Particulate Magnetic Tape for

Data Storage and Future Technologies

Masahito OYANAGI

Recording Media Research Laboratories,

FUJIFILM Corporation

1

Outline

1

1. Background

2. Innovation of Tape technologies

3. Summary

• Exponential growth of data and storage

• Advantages of tape storage

• Key technologies to increase capacity

• Future tape technologies

2

Outline

2

1. Background

2. Innovation of Tape technologies

3. Summary

• Exponential growth of data and storage

• Advantages of tape storage

• Key technologies to increase capacity

• Future tape technologies

3

Exponential Growth of Data and Storage

3

Because of the exponential data growth, the demand for

storage is also increasing.

Medical care

Data center

Entertainment

Aerospace

Government

HD(4K/8K)

Security

Resource explorationResearches

2013

*1) The IoT Cloud: Infrastructure Options for Accelerating the Shift to Digital Business Services, IDC, 2016.

2025

162 ZB *1)

4.4 ZBWeather forecast

Finance

ITs

Pharmaceutical

Movies

4

Demand for Tape Storage

4

Source: http://www.lto.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/LTO_Media-Shipment-Report_3.22.16.pdf

• Tape has increased its demand in the market with the

background of the exponential data growth

5

Advantages of Tape Storage

5

Tape storage is suitable for data archiving !!

- Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

- Low power consumption

- Low hard (unrecoverable) error rate

- Long media life (30+years)

1. Cost effectiveness

2. Energy efficiency

3. High reliability

4. High capacity- 15TB per single cartridge

- Continuous growth of cartridge capacity

6

Outline

6

1. Background

2. Innovation of Tape technologies

3. Summary

• Exponential growth of data and storage

• Advantages of tape storage

• Key technologies to increase capacity

• Future tape technologies

7

Structure of Particulate Magnetic Tape

7

Substrate

Backcoat

Under layer

Magnetic layerData recording

Prevent static charge

Prevent static charge

Roughness control

Magnetic particles

50 nm

0.1

1.0

10.0

100.0

1,000.0

2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

Ca

rtri

dg

e C

ap

ac

ity

[T

B]

◇ INSIC Roadmap(2015)

◆Tape demo

◆MP◆BF LTO

●MP●BF Enterprise

8

Cartridge Capacity Trends

8

• All the latest tape systems use Fujifilm’s BaFe particle technology.

IBM-Fujifilm demo

Metal particles (MP)

Barium Ferrite (BaFe)

INSIC Roadmap (2015)

• IBM-Fujifilm have been developing tape technologies to continuously increase cartridge capacity.

• The latest BaFe demo can support the next 10 years roadmap.

220 TB (2015)

Year

9

Key Technologies to Increase Capacity

9

Extend tape length in a single cartridge

Increase areal recording density

Reduce tape total thickness

Enhance recording performance

• Thin & Uniform coating• Reduce tape surface roughness• Reduce magnetic particle size

10

Tape Thickness Trends

10

0

5

10

15

20

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

Tape tota

l thic

kness (μ

m)

Year

LTO1(0.1 TB): 8.9 mmTape length : 609 m

LTO7 (6TB): 5.6 mmTape length : 960 m

• Thickness of tape media decreases year by year.

• The demo(220TB) achieved a thickness of 4.3 mm, enabling tape length to exceed 1.2 km in a cartridge!

Demo(220TB) : 4.3 mmTape length : 1,240 m

★

0.01

0.10

1.00

10.00

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

Magnetic la

ye

r th

ickness (μ

m)

Year

11

Magnetic Layer Thickness Trends

11

★

• Fujifilm has been developing advanced coating technologies to reduce magnetic layer thickness.

LTO1(0.1TB)110 nm

LTO7(6TB)50 nm

• Thickness of magnetic layer decreases year by year.

12

Surface Roughness Trends

12

0

2

4

6

8

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

Su

rfa

ce

ro

ug

hn

ess, R

a(n

m)

Year

• Surface roughness of tape media decreases year by year.

LTO1(0.1TB) LTO7(6TB)

★

Demo(220TB)

• The demo media achieved a much smoother surface as compared to the production media.

100

1,000

10,000

100,000

1,000,000

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

Part

icle

Volu

me (

nm

3)

Year

13

Magnetic Particle Volume Trends

13

• Metal particles (MP) faced limit to reduce their size below 2,800 nm3.

Limit of MP

• The size of magnetic particle decreases year by year.

Metal Particles

LTO1(0.1TB)LTO1(0.1TB)

100 nm

LTO5(1.5TB)

100 nm

100

1,000

10,000

100,000

1,000,000

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

Part

icle

Volu

me (

nm

3)

Year

14

Magnetic Particle Volume Trends (Cont’d)

14

• Metal particles (MP) faced limit to reduce their size below 2,800 nm3.

Limit of MP

• The size of magnetic particle decreases year by year.

★

Metal Particles

BaFeLTO7(6TB)

BaFe has become the de facto standard for tape storage

100 nm

LTO1(0.1TB)LTO1(0.1TB)

100 nm

LTO5(1.5TB)

100 nm

100

150

200

250

500 1500 2500 3500 4500

Co

erc

ivity (kA

/m)

Particle Volume (nm3)

15

Size constraint on Metal Particles

15

Coersivity vs. particle volume

• Reducing the particle size to less than 2,800 nm3 degraded themagnetic coercivity, which is critical to long-term storage of recorded data Capacity limit with metal particles

MP

100

150

200

250

500 1500 2500 3500 4500

Co

erc

ivity (kA

/m)

Particle Volume (nm3)

16

Advantages of BaFe particle

16

Coersivity vs. particle volume

• The coercivity of Bafe particles is independent on their size, and controllable by changing the particle composition The size of BaFe particles can be reduced for increased capacity!

MP

BaFe

17

Metal particles vs BaFe particles

17

MP BaFe

Particle Shape

Acicular Hexagonal platelets

Material FeCo alloy BaO(Fe2O3)6

Oxide

Origin of magnetic energy

Shape anisotropy Magneto-crystalline anisotropy

Passivation layer Required Not Required

Passivation layer

magnetization

axis

• The magnetic properties of BaFe particles are not influenced by their particle shape.• A passivation layer is not required since BaFe particles are oxides.The size of BaFe particles can be reduced without degradation of their magnetic properties

18

Outline

18

1. Background

2. Innovation of Tape technologies

3. Summary

• Exponential growth of data and storage

• Advantages of tape storage

• Key technologies to increase capacity

• Future tape technologies

19

Perpendicular Orientation Technology

19

Longitudinal orientation (MP tape)

Random orientation (Current BaFe tape)

Particle orientation Recording system

Highly perpendicular orientation (Demo 2015)

• BaFe particles can be oriented in perpendicular direction.

Longitudinal Magnetic Recording

PMR, which contributed to increase capacity of HDD can be applied in the tape storage system.

Perpendicular Magnetic Recording

100

1,000

10,000

100,000

2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

Part

icle

Volu

me (

nm

3)

Year

MP

BF

20

Magnetic Particle Volume Trends

20

• For the future tape, technologies to reduce particle size to less than 1,000 nm3 will be required.

Demo (220TB)1,600 nm3

★

21

Ultra Fine Magnetic Particle Technology

21

Barium Ferrite

1,600 nm3

220 TB

• Fujifilm has successfully developed “Strontium ferrite particles”,with a particle volume of 900 nm3.

Strontium Ferrite NEW!!

900 nm3

(To be confirmed)

Particle volume

Capacity (demo)

0.1

1.0

10.0

100.0

1,000.0

2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

Ca

rtri

dg

e C

ap

ac

ity

[T

B]

◇ INSIC Roadmap(2015)

◆Tape demo

◆MP◆BF LTO

●MP●BF Enterprise

22

Cartridge Capacity Trends

22

IBM-Fujifilm demo

MP

BaFe

INSIC Roadmap (2015)

BaFe can support the next 10 year’s tape roadmap.

SrFe will enable to further high capacity cartridge in the future !!

SrFe

23

Summary

23

• Tape storage is suitable for data archiving owing to its advantages.

• The cartridge capacity of particulate tapes has increased as a result of innovations in tape technology.

• Fujifilm’s BaFe particle technology contributes to continuous growth of cartridge capacity of tape storage, and can support tape roadmap over the next 10 years.

• Fujifilm has successfully developed “Strontium ferrite particles”, with a volume of 900 nm3, which will enable to further high capacity cartridge in the future.

Future of tape storage is brighter than ever!!

25

Appendix

25

26

New Role of Tape as Cold Data Storage

26

20 40 60 80 100 Percentage in all storage capacity (%)

Pe

rce

nta

ge

in

all

acce

ss (

%)

100

80

60

40

20

Hot tierAccess frequently (50-80%) / Very small capacity (<10%)

Warm tierAccess sometimes / small capacity (20%)

Cold tierAccess rarely / Huge capacity (80%)

• Most data is very rarely accessed, however, data must be retained for preservation to ensure

compliance with legal requirements or, for future reference to analyze business opportunities.**

• But budget is limited.

*90% data in NAS is never accessed. (Source: University of California, Santa Cruz)

**Retention of 20 year or more is required by 70%. (Source: SNIA-100 year archive survey)

Storage for COLD data has become a HOT topic

Reliable yet inexpensive storage media is required.

Tape storage

27

LTO Roadmap

27Source; https://www.lto.org/technology/what-is-lto-technology/

28

Case Study of TCO (The Clipper Group)

28

Source: The Clipper GroupPreconditions:・Initial Capacity: 1PB・Annual Growth Rate: 55%・Storage Refresh Period: 3 years・Total Storage Period: 9 years

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Energy Cost

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

HDD Tape

M$

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

HDD Tape

M$

80%↓ 94%↓

• Tape storage provides large capacity with a low TCO and low energy consumption

29

Technical demonstrations

29

• Media type: BaFe particulate tape

• Areal recording density of 123Gbpsi was achieved, enables a single tape cartridge

to store up to 220TB, which is 37 times larger capacity than the latest LTO format.

Bit area : ~1/30

140nm

37nm

LTO7 (6TB)

Demo (220TB)

47nm

13nmRef : HDD(1,000Gbpsi)

220TB demo in 2015 (IBM and Fujifilm)

330TB demo in 2017 (IBM and Sony)*

• Media type: Sputtered tape

• Areal recording density of 201Gbpsi was achieved, corresponding to 330TB

*https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201708/17-070E/index.html

30

Tape Manufacturing Process

30

Coating Process

Figure; http://www.sony-asia.com/microsite/b2b/technical/manufacturing-technology/metal-partical-tape/

Slitting Process

Format & Packaging

Dispersion Process

• High productivity coating manufacturing systemMass production at a low media cost

Calendaring Process

31

Advanced Coating Technology

31

ATOMM Technology

Average thickness 110 nm

Thickness deviation 25 nm

NANOCUBIC Technology

Average thickness 60 nm

Thickness deviation 6 nm

Under layer

Magnetic layer

• Thinner magnetic layer with less deviation was achieved by NANOCUBIC coating technology.

32

Storage Media Comparison for Cold Data

32

Tape(Latest formats data)

Capacity Optimized-HDD Optical disc

Capacity [TB/unit] 6 to 15 4 to 10 0.128(Blu-ray)

1.5TB/cart(12 discs)

Sustained transfer rate [MBps] 252 to 360

≈160 to 249(Slower at inner

positions**)

Up tp 138 (Read)Up tp 55 (Write)(Slower at inner

positions**)

Access time in libraries [s] ≈30(shorter tape)-80

(incl. loading) mili ≈60-90 (inlc. loading)

Media lifetime [year] 30 3 to 5 50

Cost/GB [$/GB] ≈0.01（LTO) ≈0.05 ≈0.10 (Archival disc)

CO2* Relative value 1/10 to 1/30 1 Similar to tape

Hard error rate 1E-19 to 1E-20 1E-15 to 1E-16 -

Write after verifyYes

(No transfer rate loss)

Optional(Transfer rate may drop

in write operation)

Optional(Transfer rate may

drop in write operation)

Latest media tech BaFe SMR/He-Shield Multi layer

Capacity [TB/unit]220(Demonstrated in

2015)48(LTO10)

20 with HAMR / TDMR100 by 2025?

≈0.46/disc

Transfer rate [MBps] Multi Ch / Linear denisity1,100（LTO10）

Up to 250?(Constrain of rpm)

≈250 (Read)≈125 (Write)

Blue characters show advantages

*Source: JEITA tape storage committee (2013)

**Bits per rotation at an inner position are less than at an outer, so transfer rate is slower at an inner position. (up to -50%)

*** http://www.everspan.com/specs, http://hlds.co.kr/v2/HL200_eng.pdf

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