Skew angle and read/write off-track asymmetry of MR heads

This paper reports spin-stand based experimental study the asymmetry of off-track capability of a magnetoresistive (MR) head. Tests were conducted at the same track, same head-disk spacing but different skew angles. Results indicate: (1) track profile becomes even more asymmetric when the testing track is narrowed by erasing on both sides of the track; (2) increased skew angle leads to increased asymmetry of the track profile and reduced off-track capability; (3) the off-track capability, represented by the bit-shift is sensitive to the variation of the head-disk separation