Determination of the narrow read width of thin film magnetic recording heads using an error rate model

A method to determine the magnetic-recording characteristics of a thin film head has been developed using error rate sampling. By combining results from a typical `747´ curve and a modified `747´ curve, called adjacent data curve, parameters such as the write width, the read width, and the side fringing erased band of a thin film head can be directly measured. In addition, the signal to noise ratio and the noise intensity level in the side fringing erased bands, normalized to signal strength, can also be determined, These measured parameters can be used to calculate the track profile width. When comparing the calculated profile widths with those obtained from the directly measured track profile curve, excellent agreement has been found, thus validating the proposed method