Design and fabrication of thin film heads for the digital compact cassette audio system

The digital compact cassette (DCC) system requires a multitrack recording head which can handle the digital multitrack format but can also playback standard analog compact cassette tapes. The layout and design of a recently developed thin film DCC head are discussed. An analysis of design parameters is presented, which shows why a small throat height of only 3 mu m has been chosen. In order to insure sufficient lifetime of the head, a CrN coating on the tape bearing surface is applied.<
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