New Lucent Read-Channel Integrated Circuit Boosts Hard-Drive Storage Capacity, Reliability; Cuts Manufacturing Time, Costs - Product Announcement

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, August 2, 1999

Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) Microelectronics Group, the world leader in read-channel integrated circuits (ICs) for hard-disk drives, Monday announced a new read-channel IC that enables drive makers to significantly increase hard drive storage capacity and reliability while reducing manufacturing time and costs.

Called the M16 , the device delivers up to twice the hard-drive capacity improvement of other read channels. As a result, more data can be packed onto a hard drive's magnetic storage platters, and heads and platters with wider tolerances can be used without compromising the drive's overall performance. This will stimulate a wider range of disk-drive offerings for computer systems manufacturers - lower-cost drives for desktop PCs; higher performance drives for workstations, servers and storage area networks; and more reliable drives for portable systems.

"With the M16 , Lucent increases its lead as the number-one supplier of read-channel ICs to the hard-drive industry," said Joe O'Hare, general manager of storage products in Lucent's Microelectronics Group. "We believe this is the only read channel to provide leading-edge performance in all parameters that matter to our customers - a real density, system performance, time-to-market, manufacturing yields and reliability."

Leveraging Bell Labs' rich history in communications technologies, Lucent engineers developed a custom partial response algorithm for the M16 read channel. This key technology advance, coupled with a unique implementation of a parity check postprocessor, allows the device to operate reliably at very low signal-to-noise ratios, providing up to a four decibel (dB) improvement over EPR4- and EEPR4-based channels. Lower signal-to-noise ratios allow drive makers to increase areal density (packing more data into less space), spin the disk faster, and tolerate a wider range of heads and media, all factors that help reduce cost and improve drive performance.

The M16 also promotes increased areal density and lower manufacturing costs by using digital servo demodulation, a technique pioneered by Lucent and first applied in its previous generation of read-channel devices. With digital servo demodulation, hard drives require less space to store control data used to guide the movement of read/write heads among tracks, freeing space for more user data. With the integration of servo circuitry, the M16 eliminates the need for dedicated servo chips commonly used in high-end disk drives.

The adaptive finite impulse response (FIR) filter in the M16 allows the read channel device to automatically compensate for a wide range of operating conditions, including temperature, humidity, altitude and component aging. This helps manufacturers build drives that function reliably over a wide range of operating conditions.

"Lucent's M16 read channel will be a key component in Maxtor's next generation of high-density, high-performance disk drives," said Dr. Vic Jipson, senior vice president of Maxtor Corporation. "The chip's leading-edge technology along with Lucent's support tools and services will help us continue to deliver drives with increased storage capacity, faster read/write speeds, and top-notch reliability."

The M16 comes with a comprehensive suite of hardware and software tools that help disk-drive design and manufacturing teams optimize the read channel for a targeted set of drive features. By working with on-site engineering support provided by Lucent's worldwide field application teams, hard-drive makers can deliver products more quickly.

The M16 read channel runs at 500 megabits-per-second (Mbps) in production and has been demonstrated at rates up to 650 Mbps. Implemented in Lucent's COM1 (0.25 micron) modular CMOS process technology, it is available now in production quantities.

Next-generation read-channel devices, fabricated in Lucent's COM-2 (0.16 micron) process technology, will initially run at 750 Mbps. Sample quantities of these devices are scheduled for availability at the end of the year. In addition, read-channel cores based on COM-2 process technology will be available to integrate with control circuitry and processor cores to enable Lucent to deliver a system-on-a-chip solution for hard drive electronics.

Lucent Technologies designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronics components. Bell Laboratories is the research and development arm for the company. For more information on Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, visit its web site at http://www.lucent.com.

Lucent's Microelectronics Group designs and manufactures integrated circuits and optoelectronic components for the computer and communications industries. More information about the Microelectronics Group is available from its web site at http://www.lucent.com/micro.>

COPYRIGHT 1999 EDGE Publishing

COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group