ALDITECH Heads Digital Recording - Company Business and Marketing

Computer Technology Review, Jan, 2000

ALDITECH developed a new generation of digital recording heads that can store more than 100GB of non-compressed data on a single, commercially available digital cassette. The company uses a silicon batch process. This CEALETI-patented technology produces poles on each head with alignment and integrated azimuth angle. The patented silicon batch process achieves yield and reproducibility. ALDITECH offers head development leading to mass production, particularly in the areas of information technology, data storage, and digital video. This technology is suited for future digital video storage markets, including home servers, digital VCR, and high definition digital camcorders. 1GB costs 25 cents on a digital cassette.

The company's technology allows data to be recorded on tracks that are less than five microns wide. The recording head is made in steps, including etching, deposition, metalization, and planarization of layers on a silicon wafer, with silicon oxide as an insulator. It is similar to integrated circuit fabrication. Integrated solenoids with a number of turns are possible (heads with forty turns are now available with a resistance of less than 8 Ohms) around a magnetic circuit, producing a signal level per track width. ALDITECH products are used in the tape drive industry for helical scan recording and in future aligned multiple-head linear recording applications.