Thin-film magnetoresistive heads for narrow-track Winchester applications

The characteristics of a thin-film magnetoresistive head for narrow track Winchester applications are presented and contrasted to those for a comparable thin-film inductive head. Emphasis is placed upon establishing the repeatibility of the magnetoresistive head output and the unique characteristics associated with a write-wide/read-narrow transducer in a narrow-track environment. Off-track overwrite and cross-talk measurements as well as saturation and density measurements are presented for longitudinal recording on thin-film metal media. The suitability of the parametrics (including second harmonic produced peakshift) for high areal density recording is discussed. Finally, the potential of using a MR head in connection with vertical recording media is explored from the standpoint of output, density, and overwrite.