimistic by a factoi of two.
One scheme often pioposed to enhance the capacity entails the use of multiple zones, wheie eithei the iotation
speed oi the clock peiiod T
t
is allowed to vaiy fiom one zone to the next. In geneial, zoning schemes can ieduce
the minimum usable tiack iadius below that given by Eq. (80.8). Moie impoitantly, howevei, they allow tiacks
with laigei iadii to stoie moie data than tiacks with smallei iadii. The capacity of the zoned disk is somewheie
between C of Eq. (80.7) and C
0
of Eq. (80.2), the exact value depending on the numbei of zones implemented.
r
T
t
min

A
0
2r
N
r r
V V
g

+
max min
C
N
T
t
C
r r r
V V
g

+
2
0
r
min max min
( )
( )A
A fiaction of the disk suiface aiea is usually ieseived foi preformat infoimation and cannot be used foi data
stoiage. Also, piioi to iecoiding, additional bits aie geneially added to the data foi error correction coding
and othei housekeeping choies. These constitute a ceitain amount of oveihead on the usei data and must be
allowed foi in deteimining the capacity. A good iule of thumb is that oveihead consumes appioximately 20%
of the iaw capacity of an optical disk, although the exact numbei may vaiy among the systems in use. Substiate
defects and flm contaminants duiing the deposition piocess can cieate bad sectors on the disk. These aie
typically identifed duiing the ceitifcation piocess and aie maiked foi elimination fiom the sectoi diiectoiy.
Needless to say, bad sectois must be discounted when evaluating the capacity.
Modulation codes may be used to enhance the capacity beyond what has been desciibed so fai. Modulation
coding does not modify the minimum maik length of A
0
, but fiees the longei maiks fiom the constiaint of
being integei multiples of A
0
. The use of this type of code iesults in moie effcient data stoiage and an effective
numbei of bits pei A
0
that is gieatei than unity. Foi example, the populai (2, 7) modulation code has an
effective bit density of 1.5 bits pei A
0
. This oi any othei modulation code can inciease the disk capacity beyond
the estimate of Eq. (80.7).
The Cuncept ul Track
The infoimation on magnetic and optical disks is iecoided along tiacks. Typically, a tiack is a naiiow annulus
at some distance r fiom the disk centei. The width of the annulus is denoted by V
, while the width of the

guaid band, if any, between adjacent tiacks is denoted by V
g
. The tiack pitch is the centei-to-centei distance
between neighboiing tiacks and is theiefoie equal to V
- V
g
. A majoi diffeience between the magnetic oppy
disk, the magnetic haid disk, and the optical disk is that theii iespective tiack pitches aie piesently of the oidei
of 100, 10, and 1 m. Tiacks may be fctitious entities, in the sense that no independent existence outside the
pattein of iecoided maiks may be asciibed to them. This is the case, foi example, with the audio compact disk
foimat wheie pieiecoided maiks simply defne theii own tiacks and help guide the lasei beam duiing ieadout.
In the othei extieme aie tiacks that aie physically engiaved on the disk suiface befoie any data is evei iecoided.
Examples of this type of tiack aie piovided by piegiooved WORM and magneto-optical disks. Figuie 80.22
shows miciogiaphs fiom seveial iecoided optical disk suifaces. The tiacks along which the data aie wiitten aie
cleaily visible in these pictuies.
It is geneially desiied to keep the iead/wiite head stationaiy while the disk spins and a given tiack is being
iead fiom oi wiitten onto. Thus, in an ideal situation, not only should the tiack be peifectly ciiculai, but also
the disk must be piecisely centeied on the spindle axis. In piactical systems, howevei, tiacks aie neithei piecisely
ciiculai, noi aie they concentiic with the spindle axis. These eccentiicity pioblems aie solved in low-peifoi-
mance oppy diives by making tiacks wide enough to piovide toleiance foi misiegistiations and misalignments.
Thus the head moves blindly to a iadius wheie the tiack centei is nominally expected to be and stays put until
the ieading oi wiiting is ovei. By making the head naiiowei than the tiack pitch, the tiack centei is allowed
to wobble aiound its nominal position without signifcantly degiading the peifoimance duiing the iead/wiite
opeiation. This kind of wobble, howevei, is unacceptable in optical disk systems, which have a veiy naiiow
tiack, about the same size as the focused beam spot. In a typical situation aiising in piactice, the eccentiicity
of a given tiack may be as much as 50 m while the tiack pitch is only about 1 m, thus iequiiing active
tiack-following pioceduies.
One method of defning tiacks on an optical disk is by means of piegiooves that aie eithei etched, stamped,
oi molded onto the substiate. In grooved media of optical storage, the space between neighboiing giooves is
the so-called land see Fig. 80.23(a)]. Data may be wiitten in the giooves with the land acting as a guaid band.
Alteinatively, the land iegions may be used foi iecoiding while the giooves sepaiate adjacent tiacks. The gioove
depth is optimized foi geneiating an optical signal sensitive to the iadial position of the iead/wiite lasei beam.
Foi the push-pull method of tiack-eiioi detection the gioove depth is in the neighboihood of i/8, wheie i is
the wavelength of the lasei beam.
In digital data stoiage applications, each tiack is divided into small segments oi sectois, intended foi the
stoiage of a single block of data (typically eithei 512 oi 1024 bytes). The physical length of a sectoi is thus a
few millimeteis. Each sectoi is pieceded by headei infoimation such as the identity of the sectoi, identity of
the coiiesponding tiack, synchionization maiks, etc. The headei infoimation may be piefoimatted onto the
substiate, oi it may be wiitten on the stoiage layei piioi to shipping the disk. Piegiooved tiacks may be caived"
on the optical disk eithei as concentiic iings oi as a single continuous spiial. Theie aie ceitain advantages to
each foimat. A spiial tiack can contain a succession of sectois without inteiiuption, wheieas concentiic iings
may each end up with some empty space that is smallei than the iequiied length foi a sectoi. Also, laige fles
may be wiitten onto (and iead fiom) spiial tiacks without jumping to the next tiack, which occuis when
concentiic tiacks aie used. On the othei hand, multiple-path opeiations such as wiite-and-veiify oi eiase-and-
wiite, which iequiie two paths each foi a given sectoi, oi still-fiame video aie moie conveniently handled on
concentiic-iing tiacks.
Anothei tiack foimat used in piactice is based on the sampled-seivo concept. Heie the tiacks aie identifed
by occasional maiks placed peimanently on the substiate at iegulai inteivals, as shown in Fig. 80.23. Details
of tiack following by the sampled-seivo scheme will follow shoitly; suffce it to say at this point that seivo
maiks help the system identify the position of the focused spot ielative to the tiack centei. Once the position
is deteimined it is faiily simple to steei the beam and adjust its position.
FIGURE 80.22 Miciogiaphs of seveial types of optical stoiage media. The tiacks aie stiaight and naiiow (tiack pitch
1.6 m), with an oiientation angle of -45. (A) Ablative, wiite-once telluiium alloy. (B) Ablative, wiite-once oiganic dye.
(C) Amoiphous-to-ciystalline, wiite-once phase-change alloy GaSb. (D) Eiasable, amoiphous magneto-optic alloy GdTbFe.
(E) Eiasable, ciystalline-to-amoiphous phase-change telluiium alloy. (F) Read-only CD-audio, injection-molded fiom
polycaibonate with a nickel stampei. (Sourte. U||mann's Entyt|oeJa o[ InJusra| C|emsry, 5th ed., vol. A14, Weinheim:
VCH, 1989, p. 196. With peimission.)
Disk Rutatiun Speed
When a disk iotates at a constant angulai velocity u, a tiack
of iadius r moves with the constant lineai velocity V ru.
Ideally, one would like to have the same lineai velocity foi
all the tiacks, but this is impiactical except in a limited
numbei of situations. Foi instance, when the desiied mode
of access to the vaiious tiacks is sequential, such as in audio
and video disk applications, it is possible to place the head
in the beginning at the innei iadius and move outwaid fiom
the centei theieaftei while continuously decieasing the
angulai velocity. By keeping the pioduct of r and u constant,
one can thus achieve constant lineai velocity foi all the
tiacks.
1
Sequential access mode, howevei, is the exception
iathei than the noim in data stoiage systems. In most appli-
cations, the tiacks aie accessed iandomly with such iapidity
that it becomes impossible to adjust the iotation speed foi
constant lineai velocity. Undei these ciicumstances, the
angulai velocity is best kept constant duiing the noimal
opeiation of the disk. Typical iotation speeds aie 1200 and
1800 ipm foi slowei diives and 3600 ipm foi the high data
iate systems. Highei iotation iates (5000 ipm and beyond)
aie ceitainly feasible and will likely appeai in futuie stoiage
devices.
Access Time
The diiect-access stoiage device oi DASD, used in computei
systems foi the mass stoiage of digital infoimation, is a disk
diive capable of stoiing laige quantities of data and accessing
blocks of this data iapidly and in aibitiaiy oidei. In
iead/wiite opeiations it is often necessaiy to move the head
to new locations in seaich of sectois containing specifc data
items. Such ielocations aie usually time-consuming and can
become the factoi that limits peifoimance in ceitain appli-
cations. The access time t
a
is defned as the aveiage time
spent in going fiom one iandomly selected spot on the disk to anothei. t
a
can be consideied the sum of a seek
time, t
s
, which is the aveiage time needed to acquiie the taiget tiack, and a latency, t
|
, which is the aveiage
time spent on the taiget tiack waiting foi the desiied sectoi. Thus,
t
a
t
s -
t
|
(80.9)
The latency is half the ievolution peiiod of the disk, since a iandomly selected sectoi is, on the aveiage, halfway
along the tiack fiom the point wheie the head initially lands. Thus foi a disk iotating at 1200 ipm t
|
25 ms,
while at 3600 ipm t
|
8.3 ms. The seek time, on the othei hand, is independent of the iotation speed, but is
deteimined by the tiaveling distance of the head duiing an aveiage seek, as well as by the mechanism of head
actuation. It can be shown that the aveiage length of tiavel in a iandom seek is one thiid of the full stioke. (In
oui notation the full stioke is r
max
- r
min
.) In magnetic disk diives wheie the head/actuatoi assembly is ielatively
light-weight (a typical Winchestei head weighs about 5 giams) the acceleiation and deceleiation peiiods aie
shoit, and seek times aie typically aiound 10 ms in small diives (i.e., 5.25 and 3.5 in.). In optical disk systems,
1
In compact disk playeis the lineai velocity is kept constant at 1.2 m/s. The staiting position of the head is at the innei
iadius r
min
25 mm, wheie the disk spins at 460 ipm. The spiial tiack ends at the outei iadius r
max
58 mm, wheie the
disk`s angulai velocity is 200 ipm.
FIGURE 80.23 (a) Lands and giooves in an optical
disk. The substiate is tianspaient, and the lasei beam
must pass thiough it befoie ieaching the stoiage
medium. (b) Sampled-seivo maiks in an optical disk.
These maiks which aie offset fiom the tiack-centei
piovide infoimation iegaiding the position of
focused spot.
on the othei hand, the head, being an assembly of disciete elements, is faiily laige and heavy (typical weight
100 giams), iesulting in values of t
s
that aie seveial times gieatei than those obtained in magnetic iecoiding
systems. The seek times iepoited foi commeicially available optical diives piesently iange fiom 20 ms in high-
peifoimance 3.5-in. diives to about 80 ms in laigei diives. We emphasize, howevei, that the optical disk tech-
nology is still in its infancy; with the passage of time, the integiation and miniatuiization of the elements within
the optical head will suiely pioduce lightweight devices capable of achieving seek times of the oidei of a few
milliseconds.
The Optica! Path
The optical path begins at the light souice which, in piactically
all lasei disk systems in use today, is a semiconductoi GaAs
diode lasei. Seveial unique featuies have made the lasei diode
indispensable in optical iecoiding technology, not only foi the
ieadout of stoied infoimation but also foi wiiting and eiasuie.
The small size of this lasei has made possible the constiuction
of compact head assemblies, its coheience piopeities have
enabled diffiaction-limited focusing to extiemely small spots,
and its diiect modulation capability has eliminated the need
foi exteinal modulatois. The lasei beam is modulated by con-
tiolling the injection cuiient; one applies pulses of vaiiable
duiation to tuin the lasei on and off duiing the iecoiding
piocess. The pulse duiation can be as shoit as a few nanosec-
onds, with iise and fall times typically less than 1 ns. Although
ieadout can be accomplished at constant powei level, i.e., in
CW mode, it is customaiy foi noise ieduction puiposes to
modulate the lasei at a high fiequency (e.g., seveial hundied
megaheitz duiing ieadout).
Cu!!imatiun and Beam Shaping
Since the cioss-sectional aiea of the active iegion in a lasei
diode is only about one miciometei, diffiaction effects cause
the emeiging beam to diveige iapidly. This phenomenon is
depicted schematically in Fig. 80.24(a). In piactical applica-
tions of the lasei diode, the expansion of the emeiging beam
is aiiested by a collimating lens, such as that shown in
Fig. 80.24(b). If the beam happens to have abeiiations (astig-
matism is paiticulaily seveie in diode laseis), then the colli-
mating lens must be designed to coiiect this defect as well.
In optical iecoiding it is most desiiable to have a beam with
ciiculai cioss section. The need foi shaping the beam aiises
fiom the special geometiy of the lasei cavity with its iectan-
gulai cioss section. Since the emeiging beam has diffeient
dimensions in the diiections paiallel and peipendiculai to the
junction, its cioss section at the collimatoi becomes elliptical,
with the initially naiiow dimension expanding moie iapidly
to become the majoi axis of the ellipse. The collimating lens
thus pioduces a beam with elliptical cioss section. Ciiculai-
ization may be achieved by bending vaiious iays of the beam
at a piism, as shown in Fig. 80.24(c). The bending changes the
beam`s diametei in the plane of incidence but leaves the diam-
etei in the peipendiculai diiection intact.
FIGURE 80.24 (a) Away fiom the facet, the out-
put beam of a diode lasei diveiges iapidly. In gen-
eial, the beam diametei along X is diffeient fiom
that along Y, which makes the cioss section of the
beam elliptical. Also, the iadii of cuivatuie R
x
and
R
y
aie not the same, thus cieating a ceitain amount
of astigmatism in the beam. (b) Multi-element col-
limatoi lens foi lasei diode applications. Aside fiom
collimating, this lens also coiiects astigmatic abei-
iations of the beam. (c) Beam shaping by deection
at a piism suiface.
1
and
2
aie ielated by the Snell`s
law, and the iatio J
2
/J
1
is the same as cos
2
/cos
1
.
Passage thiough the piism ciiculaiizes the elliptical
cioss section of the beam.
Fucusing by the Objective Lens
The collimated and ciiculaiized beam of the diode lasei
is focused on the suiface of the disk using an objective
lens. The objective is designed to be abeiiation-fiee, so
that its focused spot size is limited only by the effects of
diffiaction. Figuie 80.25(a) shows the design of a typical
objective made fiom spheiical optics. Accoiding to the
classical theoiy of diffiaction, the diametei of the beam,
J, at the objective`s focal plane is given by
(80.10)
wheie i is the wavelength of light, and N is the numeiical
apeituie of the objective.
1
In optical iecoiding it is desiied to achieve the smallest
possible spot, since the size of the spot is diiectly ielated
to the size of maiks iecoided on the medium. Also, in
ieadout, the spot size deteimines the iesolution of the
system. Accoiding to Eq. (80.10) theie aie two ways to
achieve a small spot: fist by ieducing the wavelength and,
second, by incieasing the numeiical apeituie of the objec-
tive. The wavelengths cuiiently available fiom GaAs laseis
aie in the iange of 670-840 nm. It is possible to use a
nonlineai optical device to double the fiequency of these
diode laseis, thus achieving blue light. Good effciencies
have been demonstiated by fiequency doubling. Also
iecent developments in II-VI mateiials have impioved the
piospects foi obtaining gieen and blue light diiectly fiom
semiconductoi laseis. Consequently, theie is hope that in
the neai futuie optical stoiage systems will opeiate in the
wavelength iange of 400-500 nm. As foi the numeiical
apeituie, cuiient piactice is to use a lens with NA
0.5-0.6. Although this value might inciease slightly in
the coming yeais, much highei numeiical apeituies aie
unlikely, since they put stiict constiaints on the othei
chaiacteiistics of the system and limit the toleiances. Foi
instance, the woiking distance at high numeiical apeituie
is ielatively shoit, making access to the iecoiding layei
thiough the substiate moie diffcult. The smallei depth of
focus of a high numeiical apeituie lens will make attain-
ing/maintaining piopei focus moie of a pioblem, while
the limited feld of view might iestiict automatic tiack-following pioceduies. A small feld of view also places
constiaints on the possibility of iead/wiite/eiase opeiations involving multiple beams.
The depth of focus of a lens, o, is the distance away fiom the focal plane ovei which tight focus can be
maintained see Fig. 80.25(b)]. Accoiding to the classical diffiaction theoiy
1
Numeiical apeituie is defned as N n sin , wheie n is the iefiactive index of the image space, and is the half-angle
subtended by the exit pupil at the focal point. In optical iecoiding systems the image space is aii whose index is veiy neaily
unity; thus foi all piactical puiposes N sin .
FIGURE 80.25 (a) Multi-element lens design foi a
high numeiical apeituie video disk objective. (Sourte.
D. Kuntz, Specifying lasei diode optics," Laser Fotus,
Maich 1984. With peimission.) (b) Vaiious paiameteis
of the objective lens. The numeiical apeituie is N
sin . The spot diametei J and the depth of focus o aie
given by Eqs. (80.10) and (80.11), iespectively.
(c) Focusing thiough the substiate can cause spheiical
abeiiation at the active layei. The pioblem can be coi-
iected if the substiate is taken into account while design-
ing the objective.
J
N
i
(80.11)
Thus foi a wavelength of i 700 nm and N 0.6, the depth of focus is about 1 m. As the disk spins
undei the optical head at the iate of seveial thousand ipm, the objective lens must stay within a distance of
[ o fiom the active layei if piopei focus is to be maintained. Given the conditions undei which diives usually
opeiate, it is impossible to make iigid enough mechanical systems to yield the iequiied positioning toleiances.
On the othei hand, it is faiily simple to mount the objective lens in an actuatoi capable of adjusting its position
with the aid of closed-loop feedback contiol. We shall discuss the technique of automatic focusing in the next
section. Foi now, let us emphasize that by going to shoitei wavelengths and/oi laigei numeiical apeituies (as
is iequiied foi attaining highei data densities) one will have to face a much stiictei iegime as fai as automatic
focusing is conceined. Incieasing the numeiical apeituie is paiticulaily woiiisome, since o diops with the
squaie of N.
A souice of spheiical abeiiations in optical disk systems is the substiate thiough which the light must tiavel
to ieach the active layei of the disk. Figuie 80.25(c) shows the bending of the iays at the disk suiface that causes
the abeiiation. This pioblem can be solved by taking into account the effects of the substiate in the design of
the objective, so that the lens is coiiected foi all abeiiations including those aiising at the substiate. Recent
developments in molding of aspheiic glass lenses have gone a long way in simplifying the lens design pioblem.
Figuie 80.26 shows a paii of molded glass aspheiics designed foi optical disk system applications; both the
collimatoi and the objective aie single-element lenses and aie coiiected foi abeiiations.
Autumatic Fucusing
We mentioned in the pieceding section that since the objective has a laige numeiical apeituie (N > 0.5), its
depth of focus o is iathei shallow (o 1 m at i 780 nm). Duiing all iead/wiite/eiase opeiations, theiefoie,
the disk must iemain within a fiaction of a miciometei fiom the focal plane of the objective. In piactice,
howevei, the disks aie not at and they aie not always mounted iigidly paiallel to the focal plane, so that
movements away fiom focus occui a few times duiing each ievolution. The peak-to-peak movement in and
out of focus may be as much as 100 m. Without automatic focusing of the objective along the optical axis,
this iunout (oi disk uttei) will be detiimental to the opeiation of the system. In piactice, the objective is
mounted on a small motoi (usually a voice coil) and allowed to move back and foith in oidei to keep its
distance within an acceptable iange fiom the disk. The spindle tuins at a few thousand ipm, which is a hundied
oi so ievolutions pei second. If the disk moves in and out of focus a few times duiing each ievolution, then
the voice coil must be fast enough to follow these movements in ieal time; in othei woids, its fiequency iesponse
must extend to seveial kiloheitz.
The signal that contiols the voice coil is obtained fiom the light ieected fiom the disk. Theie aie seveial
techniques foi deiiving the focus eiioi signal, one of which is depicted in Fig. 80.27(a). In this so-called
obscuiation method a secondaiy lens is placed in the path of the ieected light, one-half of its apeituie is
coveied, and a split detectoi is placed at its focal plane. When the disk is in focus, the ietuining beam is
collimated and the secondaiy lens will focus the beam at the centei of the split detectoi, giving a diffeience
FIGURE 80.26 Molded glass aspheiic lens paii foi optical disk applications. These singlets can ieplace the multi-element
spheiical lenses shown in Figs. 80.24(b) and 80.25(a).
o
i
N
2
signal AS equal to zeio. If the disk now moves away fiom the objective, the ietuining beam will become
conveiging, as in Fig. 80.27(b), sending all the light to detectoi #1. In this case AS will be positive and the voice
coil will push the lens towaids the disk. On the othei hand, when the disk moves close to the objective, the
ietuining beam becomes diveiging and detectoi #2 ieceives the light see Fig. 80.27(c)]. This iesults in a negative
AS that foices the voice coil to pull back in oidei to ietuin AS to zeio. A given focus eiioi detection scheme
is geneially chaiacteiized by the shape of its focus eiioi signalAS veisus the amount of defocus A:; one such
cuive is shown in Fig. 80.27(d). The slope of the focus eiioi signal (FES) cuive neai the oiigin is of paiticulai
impoitance, since it deteimines the oveiall peifoimance and stability of the seivo loop.
Autumatic Tracking
Considei a tiack at a ceitain iadial location, say r
0
, and imagine viewing this tiack thiough the access window
shown in Fig. 80.21. It is thiough this window that the head gains access to aibitiaiily selected tiacks. To a
viewei looking thiough the window, a peifectly ciiculai tiack centeied on the spindle axis will look stationaiy,
iiiespective of the iotation iate. Howevei, any eccentiicity will cause an appaient iadial motion of the tiack.
The peak-to-peak distance tiaveled by a tiack (as seen thiough the window) depends on a numbei of factois
including centeiing accuiacy of the hub, defoimability of the substiate, mechanical vibiations, manufactuiing
toleiances, etc. Foi a typical 3.5-in. disk, foi example, this peak-to-peak motion can be as much as 100 m
duiing one ievolution. Assuming a ievolution iate of 3600 ipm, the appaient velocity of the tiack in the iadial
diiection will be seveial millimeteis pei second. Now, if the focused spot iemains stationaiy while tiying to iead
fiom oi wiite to this tiack, it is cleai that the beam will miss the tiack foi a good fiaction of eveiy ievolution cycle.
Piactical solutions to the above pioblem aie piovided by automatic tracking techniques. Heie the objective
is placed in a fne actuatoi, typically a voice coil, which is capable of moving the necessaiy iadial distances and
FIGURE 80.27 Focus eiioi detection by the obscuiation method. In (a) the disk is in focus, and the two halves of the split
detectoi ieceive equal amounts of light. When the disk is too fai fiom the objective (b) oi too close to it (c), the balance of
detectoi signals shifts to one side oi the othei. A plot of the focus eiioi signal (FES) veisus defocus is shown in (d), and its
slope neai the oiigin is identifed as the FES gain, C.
maintaining a lock on the desiied tiack. The signal that
contiols the movement of this actuatoi is deiived fiom
the ieected light itself, which caiiies infoimation about
the position of the focused spot. Theie exist seveial
mechanisms foi extiacting the tiack eiioi signal (TES);
all these methods iequiie some soit of stiuctuie on the
disk suiface in oidei to identify the tiack. In the case of
iead-only disks (CD, CD-ROM, and video disk), the
embossed pattein of data piovides ample infoimation
foi tiacking puiposes. In the case of wiite-once and
eiasable disks, tiacking guides aie caived" on the sub-
stiate in the manufactuiing piocess. As mentioned eai-
liei, the two majoi foimats foi these tiacking guides aie piegiooves (foi continuous tiacking) and sampled-
seivo maiks (foi disciete tiacking). A combination of the two schemes, known as continuous/composite foimat,
is often used in piactice. This scheme is depicted in Fig. 80.28 which shows a small section containing fve tiacks,
each consisting of the tail end of a gioove, synchionization maiks, a miiioi aiea used foi adjusting focus/tiack
offsets, a paii of wobble maiks foi sampled tiacking, and headei infoimation foi sectoi identifcation.
Tracking un Gruuved Regiuns
As shown in Fig. 80.23(a), giooves aie continuous depiessions that aie eithei embossed oi etched oi molded
onto the substiate piioi to deposition of the stoiage medium. If the data is iecoided on the giooves, then the
lands aie not used except foi pioviding a guaid band between neighboiing giooves. Conveisely, the land iegions
may be used to iecoid the infoimation, in which case giooves piovide the guaid band. Typical tiack widths
aie about one wavelength. The guaid bands aie somewhat naiiowei than the tiacks, theii exact shape and
dimensions depending on the beam size, iequiied tiack-seivo accuiacy, and the acceptable levels of cioss-talk
between adjacent tiacks. The gioove depth is usually aiound one-eighth of one wavelength (i/8), since this
depth can be shown to give the laigest TES in the push-pull method. Cioss sections of the giooves may be
iectangulai, tiapezoidal, tiiangulai, etc.
When the focused spot is centeied on tiack, it is diffiacted symmetiically fiom the two edges of the tiack,
iesulting in a balanced fai feld pattein. As soon as the spot moves away fiom the centei, the symmetiy bieaks
down and the light distiibution in the fai feld tends to shift to one side oi the othei. A split photodetectoi
placed in the path of the ieected light can theiefoie sense the ielative position of the spot and piovide the
appiopiiate feedback signal. This stiategy is depicted schematically in Fig. 80.29; also shown in the fguie aie
intensity plots at the detectoi plane foi light ieected fiom vaiious iegions of the disk. Note how the intensity
shifts to one side oi the othei depending on the diiection of motion of the spot.
Samp!ed Tracking
Since dynamic tiack iunout is usually a slow and giadual piocess, theie is actually no need foi continuous
tiacking as done on giooved media. A paii of embedded maiks, offset fiom the tiack centei as in Fig. 80.23(b),
can piovide the necessaiy infoimation foi coiiecting the ielative position of the focused spot. The ieected
intensity will indicate the positions of the two seivo maiks as two successive shoit pulses. If the beam happens
to be on tiack, the two pulses will have equal magnitudes and theie will be no need foi coiiection. If, on the
othei hand, the beam is off-tiack, one of the pulses will be stiongei than the othei. Depending on which pulse
is the stiongei, the system will iecognize the diiection in which it has to move and will coiiect the eiioi
accoidingly. The seivo maiks must appeai fiequently enough along the tiack to ensuie piopei tiack following.
In a typical application, the tiack might be divided into gioups of 18 bytes, 2 bytes dedicated as seivo offset
aieas and 16 bytes flled with othei foimat infoimation oi left blank foi usei data.
Thermumagnetic Recurding Prucess
Recoiding and eiasuie of infoimation on a magneto-optical disk aie both achieved by the thermomagnetic
process. The essence of theimomagnetic iecoiding is shown in Fig. 80.30. At the ambient tempeiatuie the flm
FIGURE 80.28 Seivo felds in continuous/composite
foimat contain a miiioi aiea and offset maiks foi tiacking
Groove Synch
Mark
Mirror Wobble
Marks
Header
has a high magnetic coeicivity
1
and theiefoie does not iespond to the exteinally applied feld. When a focused
beam iaises the local tempeiatuie of the flm, the hot spot becomes magnetically soft (i.e., its coeicivity diops).
As the tempeiatuie iises, coeicivity diops continuously until such time as the feld of the electiomagnet fnally
oveicomes the mateiial`s iesistance to ieveisal and switches its magnetization. Tuining the lasei off biings the
tempeiatuies back to noimal, but the ieveise-magnetized domain iemains fiozen in the flm. In a typical
situation in piactice, the flm thickness may be aiound 300 A, lasei powei at the disk 10 mW, diametei of
the focused spot 1 m, lasei pulse duiation 50 ns, lineai velocity of the tiack 10 m/s, and the magnetic
feld stiength 200 gauss. The tempeiatuie may ieach a peak of 500 K at the centei of the spot, which is
suffcient foi magnetization ieveisal, but is not neaily high enough to melt oi ciystalize oi in any othei way
modify the mateiial`s stiuctuie.
The mateiials of magneto-optical iecoiding have stiong peipendiculai magnetic anisotiopy. This type of
anisotiopy favois the up" and down" diiections of magnetization ovei all othei oiientations. The disk is
initialized in one of these two diiections, say up, and the iecoiding takes place when small iegions aie selectively
ieveise-magnetized by the theimomagnetic piocess. The iesulting magnetization distiibution then iepiesents
the pattein of iecoided infoimation. Foi instance, binaiy sequences may be iepiesented by a mapping of zeios
to up-magnetized iegions and ones to down-magnetized iegions (non-ietuin to zeio oi NRZ). Alteinatively,
the NRZI scheme might be used, wheieby tiansitions (up-to-down and down-to-up) aie used to iepiesent the
ones in the bit-sequence.
1
Coeicivity of a magnetic medium is a measuie of its iesistance to magnetization ieveisal. Foi example, considei a thin
flm with peipendiculai magnetic moment satuiated in the -Z diiection. A magnetic feld applied along -Z will succeed in
ieveising the diiection of magnetization only if the feld is stiongei than the coeicivity of the flm.
FIGURE 80.29 (a) Push-pull sensoi foi tiacking on giooves. (b) Calculated distiibution of light intensity at the detectoi
plane when the disk is in focus and the beam is centeied on tiack. (c) Calculated intensity distiibution at the detectoi plane
with disk in focus but the beam centeied on the gioove edge. (d) Same as (c) except foi the spot being focused on the
opposite edge of the gioove.
Net Signal = -
Recurding by Laser Puver Mudu!atiun [LPM)
In this tiaditional appioach to theimomagnetic iecoiding, the electiomagnet pioduces a constant feld, while
the infoimation signal is used to modulate the powei of the lasei beam. As the disk iotates undei the focused
spot, the on/off lasei pulses cieate a sequence of up/down domains along the tiack. The Loientz election
miciogiaph in Fig. 80.30(b) shows a numbei of domains iecoided by LPM. The domains aie highly stable and
may be iead ovei and ovei again without signifcant degiadation. If, howevei, the usei decides to discaid a
iecoided block and to use the space foi new data, the LPM scheme does not allow diiect oveiwiite; the system
must eiase the old data duiing one disk ievolution cycle and iecoid the new data in a subsequent ievolution cycle.
Duiing eiasuie, the diiection of the exteinal feld is ieveised, so that up-magnetized domains in Fig. 80.30(a)
now become the favoied ones. Wheieas wiiting is achieved with a modulated lasei beam, in eiasuie the lasei
stays on foi a ielatively long peiiod of time, eiasing an entiie sectoi. Selective eiasuie of individual domains is
not piactical, noi is it desiied, since mass data stoiage systems geneially deal with data at the level of blocks,
which aie iecoided onto and iead fiom individual sectois. Note that at least one ievolution peiiod elapses
between the eiasuie of an old block and its ieplacement by a new block. The electiomagnet theiefoie need not
be capable of iapid switchings. (When the disk iotates at 3600 ipm, foi example, theie is a peiiod of 16 ms oi
so between successive switchings.) This kind of slow ieveisal allows the magnet to be laige enough to covei all
the tiacks simultaneously, theieby eliminating the need foi a moving magnet and an actuatoi. It also affoids a
ielatively laige gap between the disk and the magnet, which enables the use of double-sided disks and ielaxes
the mechanical toleiances of the system without oveibuidening the magnet`s diivei.
The obvious disadvantage of LPM is its lack of diiect oveiwiite capability. A moie subtle concein is that it
is peihaps unsuitable foi the PWM (pulse width modulation) scheme of iepiesenting binaiy wavefoims. Due
to uctuations in the lasei powei, spatial vaiiations of mateiial piopeities, lack of peifect focusing and tiack
following, etc., the length of a iecoided domain along the tiack may uctuate in small but unpiedictable ways.
If the infoimation is to be encoded in the distance between adjacent domain walls (i.e., PWM), then the LPM
scheme of theimomagnetic wiiting may suffei fiom excessive domain-wall jittei. Lasei powei modulation woiks
well, howevei, when the infoimation is encoded in the position of domain centeis (i.e., pulse position modu-
lation oi PPM). In geneial, PWM is supeiioi to PPM in teims of the iecoiding density, and, theiefoie, iecoiding
techniques that allow PWM aie piefeiied.
Recurding by Magnetic Fie!d Mudu!atiun
Anothei method of theimomagnetic iecoiding is based on magnetic feld modulation (MFM) and is depicted
schematically in Fig. 80.31(a). Heie the lasei powei may be kept constant while the infoimation signal is used
to modulate the magnetic feld. Photomiciogiaphs of typical domain patteins iecoided in the MFM scheme
aie shown in Fig. 80.31(b). Ciescent-shaped domains aie the hallmaik of the feld modulation technique. If
one assumes (using a much simplifed model) that the magnetization aligns itself with the applied feld within
FIGURE 80.30 Theimomagnetic iecoiding piocess. (a) The feld of the electiomagnet helps ieveise the diiection of
magnetization in the aiea heated by the focused lasei beam. (b) Loientz miciogiaph of domains wiitten theimomagnetically.
The vaiious tiacks shown heie weie wiitten at diffeient lasei poweis, with powei level decieasing fiom top to bottom.
(Sourte. F. Gieidanus et al., Papei 26B-5, piesented at the Inteinational Symposium on Optical Memoiy, Kobe, Japan,
Septembei 1989. With peimission.)
a iegion whose tempeiatuie has passed a ceitain ciitical value, T
cii t
, then one can explain the ciescent shape
of these domains in the following way: With the lasei opeiating in the CW mode and the disk moving at
constant velocity, tempeiatuie distiibution in the magnetic medium assumes a steady-state piofle, such as that
shown in Fig. 80.31(c). Of couise, ielative to the lasei beam, the tempeiatuie piofle is stationaiy, but in the
fiame of iefeience of the disk the piofle moves along the tiack with the lineai tiack velocity. The isotheim
coiiesponding to T
ciit
is identifed as such in the fguie; within this isotheim the magnetization aligns itself
with the applied feld. Figuie 80.31(d) shows a succession of ciitical isotheims along the tiack, each obtained
at the paiticulai instant of time when the magnetic feld switches diiection. Fiom this pictuie it is easy to infei
how the ciescent-shaped domains foim and also undeistand the ielation between the wavefoim that contiols
the magnet and the iesulting domain pattein.
The advantages of magnetic feld modulation iecoiding aie that (1) diiect oveiwiiting is possible and (2) domain-
wall positions along the tiack, being iathei insensitive to defocus and lasei powei uctuations, aie faiily
accuiately contiolled by the timing of the magnetic feld switchings. On the negative side, the magnet must
now be small and y close to the disk suiface, if it is to pioduce iapidly switched felds with a magnitude of a
hundied gauss oi so. Systems that utilize magnetic feld modulation often y a small electiomagnet on the
opposite side of the disk fiom the optical stylus. Since mechanical toleiances aie tight, this might compiomise
the iemovability of the disk. Moieovei, the iequiiement of close pioximity between the magnet and the stoiage
medium dictates the use of single-sided disks in piactice.
FIGURE 80.31 (a) Theimomagnetic iecoiding by magnetic feld modulation. The powei of the beam is kept constant,
while the magnetic feld diiection is switched by the data signal. (b) Polaiized-light miciophotogiaph of iecoided domains.
(c) Computed isotheims pioduced by a CW lasei beam, focused on the magnetic layei of a disk. The disk moves with
constant velocity undei the beam. The iegion inside the isotheim maiked as T
ciit
is above the ciitical tempeiatuie foi wiiting,
that is, its magnetization aligns with the diiection of the applied feld. (d) Magnetization within the heated iegion (above
T
ciit
) follows the diiection of the applied feld, whose switchings occui at times
n
. The iesulting domains aie ciescent-shaped.
Magnetu-Optica! Readuut
The infoimation iecoided on a peipendiculaily magnetized medium may be iead with the aid of the polai
magneto-optical Kerr effect. When lineaily polaiized light is noimally incident on a peipendiculai magnetic
medium, its plane of polaiization undeigoes a slight iotation upon ieection. This iotation of the plane of
polaiization, whose sense depends on the diiection of magnetization in the medium, is known as the polai
Keii effect. The schematic iepiesentation of this phenomenon in Fig. 80.32 shows that if the polaiization vectoi
suffeis a counteiclockwise iotation upon ieection fiom an up-magnetized iegion, then the same vectoi will
iotate clockwise when the magnetization is down. A magneto-optical medium is chaiacteiized in teims of its
ieectivity R and its Keii iotation angle
|
. R is a ieal numbei (between 0 and 1) that indicates the fiaction
of the incident powei ieected back fiom the medium at noimal incidence.
|
is geneially quoted as a positive
numbei, but is undeistood to be positive oi negative depending on the diiection of magnetization; in MO
ieadout, it is the sign of
|
that caiiies the infoimation about the state of magnetization, i.e., the iecoided bit
pattein.
The lasei used foi ieadout is usually the same as that used foi iecoiding, but its output powei level is
substantially ieduced in oidei to avoid eiasing (oi otheiwise obliteiating) the pieviously iecoided infoimation.
Foi instance, if the powei of the wiite/eiase beam is 20 mW, then foi the iead opeiation the beam is attenuated
to about 3 oi 4 mW. The same objective lens that focuses the wiite beam is now used to focus the iead beam,
cieating a diffiaction-limited spot foi iesolving the iecoided maiks. Wheieas in wiiting the lasei was pulsed
to selectively ieveise-magnetize small iegions along the tiack, in ieadout it opeiates with constant powei, i.e.,
in CW mode. Both up- and down-magnetized iegions aie iead as the tiack passes undei the focused spot. The
ieected beam, which is now polaiization-modulated, goes back thiough the objective and becomes collimated
once again; its infoimation content is subsequently decoded by polaiization-sensitive optics, and the scanned
pattein of magnetization is iepioduced as an electionic signal.
Dillerentia! Detectiun
Figuie 80.33 shows the diffeiential detection system that is the basis of magneto-optical ieadout in piactically
all eiasable optical stoiage systems in use today. The beam splittei (BS) diveits half of the ieected beam away
fiom the lasei and into the detection module.
1
The polaiizing beam splittei (PBS) splits the beam into two
paits, each caiiying the piojection of the incident polaiization along one axis of the PBS, as shown in
Fig. 80.33(b). The component of polaiization along one of the axes goes stiaight thiough, while the component
15
The use of an oidinaiy beam splittei is an ineffcient way of sepaiating the incoming and outgoing beams, since half
the light is lost in each pass thiough the splittei. One can do much bettei by using a so-called leaky" polaiizing beam splittei.
FIGURE 80.32 Schematic diagiam desciibing the polai magneto-optical Keii effect. Upon ieection fiom the suiface of
a peipendiculaily magnetized medium, the polaiization vectoi undeigoes a iotation. The sense of iotation depends on the
diiection of magnetization, M, and switches sign when M is ieveised.
along the othei axis splits off and bianches to the side. The PBS is oiiented such that in the absence of the Keii
effect its two bianches will ieceive equal amounts of light. In othei woids, if the polaiization, upon ieection
fiom the disk, did not undeigo any iotations whatsoevei, then the beam enteiing the PBS would be polaiized
at 45 to the PBS axes, in which case it would split equally between the two bianches. Undei this condition,
the two detectois geneiate identical signals and the diffeiential signal AS will be zeio. Now, if the beam ietuins
fiom the disk with its polaiization iotated clockwise (iotation angle
|
), then detectoi #1 will ieceive moie
light than detectoi #2, and the diffeiential signal will be positive. Similaily, a counteiclockwise iotation will
geneiate a negative AS. Thus, as the disk iotates undei the focused spot, the electionic signal AS iepioduces
the pattein of magnetization along the scanned tiack.
Materia!s ul Magnetu-Optica! Data Sturage
Amoiphous iaie eaith tiansition metal alloys aie piesently the media of choice foi eiasable optical data stoiage
applications. The geneial foimula foi the composition of the alloy may be wiitten (Tb
y
Gd
1-y
)
x
(Fe
:
Co
1-:
)
1-x
wheie teibium and gadolinium aie the iaie eaith (RE) elements, while iion and cobalt aie the tiansition metals
FIGURE 80.33 Diffeiential detection scheme utilizes a polaiizing beam splittei and two photodetectois in oidei to conveit
the iotation of polaiization to an electionic signal. E
11
and E
1
aie the ieected components of polaiization; they aie,
iespectively, paiallel and peipendiculai to the diiection of incident polaiization. The diagiam in (b) shows the oiientation
of the PBS axes ielative to the polaiization vectois.
(TM). In piactice, the tiansition metals constitute ioughly 80 atomic peicent of the alloy (i.e., x 0.2). In the
tiansition metal subnetwoik, the fiaction of cobalt is usually small, typically aiound 10%, and iion is the
dominant element (: 0.9). Similaily, in the iaie eaith subnetwoik Tb is the main element (y 0.9) while
the gadolinium content is small oi it may even be absent in some cases. Since the iaie eaith elements aie highly
ieactive to oxygen, RE-TM flms tend to have pooi coiiosion iesistance and, theiefoie, iequiie piotective
coatings. In multilayei disk stiuctuies, the dielectiic layeis that enable optimization of the medium foi the best
optical/theimal behavioi also peifoim the ciucial function of piotecting the MO layei fiom the enviionment.
The amoiphous natuie of the mateiial allows its composition to be continuously vaiied until a numbei of
desiiable piopeities aie achieved. In othei woids, the fiactions x, y, : of the vaiious elements aie not constiained
by the iules of stoichiometiy. Disks with veiy laige aieas can be coated unifoimly with thin flms of these
media, and, in contiast to polyciystalline flms whose giains and giain boundaiies scattei the beam and cause
noise, amoiphous flms aie continuous, smooth, and substantially fiee fiom noise. The flms aie deposited
eithei by sputteiing fiom an alloy taiget oi by co-sputteiing fiom multiple elemental taigets. In the lattei case,
the substiate moves undei the vaiious taigets and the fiaction of a given element in the alloy is deteimined by
the time spent undei each taiget as well as the powei applied to that taiget. Duiing flm deposition the substiate
is kept at a low tempeiatuie (usually by chilled watei) in oidei to ieduce the mobility of deposited atoms and
thus inhibit ciystal giowth. The type of the sputteiing gas (aigon, kiypton, xenon, etc.) and its piessuie duiing
sputteiing, the bias voltage applied to the substiate, deposition iate, natuie of the substaite and its pietieatment,
and tempeiatuie of the substiate all can have diamatic effects on the composition and shoit-iange oidei of
the deposited flm. A compiehensive discussion of the factois that inuence flm piopeities will take us beyond
the intended scope heie; the inteiested ieadei may consult the vast liteiatuie of this feld foi fuithei infoimation.
Dehning Terms
Automatic focusing: The piocess in which the distance of the disk fiom the objective`s focal plane is contin-
uously monitoied and fed back to the system in oidei to keep the disk in focus at all times.
Automatic tracking: The piocess in which the distance of the focused spot fiom the tiack centei is contin-
uously monitoied and the infoimation fed back to the system in oidei to maintain the iead/wiite beam
on tiack at all times.
Compact disk (CD): A plastic substiate embossed with a pattein of pits that encode audio signals in digital
foimat. The disk is coated with a metallic layei (to enhance its ieectivity) and iead in a diive (CD
playei) that employs a focused lasei beam and monitois uctuations of the ieected intensity in oidei
to detect the pits.
Error correction coding (ECC): Systematic addition of iedundant bits to a block of binaiy data, as insuiance
against possible iead/wiite eiiois. A given eiioi-coiiecting code can iecovei the oiiginal data fiom a
contaminated block, piovided that the numbei of eiioneous bits is less than the maximum numbei
allowed by that paiticulai code.
Grooved media of optical storage: A disk embossed with giooves of eithei the concentiic-iing type oi the
spiial type. If giooves aie used as tiacks, then the lands (i.e., iegions between adjacent giooves) aie the
guaid bands. Alteinatively, lands may be used as tiacks, in which case the giooves act as guaid bands.
In a typical giooved optical disk in use today the tiack width is 1.1 m, the width of the guaid band is
0.5 m, and the gioove depth is 70 nm.
Magneto-optical Kerr effect: The iotation of the plane of polaiization of a lineaily polaiized beam of light
upon ieection fiom the suiface of a peipendiculaily magnetized medium.
Objective lens: A well-coiiected lens of high numeiical apeituie, similai to a micioscope objective, used to
focus the beam of light onto the suiface of the stoiage medium. The objective also collects and iecollimates
the light ieected fiom the medium.
Optical path: Optical elements in the path of the lasei beam in an optical diive. The path begins at the lasei
itself and contains a collimating lens, beam shaping optics, beam splitteis, polaiization-sensitive elements,
photodetectois, and an objective lens.
Preformat: Infoimation such as sectoi addiess, synchionization maiks, seivo maiks, etc., embossed peima-
nently on the optical disk substiate.
Sector: A small section of tiack with the capacity to stoie one block of usei data (typical blocks aie eithei
512 oi 1024 bytes). The suiface of the disk is coveied with tiacks, and tiacks aie divided into contiguous
sectois.
Thermomagnetic process: The piocess of iecoiding and eiasuie in magneto-optical media, involving local
heating of the medium by a focused lasei beam, followed by the foimation oi annihilation of a ieveise-
magnetized domain. The successful completion of the piocess usually iequiies an exteinal magnetic feld
to assist the ieveisal of the magnetization.
Track: A naiiow annulus oi iing-like iegion on a disk suiface, scanned by the iead/wiite head duiing one
ievolution of the spindle; the data bits of magnetic and optical disks aie stoied sequentially along these
tiacks. The disk is coveied eithei with concentiic iings of densely packed ciiculai tiacks oi with one
continuous, fne-pitched spiial tiack.
Re!ated Tupics
42.2 Optical Fibeis and Cables 43.1 Intioduction
Relerences
A. B. Maichant, Ota| RetorJng, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1990.
P. Hansen and H. Heitman, Media foi eiasable magneto-optic iecoiding," IEEE Trans. Mag., vol. 25,
pp. 4390-4404, 1989.
M. H. Kiydei, Data-stoiage technologies foi advanced computing," Stenft mertan, vol. 257, pp. 116-125,
1987.
G. Bouwhuis, J. Biaat, A. Huijsei, J. Pasman, G. Van Rosmalen, and K. S. Immink, Prnt|es o[ Ota| Ds|
Sysems, Biistol: Adam Hilgei Ltd., 1985, chap. 2 and 3.
Special issue of |eJ Ots on video disks, July 1, 1978.
E. Wolf, Electiomagnetic diffiaction in optical systems. I. An integial iepiesentation of the image feld," Prot.
R. Sot. Ser. , vol. 253, pp. 349-357, 1959.
M. Mansuiipui, Ceitain computational aspects of vectoi diffiaction pioblems," J. O. Sot. m. , vol. 6,
pp. 786-806, 1989.
D. O. Smith, Magneto-optical scatteiing fiom multilayei magnetic and dielectiic flms," O. ta, vol. 12,
p. 13, 1965.
P. S. Peishan, Magneto-optic effects," J. |. P|ys., vol. 38, pp. 1482-1490, 1967.
K. Egashiia and R. Yamada, Keii effect enhancement and impiovement of ieadout chaiacteiistics in MnBi
flm memoiy," J. |. P|ys., vol. 45, pp. 3643-3648, 1974.
H. S. Caislaw and J. C. Jaegei, ConJuton o[ Hea n So|Js, London: Oxfoid Univeisity Piess, 1954.
P. Kivits, R. deBont, and P. Zalm, Supeiheating of thin flms foi optical iecoiding," |. P|ys., vol. 24,
pp. 273-278, 1981.
M. Mansuiipui, G. A. N. Connell, and J. W. Goodman, Lasei-induced local heating of multilayeis," |. O.,
vol. 21, p. 1106, 1982.
J. Heemskeik, Noise in a video disk system: expeiiments with an (AlGa)As lasei," |. O., vol. 17, p. 2007,
1978.
A. Aiimoto, M. Ojima, N. Chinone, A. Oishi, T. Gotoh, and N. Ohnuki, Optimum conditions foi the high
fiequency noise ieduction method in optical video disk playeis," |. O., vol. 25, p. 1398, 1986.
M. Mansuiipui, G. A. N. Connell, and J. W. Goodman, Signal and noise in magneto-optical ieadout," J. |.
P|ys., vol. 53, p. 4485, 1982.
J. W. Beck, Noise consideiations of optical beam iecoiding," |. O., vol. 9, p. 2559, 1970.
S. Chikazumi and S. H. Chaiap, P|ysts o[ Magnesm, New Yoik: John Wiley, 1964.
B. G. Huth, Calculation of stable domain iadii pioduced by theimomagnetic wiiting," IBM J. Res. De.,
pp. 100-109, 1974.
A. P. Malozemoff and J. C. Slonczewski, Magnet Doman Va||s n Bu|||e Maera|s, New Yoik: Academic Piess,
1979.
A. M. Patel, Signal and eiioi-contiol coding," in Magnet RetorJng, vol. II, C. D. Mee and E. D. Daniel, Eds.
New Yoik: McGiaw-Hill, 1988.
K. A. S. Immink, Coding methods foi high-density optical iecoiding," P||s J. Res., vol. 41, pp. 410-430, 1986.
L. I. Maissel and R. Glang, Eds., HanJ|oo| o[ T|n F|m Tet|no|ogy, New Yoik: McGiaw-Hill, 1970.
G. L. Weisslei and R. W. Cailson, Eds., Vatuum P|ysts anJ Tet|no|ogy, vol. 14 of Me|oJs o[ Exermena|
P|ysts, New Yoik: Academic Piess, 1979.
T. Suzuki, Magneto-optic iecoiding mateiials," Maer. Res. Sot. Bu||., pp. 42-47, Sept. 1996.
K. G. Ashai, Magnet Ds| Dre Tet|no|ogy, New Yoik: IEEE Piess, 1997.
Further Inlurmatiun
Pioceedings of the Ota| Daa Sorage Con[erente aie published annually by SPIE, the Inteinational Society
foi Optical Engineeiing. These pioceedings document the latest developments in the feld of optical iecoiding
each yeai. Two othei confeiences in this feld aie the Inernaona| Symosum on Ota| Memory (ISOM),
whose pioceedings aie published as a special issue of the Jaanese Journa| o[ |eJ P|ysts, and the Magneo-
Ota| RetorJng Inernaona| Symosum (MORIS), whose pioceedings appeai in a special issue of the Journa|
o[ |e Magnets Sotey o[ Jaan.

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, as shown in Fig. 80.21. Neighboiing tiacks may

, while the width of the

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