Sony has made use of its technical knowledge and advancements in vapor deposition technology that enables the recording and protection of over 50GB of data using an AIT-2 tape. Immediate management and retrieval of this vast amount of data is made possible through the revolutionary use of the MIC.

The AME magnetic layers are of 100% cobalt material. This Hyperevaticle magnetic material is a diversion from the traditional cobalt/nickel alloy of prior vapor deposited tape. The magnetic material is deposited in a columnar structure directly on the basefilm in a vacuum chamber. The structure is optimized to produce a recording surface having high values of magnetic characteristics. AME has twice the magnetic flux density of coated media and an increase of 5dB in short wave length recording readback output when compared to conventional Metal Evaporated tape. This translates to the capability of improved levels of recording density and recording system performance.

 
The magnetic material is deposited directly on the substrate without the use of a chemical binder. The cobalt material is heated by an electron beam and results in a vapor deposited magnetic surface free of any impurities.

The DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) coating is a carbon protective layer that approaches the hardness of diamond. This protective layer is in the order of nanometers and dramatically improves the abrasion resistance and overall tape durability. The increased durability and additional surface oxidation protection results in a low initial error rate and extended recording life.

Test conducted in AIT drive. One pass is one trace on the same part of the tape (dwell)