TRACK DENSITY CONSTRAINTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MR HEAD TECHNOLOGY

A disk drive track density model has been developed for dual-element recording heads employing a magneto-resistive (MR) reader and an inductive writer. In addition to the usual track misregistration issues, it is shown that the head fabrication tolerances and the spacing between the read and write elements limit track density with a rotary actuator due to skew misalignment. A "systems solution" of micropositioning is proposed that minimizes such problems.