TMR considerations at 5 Gb/iri2 and 10 MB/s

Successful error rate performance has been obtained at an areal density of 5 Gb/in2 using dual element (thin film inductive write/AMR read) heads and low noisey high resolution thin film media with a PRML channel operating at 10 MB/s. A detailed investigation of the TMR requirements to achieve these densities is reported here. This analysis allows the trade-offs between linear density and track density, wide/narrow write and read heads, and TMR to be explored in a single context. Clear differences in TMR requirements exist between the three head designs in this study even though all are capable of 5 Gb/in2. The best head design requires a TMR of <0.24 //m which appears well within the demonstrated capability of several experimental submicron servo systems. © 1997 IEEE.