JPH05234157A - Electron beam recording and reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an electron beam recording and reproducing device increasing remarkably recording capacity per unit area. CONSTITUTION:A reproducing electron beam source 10 emitting an electron beam is set on the reproducing part A of the electron beam recording and reproducing device. A vertical magnetized thin film 12 moving in the direction of the arrow in the figure is arranged with a fixed inclination downward the reproducing electron beam source 10. An electromagnetic lens 14 controlling the electron beam outgoing from the reproducing electron beam source 10 and transmitting through the vertical magnetic thin film 12, a screen 16 projecting the transmitting electron beam controlled by the electromagnetic lens 14 and a photoelectric tube 18 detecting the contrast of an electronic transmission image projected on the screen 16 are provided further downward the vertical magnetic thin film 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus, and more particularly to an electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus used in a large external storage device for a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, a magnetic disk device is the most popular as a recording / reproducing device used for a large external storage device for a computer. In this magnetic disk device, information is recorded / reproduced by a magnetic head. Further, recently, a magneto-optical disk device has also come to be used, and in this device, recording / reproducing is performed by a laser beam.

[0003]

However, when a magnetic head is used, a recording / reproducing area of 1 μm × 10 μm is usually required. Even when a laser beam is used, a recording / reproducing area of about 1 μmφ is required depending on the wavelength of the laser beam. Therefore, whichever method is used,
The recording density is about 1 μm square, and it is difficult to increase the recording density further by the conventional technique.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus capable of greatly increasing the storage capacity per unit area.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems The problems described above include: a magnetic thin film in which information is written as magnetic information; an electron source for irradiating the magnetic thin film with an electron beam; and a magnetic thin film irradiated by the electron source to the magnetic thin film. An electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus having a detector for detecting an electron beam deflected and transmitted by an internal magnetic field of the magnetic thin film and reading information written in the magnetic thin film.

Further, in the above-mentioned electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus, it has an electromagnetic lens for controlling an electron beam applied to the magnetic thin film from the electron source, and a magnet for applying a predetermined magnetic field to the magnetic thin film, The magnetic thin film is irradiated with an electron beam controlled by the electromagnetic lens to raise the temperature of the magnetic thin film, and a predetermined magnetic field is applied to the magnetic thin film by the magnet to write magnetic information to the magnetic thin film. This is achieved by an electron beam recording / reproducing device characterized in that

In the above electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus, a recording electron source for irradiating the magnetic thin film with an electron beam,
An electromagnetic lens that controls an electron beam emitted from the recording electron source to the magnetic thin film and a magnet that applies a predetermined magnetic field to the magnetic thin film are provided. By irradiating a thin film to raise the temperature of the magnetic thin film and applying a predetermined magnetic field to the magnetic thin film by the magnet to write magnetic information to the magnetic thin film. To be achieved.

Further, in the above-mentioned electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus, the magnetic thin film is disk-shaped, which is achieved. Further, in the above-mentioned electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus, the magnetic thin film has a tape shape, which is achieved by the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus.

[0009]

According to the present invention, recording magnetic information on a magnetic thin film which is a thin film medium is the same as that of a conventional magnetic disk device or a magneto-optical disk device. Also uses a short-wavelength electron beam and uses the electron beam deflection phenomenon due to Lorentz force to reproduce magnetic information, so the recording density is improved compared to current magnetic disk devices and magneto-optical disk devices. Can be made

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be specifically described below based on illustrated embodiments. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The reproducing unit A of the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus has a reproducing electron source 1 for emitting an electron beam.
0 is set. Below the reproducing electron source 10, a perpendicular magnetic thin film 12 that moves in the direction of the arrow in the drawing is arranged with a certain inclination. As the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12, for example, a TbTeCo film whose upper and lower sides are sandwiched by protective films is used.

Further, below the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12,
An electromagnetic lens 14 for controlling the electron beam emitted from the reproducing electron source 10 and transmitted through the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12, a screen 16 for projecting the transmitted electron beam controlled by the electromagnetic lens 14, and a screen 16 for projecting on the screen 16. And a photocell 18 for detecting the contrast of the electron transmission image.

Further, a recording electron source 20 is installed in the recording section B of the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus. And, between the recording electron source 20 and the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12 therebelow,
The electromagnetic lens 22 for controlling the electron beam emitted from the recording electron source 20 and irradiating the magnetic thin film 12, and the perpendicular magnetic thin film 1
2 and a magnet 24 for applying a predetermined magnetic field.

The reproducing section A and the recording section B of the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus are both kept in a vacuum so that electron beam scattering or the like does not occur. Next, the operation will be described. The recording operation in the recording section B of the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus is basically the same as the case of using laser light irradiation in the magneto-optical disk device, but an electron beam having a shorter wavelength than the laser light is used instead of the laser light. The point is characteristic.

That is, an electron beam is emitted from the recording electron source 20 toward the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12. This electron beam is controlled by the electromagnetic lens 22 to irradiate the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12 in a spot shape smaller than 1 μmφ. The heat generated by the irradiation of the electron beam raises the temperature of the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12 to near the Curie temperature Tc to reduce the coercive force Hc of the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12, and a predetermined magnetic field is applied by the magnet 24 to Is written as magnetic information. Thus, as shown in FIG. 2A, for example, 1 μm is applied to the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12 in which downward magnetic domains are randomly arranged.
Information is recorded in the upward magnetic domain 26 in a spot shape smaller than φ.

On the other hand, the reproducing operation in the reproducing section A of the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus is based on the Lorentz force generated when the electric charge moves in the magnetic field, and the electron beam irradiated on the magnetic domain in which the magnetic information is written is Lorentz. It is characterized in that it utilizes the phenomenon of being deflected by force. That is, the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12 is irradiated with an electron beam from the reproducing electron source 10. At this time, since the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12 is arranged with a certain inclination with respect to the electron beam irradiation direction, as shown in FIG. 2B, the upward magnetic domain 2 in which magnetic information is written.
6 has a horizontal magnetization component Iy.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, when the electron beam from the reproducing electron source 10 passes through the magnetic domain 26 of the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12, it receives a magnetic field perpendicular to the traveling direction of the electron beam,
Lorentz force works. In the figure, the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12
Only the horizontal magnetization component Iy is shown. Then, the intensity of the electron beam deflected by the Lorentz force is projected on the screen 16 provided further below by the electromagnetic lens 14 provided below the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12. At this time, the electromagnetic lens 14 is controlled so that the electron transmission image on the screen 16 has the intensity distribution of the front focus 28 of the lens. This image becomes a so-called Lorentz image in a state where defocus occurs, so that the contrast due to the Lorentz force of the electron beam can be obtained. This contrast is
It is proportional to the product of the thickness t of the magnetic domain 26 and the horizontal magnetization component Iy. Then, the magnetic domain image based on this contrast is detected by the photoelectric tube 18 below the screen 16 and read out as a time-series electric signal. Thus, the information written in the magnetic domain 26 is reproduced.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the recording unit B
In the above, since the magnetic domain 26 is recorded by irradiating the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12 with an electron beam having a shorter wavelength than the laser light, the magnetic domain 26 can be made into a spot shape smaller than 1 μmφ. Therefore, the recording density can be improved 100 times or more as compared with the current magnetic disk device or magneto-optical disk device.

Further, in the reproducing section A, high density recording is performed by using a new reproducing principle of utilizing a phenomenon in which the electron beam applied to the magnetic domain 26 in which magnetic information is written is deflected by Lorentz force. Information can be played back. In the first embodiment described above, the electron beam is used in each of the reproducing section A and the recording section B, but for example, in the recording section B, a laser is provided above the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12 and the laser is used. A lens that controls the oscillated laser light and a magnet 24 that applies a predetermined magnetic field to the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12 may be installed to configure a recording unit similar to the conventional magneto-optical disk device.

This means that even the magnetic thin film recorded by the conventional method can use the reproducing method according to the first embodiment. Therefore, it is possible to separate only the reproducing section A in the first embodiment and use it as an electron beam reproducing apparatus. Further, although the screen 16 for projecting the Lorentz image of the transmitted electron beam is provided in the reproducing unit A, this screen 16 is not necessarily provided, and the contrast due to the transmitted electron beam deflected by the Lorentz force is directly provided to the photoelectric tube 1.
It may be detected by 8.

Next, an electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the schematic diagram shown in FIG.
Note that the same components as those of the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the reproducing section A and the recording section B of the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 are combined to form a recording / reproducing section C, and both recording and reproducing are performed by one electron source. The feature is that you can

That is, the recording / reproducing section C is provided with a recording / reproducing electron source 30 for emitting an electron beam. The perpendicular magnetic thin film 12 is disposed below the recording / reproducing electron source 30 with a certain inclination. Further, below the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12, an electromagnetic lens 14 for controlling an electron beam emitted from the recording / reproducing electron source 30 and transmitted through the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12, and a transmitted electron beam controlled by the electromagnetic lens 14. A screen 16 for projecting the image and a photoelectric tube 18 for detecting the contrast of the electron transmission image projected on the screen 16 are respectively provided.

Further, between the recording / reproducing electron source 30 and the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12 therebelow, there is provided an electromagnetic lens 22 for controlling the electron beam emitted from the recording / reproducing electron source 30 to irradiate the magnetic thin film 12. The perpendicular magnetic thin film 12 is provided with a magnet 24 for applying a predetermined magnetic field. As described above, according to the present embodiment, by using the recording / reproducing electron source 30 having the reproducing electron source 10 and the recording electron source 20 in the first embodiment, the electron beam recording / reproducing of one head is performed. The device is realized, operates in the same manner as the electron beam recording / reproducing device according to the first embodiment, and has the same effect.

Next, an electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the schematic diagram shown in FIG.
Note that the same components as those of the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. The present embodiment is characterized in that the recording medium used in the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus has a disk (disk) shape.

For example, a thickness of 50 n sandwiched between the upper and lower protective films
The reproducing electron source 10 of the reproducing section A is installed above the disk-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12a made of the TbTeCo film of m. Below the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12a, an electromagnetic lens 14 for controlling an electron beam emitted from the reproducing electron source 10 and transmitted through the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12a, and the electromagnetic lens 1
A screen 16 for projecting a transmission electron beam controlled by 4 and a photoelectric tube 18 for detecting the contrast of the electron transmission image projected on the screen 16 are provided. The recording unit B is not shown.

The disk-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12a
Is rotated by the rotation motor 32. Further, the support base 34 that supports the rotation motor 32 is moved horizontally by the feed screw 36 as indicated by the arrow in the figure, and the feed screw 36 is rotated by the horizontal drive motor 38. In this way, the disk-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12a moves in the horizontal direction while rotating by the drive unit D including the rotary motor 32, its support 34, the feed screw 36, and the horizontal drive motor 38.

As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 6A and the plan view of FIG. 6B, the disc-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12a is provided with a support member 40 made of, for example, Cu with an interval d ≦.
It is provided in a mesh shape with a gap of 1 μm. The support member 40 is made of Tb having a thickness of 50 nm, which is sandwiched between protective films.
This is for holding the disc-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12a made of the TeCo film, and cannot be recorded on the support 40. Thus, according to this embodiment, the disk-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12a is used as the recording medium,
By providing the drive unit C for rotating and moving the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12a, magnetic domains of 1 μm or less can be recorded and reproduced in the entire area of the disk-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12a.

In this embodiment, the drive unit C for rotating and moving the disk-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12a is provided, but instead, the disk-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12a.
The electron source for reproduction 10 and the electromagnetic lens 1 are simply rotated.
4, a drive unit for moving the reproducing unit A including the screen 16 and the photoelectric tube 18 in the horizontal direction may be provided.

Next, an electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the schematic diagram shown in FIG.
Note that the same components as those of the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. The present embodiment is characterized in that the recording medium used in the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus has a tape shape.

The reproducing electron source 10 of the reproducing section A is installed above the tape-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12b. Further, a capacitor 42 for controlling the electron beam emitted from the reproducing electron source 10 is provided between the reproducing electron source 10 and the tape-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12b. Therefore, with this capacitor 42, the electron beam irradiating the magnetic thin film 12b can scan the magnetic thin film 12b at right angles to the moving direction of the tape-shaped magnetic thin film 12b.

Below the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12b, an electromagnetic lens 14 for controlling an electron beam irradiated from the reproducing electron source 10 and transmitted through the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12b, and a transmitted electron beam controlled by the electromagnetic lens 14 are provided. A screen 16 for projecting the image and a photoelectric tube 18 for detecting the contrast of the electron transmission image projected on the screen 16 are respectively provided. The recording unit B is not shown.

The tape-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12b is
It moves in the direction of the arrow in the drawing from the supply side reel 44 to the winding side reel 46. As described above, according to the present embodiment, the tape-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12b is used as the recording medium, and the perpendicular magnetic thin film 12b is moved from the supply side reel 44 to the winding side reel 46 and at the same time as the moving direction. By scanning the electron beam at a right angle, a magnetic domain of 1 μm or less can be recorded and reproduced in the entire area of the tape-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 12b.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, it has a magnetic thin film in which information is written as magnetic information and an electron source for irradiating the magnetic thin film with an electron beam. By detecting the electron beam deflected by the internal magnetic field of the magnetic thin film with a detector, it is possible to read the information written in the magnetic thin film using a new reproducing principle utilizing the electron beam deflection phenomenon due to the Lorentz force. it can.

Further, the magnetic thin film is irradiated with an electron beam from an electron source controlled by an electromagnetic lens to raise the temperature of the magnetic thin film, and a predetermined magnetic field is applied to the magnetic thin film by a magnet to apply the magnetic thin film to the magnetic thin film. By combining the function of writing magnetic information, the recording density can be improved as compared with a magneto-optical disk device using a laser beam.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing perpendicular magnetic thin films used in the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus of FIG. 1 and magnetic domains in which magnetic information is written.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a reproducing operation in the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a diagram showing a perpendicular magnetic thin film used in the electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... Electron source for reproduction 12 ... Perpendicular magnetic thin film 14 ... Electromagnetic lens 16 ... Screen 18 ... Photoelectric tube 20 ... Electron source for recording 22 ... Electromagnetic lens 24 ... Magnet 26 ... Magnetic domain 28 ... Front focus of lens 30 ... Electron source for recording / reproduction 12a ... Disc-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 32 ... Rotation motor 34 ... Support base 36 ... Feed screw 38 ... Horizontal drive motor 40 ... Support material 12b ... Tape-shaped perpendicular magnetic thin film 42 ... Capacitor 44 ... Supply side reel 46 ... Winding side Reel A ... Playback unit B ... Recording unit C ... Recording / playback unit D ... Drive unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic thin film in which information is written as magnetic information, an electron source for irradiating the magnetic thin film with an electron beam, and the magnetic thin film is irradiated from the electron source and deflected by an internal magnetic field of the magnetic thin film. An electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: a detector that detects a transmitted electron beam and reads out information written in the magnetic thin film. 2. The electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an electromagnetic lens that controls an electron beam emitted from the electron source to the magnetic thin film; and a magnet that applies a predetermined magnetic field to the magnetic thin film. Having, irradiating the magnetic thin film with an electron beam controlled by the electromagnetic lens, and raising the temperature of the magnetic thin film,
An electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus, wherein a predetermined magnetic field is applied to the magnetic thin film by the magnet to write magnetic information in the magnetic thin film. 3. The electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a recording electron source that irradiates the magnetic thin film with an electron beam, and an electron beam that irradiates the magnetic thin film from the recording electron source are controlled. An electromagnetic lens and a magnet for applying a predetermined magnetic field to the magnetic thin film, and the magnetic thin film is irradiated with an electron beam controlled by the electromagnetic lens to raise the temperature of the magnetic thin film and the magnet. An electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus, characterized in that a predetermined magnetic field is applied to the magnetic thin film to write magnetic information in the magnetic thin film. 4. The electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic thin film has a disk shape. 5. The electron beam recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic thin film has a tape shape.