Novel profiling model and side effects of helical scan silicon heads

Partial erasure of track edges was directly measured from triple-track patterns using a novel model to interpret the output profiles. The model is based on representing the read head as the sum of a reference width, wavelength independent, and two side reading effective widths that are wavelength dependent. We applied this technique to measure erase bands and side read widths of an advanced helical scan silicon head with 3.5-/spl mu/m pole width, in combination with metal particle tape with coercivity H/sub c/ = 135 kA/m. The good pole alignment of the head minimizes side effects and we report an erase band of 0.3 /spl mu/m for a 0.5-/spl mu/m wavelength track overwriting the edge of a track having the same wavelength.