inside - IDEMA | International Disk Drive Equipment and ... opportunity for exhibitors to target ... symposium on March 11 in Singapore and on March 13 in Penang. ... offering a greatly

International Disk Drive Equipment and Materials Association

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what’s

Asia: Shifting the Balance of Power in the HDD Industry?

ESD Safety in Cleanrooms: Natural vs. Man-made Materials

Understanding ESD in Magnetic Recording Symposium and Tabletop Exhibition

Storage Companies Partner with Community Colleges to Provide Skilled Workforce

March/April 1999

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222740

SeagateReserved SpotFULL YEAR

INSIDE FRONT

4 BLEEDSno page number

eagate's recent announcement of 16 Gbit/in2 is evidence that change is inevitable and continuous in

this industry. It is only appropriate that IDEMA continue tochange as well. In January, we launched our new INSIGHTand the response has been extremely positive. Our aim is toprovide a publication that is not only inviting, but offersreaders up-to-date information on the dynamic data storage industry. In addition toINSIGHT’s improvements, we are in the process of reconstructing our Web site,www.idema.org. The site will now feature improved navigation and graphics, and detailedinformation on upcoming events, including online event registration and a schedule of ourtechnical education class offerings.

Another area of expansion and renovation is IDEMA’s technical education program.Through our recent alliance with KnowledgeTek, IDEMA members have a variety of newbasic classes to choose from. Classes are offered at IDEMA and at other locations aroundthe world, including Singapore and Malaysia. Technical education classes are availablepublicly or at individual company sites. We are also working closely with member collegesand universities to make their courses more accessible to IDEMA members.

Improvements are also being made to IDEMA’s technical symposia program. We areworking hard to offer a solid program featuring the industry’s leading experts presentingon the most critical storage topics, such as GMR Heads/Media and High TPI Recording. Inaddition, the program has been enhanced by the use of electronic presentations withimproved graphics and animation. And some of our most popular events have grown toinclude specialized exhibits, such as our upcoming ESD Symposium and Exhibition on April 20-21 at The Westin Santa Clara. IDEMA symposia are offered worldwide, and providean opportunity for exhibitors to target specific segments of the industry.

Changes are happening internationally as well, with an emphasis on expanding events inAsia-Pacific. We recently had our first symposium in the region and are planning an ESDsymposium on March 11 in Singapore and on March 13 in Penang. The region is alsooffering a greatly expanded class list with the help of Singapore Polytechnic.

All in all a lot of changes for IDEMA, which we hope, will make your job easier as theindustry continues to advance at lightening speed.

departments6Marketplace

7Letter from the Editor

10Storage News

14Industry Calendar

18Volunteer Spotlight

20Standards Update

32Committee Focus

40Technical Education

42IDEMA Japan

articles7Asia: Shifting the Balanceof Power in the HDDIndustry?

9Design and Performanceof MxDFE Read Channels

22ESD Safety inCleanrooms: Natural vs.Man-made Materials

upcoming featuresServo ElectronicsHigh TPI RecordingTest/Measurement

JoanIDEMA Executive Director, Joan Pinder

S

MarComm Manager/EditorNicole Flynn, [email protected]

Creative DirectorChris Carrig, [email protected]

Communications ChairWayne Fortun, Hutchinson Technology

Communications CommitteeLarry Anderson, KomagDave Brown, SeagateWayne Erickson, Phase MetricsJay Kimmal, HMT Technology

ArticlesArticle contributions arewelcome and are subject toediting by IDEMA.

AdvertisingAdvertising is offered to IDEMAcorporate members only. Adspace is available for theMay/June issue. Ad close April2. Due date for ad materials isApril 9. Editorial calender andadvertising rates available at:www.idema.org.

SubscriptionINSIGHT is produced bimonthly.For your free subscriptionregister online atwww.idema.org or contactLindsay [email protected].

INSIGHT is a free bimonthlyassociation magazine, published bythe International Disk DriveEquipment and Materials Association(IDEMA). The goal of INSIGHT is toinform IDEMA members and industryprofessionals worldwide aboutemerging technologies, upcomingIDEMA trade events, as well aseducational opportunities. INSIGHTis read by more than 14,000engineers, scientists, and technicalmanagers.

All rights reserved. IDEMA andDISKCON are registered trademarksof the International Disk DriveEquipment and MaterialsAssociation. Other product names orbrands used in this publication arefor identification purposes only andmay be trademarks of theirrespective companies.

IDEMA Staff—U.S.PresidentLarry EischenExecutive DirectorJoan PinderDirector, EducationSally Bryant, Ed.D.AdministratorLindsay BrownAdministrative AssistantAdoracion YanogacioCreative DirectorChristine CarrigFinance/Database ManagerGloria RodriguesMarComm ManagerNicole FlynnProgram Manager,MembershipDebbie LeeStandards ManagerSeth Ayers

IDEMA Staff—Asia-PacificExecutive DirectorS.H. GohAdele ZhuangE.K. Choo Lilian Lim

IDEMA Staff—JapanExecutive DirectorTatsuo SugiuraFinance/StandardsAkiko YamamotoEditor/SeminarNaoko Miura

IDEMA—U.S.3255 Scott Blvd., Suite 2-102Santa Clara, CA 95054-3013Phone: 408.330.8100Fax: 408.492.1425

IDEMA—Asia-Pacific1 Goldhill Plaza#03-35 Podium BlockSingapore 308899Phone: 65.356.3992Fax: 65.356.1340

IDEMA—JapanWataru Bldg., 6th Floor2-11-9, Nishi ShinbashiMinato-ku, Tokyo 105-0003JapanPhone: 81.3.3539.7071Fax: 81.3.3539.7072

Board of Directors—U.S.ChairmanJoel Weiss Seagate Recording Media Group

Vice ChairmanJohn Kurtzweil Read-Rite Corporation

TreasurerRuss Krapf Western Digital Corporation

SecretaryOz Fundingsland OSF International

Gil Argentina Pacific Ceramics, Inc.

Chris BajorekKomag, Inc.

Wendy Dewell IBM, SSD

Wayne Fortun Hutchinson Technology, Inc.

Mark Geenen TRENDFOCUS, Inc.

Ed Grochowski IBM Almaden Research Center

William Harry Exclusive Design Company

Dennis Hill LSI Logic

Shun Kaneko Iomega Japan

Brian Nixon Quantum Corporation

Don Perettie Admat

Norman H. Pond Intevac

Jim Porter DISK/TREND, Inc.

Barry Rossum Seagate Technology

John Schaefer Phase Metrics, Inc.

Management Committee—Asia-Pacific

Chin Tai Chua SCI Manufacturing

Gary Davis Davis Consultants Asia

Paul Dostie Phase Metrics Pacific Pte Ltd.

Melvin Gay 3M Singapore Pte Ltd.

Gaylord Ho Vector Magnetics Pte Ltd.

S.C. Lee Maxtor Peripherals (S) Pte Ltd.

Teh Bong LimMMI Holdings Ltd.

William LowIBM Singapore

Vince Mastropietro Western Digital (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

Chang Faa ShoonSeagate Technology

Dale Schudel K.R. Precision Public Company Ltd.

William Tan Megatech Electronics Pte Ltd.

Mike TroemelSeagate Technology

Alan Tay Hutchinson Technology Asia Inc.

Richard Wee Quantum Asia Pacific Pte Ltd.

Board of Directors—JapanChairmanShun KanekoIomega Japan Corporation

Vice ChairmanTsuneo SuganumaHitachi, Ltd.

Vice ChairmanAkira KakehiFujitsu, Ltd.

AuditorHideki HaradaHitachi Metal Technox

Youichi InoAnelva Corporation

Toshio InoueMitsubishi Chemical Corporation

Yasuhiro OkamuraMA Disc, Inc.

Nobuhisa OnoueNippon Light Metal Company, Ltd.

Hiromi KamimuraToshiba Corporation

Shigeru KikuchiKobe Steel, Ltd.

Koichi SatohIBM Japan, Ltd.

Hajime ShinoharaHitachi Metals, Ltd.

Keiji TakatsukaAlps Electric Corporation, Ltd.

Tetsuo TsuruHitachi Electronics EngineeringCorporation, Ltd.

Masayuki NakayamaSony Corporation

Yuichi HyakusokuMediken Inc.

Toshihiko MakinoNEC Corporation

Hideaki YamazakiJTS Japan, Inc.

Joel WeissSeagate Recording Media Group

®

Dover InstrumentsFULL YEAR

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Statistical Summary Selected Data Storage Stocks

Leading trade analysts share their market perspective onthe data storage industry.

Hambrecht and Quist LLC

Shares Stock Calendar Year Price/Earnings Market Cal. 99 MarketOut. Price Earnings Per Share Ratio Cap Revs. Cap/

Industry Sector Company (MM) 2/10/99 1997A 1998E 1999E 1998 1999 ($MM) ($MM) 99 Revs

Disk Drives Maxtor 97.3 14.00 (4.28) 0.65 0.95 21.5x 14.7x 1,362 3,050 0.4

Quantum 173.0 21.06 2.07 0.48 1.76 43.9x 12.0x 3,643 5,610 0.6

Seagate Technology 250.4 36.06 1.72 0.62 2.20 58.2x 16.4x 9,029 7,826 1.2

Western Digital 88.9 12.06 0.83 (4.28) (1.04) NM NM 1,072 3,336 0.3

Components Applied Magnetics ** 24.0 5.00 1.20 (6.73) (4.90) NM NM 120 184 0.7

HMT Technology 44.0 8.94 1.34 0.37 0.54 24.2x 16.6x 393 302 1.3

Hutchinson Tech. 25.6 40.00 1.02 (1.29) 2.70 NM 14.8x 1,024 750 1.4

Komag 53.5 7.69 0.40 (3.51) 0.25 NM 30.8x 411 450 0.9

Read-Rite 49.0 11.50 1.75 (2.75) 0.38 NM 30.3x 564 1,009 0.6

Capital Intevac* 11.9 8.50 0.95 0.01 0.00 NM NM 101 87 1.2

Equipment Veeco Instruments ** 15.1 48.88 1.66 1.08 1.44 45.3x 33.9x 738 230 3.2

Removable Iomega 281.2 6.63 0.42 (0.15) 0.31 NM 21.4x 1,864 2,050 0.9

Average: 16.1x 15.9x 1.1* First Call Estimates**No official H&Q coverage; First call estimates. “A”= actual; “E”= estimate

Data Storage Index

electronics and computers,how many people know thecollective–and growing–impact of Japanese hard diskdrive (HDD) and componentmakers on the size andstructure of the data storageindustry? Are they aware ofAsia's role as the foundationof the disk drive industry? Aclose, discerning look at factsreveal that Asia (includingJapan) is rapidly becomingthe real hub of activity andtechnology in our industry,and there is no turning back.

We can examine many keyissues that clearly delineatethe growing importance ofAsia to our industry, first bylooking at the PC business. In1998 about 12 percent of allPCs were sold into the Asia-Pacific region, nearly 25percent if Japan is counted.While regional economicproblems have slowed therecent growth of PC

Large U.S. companies havelong dominated the rigid diskdrive industry. Most Americanobservers of the electronicsbusiness are familiar withnames like IBM, SeagateTechnology, Quantum,Maxtor, and Western Digital.While many people associatethe names of Fujitsu, Hitachi,and Toshiba with consumer

Asia: Shifting the Balance of Power in the HDD Industry?

from the editor

Nicole Flynn,MarComm Manager

and INSIGHT Editor

With IDEMA hosting the DISKCON Asia Computer Storage Conference this month and DISKCONJapan in April, it seemed natural to lead off the issue with an insightful article on the Asian StorageIndustry from TRENDFOCUS President Mark Geenen. The article examines many of the key issuesthat have led to Asia’s growing success in the data storage industry, such as the increase in PCsales and the enormous cost savings to manufacturers with large-scale operations in Southeast Asia.

Also in April is the ESD Extravaganza, which is co-hosted by IDEMA and the Silicon Valley EOS/ESDSociety, at the The Westin Santa Clara. ESD in magnetic recording is of particular concern with GMRheads, and the article written by Douglas Cooper and Rob C. Linke, Texwipe, addresses ways tosafeguard sensitive equipment in cleanroom environments (page 22). The article compares naturaland man-made materials, and notes their performance at varying levels of relative humidity.

Another technical article featured in this issue is written by Yuan Xing Lee, Victor Krachkovshy, SriniGopalaswamy, and K.C. Indukumar of the Data Storage Institute, Singapore (page 8). In this article,the authors discuss three read channel designs and how they can effect the signal to noise ratio inhigh-density magnetic recording.

This issue also provides information on the new technical education opportunities at IDEMA (page 40), such as the partnership with Stanford University’s Stanford Center for ProfessionalDevelopment, as well as new programs at Evergreen Valley College, San Jose, Calif., andNormandale Community College, Bloomingdale, Minn.

Mark Geenen, President TRENDFOCUS

shipments, the long-termfuture is extremely bright.Billions of people live there—more than three-quarters ofthe world's population, but itis estimated far less than 10percent own PCs. The upsidepotential is terrific. In China,people are buying PCs alongwith refrigerators and TVs,and many residents of Beijingand other larger cities arestarting to have two PCs ormore per home.

Undoubtedly, PC companiesare still focusing on boostingtheir shares in the Asianmarket due to the sheer sizeof the populace, and therelatively low per-capitapenetration rate. Recenteconomic turmoil aside, PCsales into the region willgrow very quickly in thecoming years, making itfertile ground for suppliers ofcomponents (HDDs, in thiscase).

Turning to disk drives, thestory begins to shift. Morethan 80 percent of all theworld's disk drives aremanufactured in SoutheastAsian countries, and if Japanis counted, well over 90percent. This is directlyrelated to stable, educatedworkforces and tax breaksprovided by governments toattract investment. Havinglarge-scale operations inSoutheast Asia saves amanufacturer millions ofdollars a month in productcost, and much of the costcan be attributed to "taxholidays”. One could beguaranteed that if, forexample, Californiaprovided a competitive taxbreak for manufacturers,there would have been farless flight to lower costenvirons.

continued on page 28

letterletter

For high-density magnetic recording, it is preferable toreduce non-linear interactions between transitions so asto improve signal to noise ratio (SNR). To that end,advancements in heads and media play an essential role.However, advanced coding and signal processingtechniques can also make contributions. Simulations andexperimental data show a good reduction in media noise,as well as non-linear transition shift (NLTS) for (1, 7)coded channels compared to (0, k) coded ones[1, 2].Moreover, the frequency bandwidth of the (1, 7) codedsignals is narrower than that of the (0, k) coded signals,thus helping to reduce the required frequency bandwidthof head writing elements and of pre-amplifiers. For high-density and high data-rate applications,[1, 7] codedchannel techniques become attractive.

The Multi-level Decision Feedback Equalization (MDFE)is a (1, 7) coded detector, which is simple to implementand offers relatively good performance[3, 4]. To improvethe performance of MDFE, M2DFE and M3DFE havebeen proposed [5, 6], that offer a gain of more than 1dBand 2dB in SNR over MDFE, respectively. This articledescribes the basic design of MxDFE (i.e. MDFE,M2DFE, and M3DFE), performance comparison againstextended partial response maximum likelihood detection(EnPRML), and reductions in channel clock rates anderror propagation for MxDFE.

Design of MDFEThe core of MDFE consists of a forward equalizer, afeedback equalizer, and a slicer. By taking into accountthe d=1 constraint, the forward equalizer and feedbackequalizer can be designed based on maximization of thedetection SNR at the slicer. The detection SNR is definedas the eye opening divided by the noise power plus un-cancelled inter-symbol interference (ISI) under thecondition of an occurrence of a transition in datasequence. The forward equalizer can be an analog IIRfilter with 2-zeros and 4-poles or a low-pass filter plus a7-tap FIR filter. By applying a raw di-bit response to theforward equalizer, an equalized di-bit response can beobtained.

At every sampling instant, the signal at the slicer has oneof the four levels, which are:

+ ( f0 + f1 + f2) and + f1

The levels f1 and ( f0 + f1 + f2) are called inner and outerlevels, respectively. The performance of MDFE isdominated by the inner level f1. Different fromEnPRML, the equalizer for MDFE mainly does phaserather than amplitude equalization. Both the forwardequalizer and feedback equalizer for MDFE can bedirectly applied to M2DFE and M3DFE without anymodifications. While for EnPRML, the equalization isrequired differently for PRML, EPRML, and E2PRML.

Design of M2DFEMDFE makes a decision by examining if a sample isabove or below zero-threshold. However if a sample isclose to zero-threshold, the probabilities of the samplebelonging to 1 or –1 become close. Therefore, it is likelyto make a decision error based on the sign of the sample.M2DFE explores the “soft” information about themagnitude of samples. If the magnitude of a sample iswithin some range of +α, where α is about 20 percent ofthe inner level f1, an “erasure” is declared so that thedecision on the sample is deferred. M2DFE, consists ofthe two MDFE critical loops[5].

Initially the thresholds of the two MDFE slicers are setto be +α and -α. When the magnitudes of samples at theslicers are bigger than α, the two slicers will produce thesame decisions. M2DFE operates just as MDFE. Whenthe magnitude of a sample at the slicers at some instantis smaller than or equal to, the two slicers will producetwo different decisions at that instant so as to declare anerasure. For the subsequent δ=10 bit intervals after thatinstant, the two thresholds are reset to be zero, anddecisions of the two loops are buffered. The errors

for i=1 and 2, which are the differences between theactual samples and the ideal values, are computed forthe two critical loops from the instant of the detection ofan erasure for the +1 bit intervals. The errors aresquared and cumulated over the +1 bit intervals, andfinally a comparison between the two cumulated errorterms is given to make a proper selection of one of the

Design and Performance of MxDFE Read ChannelsYuan Xing Lee, Victor Krachkovshy, Srini Gopalaswamy, K.C. Indukumar—Data Storage Institute

(f0 ++aik f1 a

ik-1e

ik y

ik f2 )a

ik-2

two loops. The loop with smaller cumulative squarederrors is selected and the contents of the buffer of thatloop are copied into the buffer of the other loop. Thethresholds of the two loops are set to be α and α, so thatthe system is ready for the next erasure.

Design of M3DFEM2DFE makes use of the soft information about themagnitude of samples at the slicers so that the SNR isimproved. Its selection of one of the two loops in erasureperiods is based on the sign of the difference of thecumulative squared errors of the two loops. However ifthat difference is small, then it is less likely that M2DFEwill make a correct selection. The soft information aboutthe magnitude of the difference of the cumulativesquared errors of the two loops is not used in M2DFE. Inaddition, M2DFE resets the thresholds of the two loopsto zero during erasure periods. Therefore, the softinformation about the magnitudes of small samples atthe slicers during erasure periods is not used.Furthermore, the soft information on the violations of [1,7] constraints during erasure periods is not used. TheM3DFE makes full use of all the above-mentioned softinformation to further improve the SNR over M2DFE[6,

7]. There are two methods to realize the gain in SNR forM3DFE. One method uses a structure containing fourMDFE critical loops[7], the other uses a structurecontaining two MDFE critical loops, which is similar toM2DFE[6]. There are two thresholds α1 and α2 inM3DFE. Usually α1 = 0.35, α2 = 0.2, with respect to theinner level f1. The buffer length δ is 15. The complexityof M3DFE is comparable to that of M2DFE. For the caseof M3DFE, there are additional logic computations formaking a proper selection in erasure periods by using allthe soft information.

Performance Comparison of MxDFE against EnPRMLThe performance of MxDFE is compared to (0, k) codedEnPRML under Lorentzian channel model. Thecomparison is made for three different conditions: 1. For additive white Gaussian noise only (AWGN)2. For 10 percent NLTS, 3. For 10 percent partial erasure (PE). The results are shown

in Figures 1 through 3.

The EnPRML family includes 16/17 (0, k) PRML, 16/17(0, k) EPRML, and 8/9 Trellis-Coding (0, k) E2PRML.For the case of AWGN, at user densities (Du) of 2.5 to3.5, M3DFE shows about 0.8 dB to 1.5 dB gain in SNRover M2DFE, and 1 dB to 0 dB loss over TC-E2PRML.However under 10 percent NLTS, M3DFE performs 0dBto more than 3 dB better than TC-E2PRML at Du of 2.5to 3.5. Similar gain can be obtained under 10 percent PEfor M3DFE over TC-E2PRML.

Clock Reduction and Error PropagationBecause of the low coding rate of[1, 7] code, the channelclock rate becomes a 1.5 times the user data rate. Theexpansion in channel clock rates is not desirable forhigh-speed implementations. The reductions in channelclock rates for (1, 7) coded detectors become necessary.For MxDFE, the channel clock rates can be reduced to0.75 or 1 times the user data rates by use of ping-pongstructure or interpolation technique[8, 9]. The reduction isachieved by incorporating constraints into the equalizerdesign to force the first feedback tap to zero[4]. The lossin SNR due to imposing this constraint is small.

Figure 3. Performance Comparison of M3DFE over EnPRML under 10 percent

Figure 2. Performance Comparison of M3DFE over EnPRML under 10 percent NLTS

Figure 1. Performance Comparison of MxDFE over EnPRML under AWGN

New Dover Vacuum Lockdown SpinStand Provides Superior StabilityDover announcesits High StabilitySpin Standplatform. Designedto offer severaladvantages overtraditional spinstandconfigurations, thenew motionplatform uses aflexible, split axisair bearing X-Yconfiguration thatoffers excellentposition stability under test, high throughput, highrigidity, and advanced servo controls. Two separate,orthogonal vacuum pre-loaded air bearing stagesare used. During head/media test, the two airbearing axes are locked into position in less than 50msec to a position stability of less than + 5 nm withthe spindle running at speeds up to 20,000 rpm. CallDover Instrument Corporation at (508) 366-1456 orsend e-mail to [email protected].

Precision Aqueous Cleaning and DryingSystem Offers Constant Flow

RecirculationForward Technology’s PA-Serieseffectively cleans and dries bothsimple and complex parts at highthroughput rates. The PA-Series offerscustomers a high-quality, pre-designed system at an affordableprice. It is the only system on themarket featuring constant flowrecirculation. This feature monitors

recirculation flow rates of tank liquid andcompensates for filter loading. Typical applicationsinclude disk drives, high vacuum components,optical components, or ultra pure gas valves whereparticle and organic film removal is required. CallForward Technology at (612) 559-1785.

First Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) Passive Reader/Writer withUnderwater CapabilityEscort Memory Systems introduces the world’sfirst submersible HMS827-03 Passive Reader/Writer. The HMS827-03 is being employed by thesemiconductor and disk drive industries to enhanceprocess efficiencies and reduce contaminationconcerns. It reads and writes data to EscortMemory Systems’ HMS100-Series Passive Read/Write Tags. These small (8mm to 50mm) Tags donot require batteries and can survive temperaturesup to 464°F (240° C). Visit www.ems-rfid.com.

New Small Footprint AFM Isolation SystemDigital Instruments introduces the IS3K, a smallfootprint integrated acoustic/vibration isolationsystem for the Dimension 3100 AFM. The newsystem provides the highest performance isolationfrom both airborne acoustics and floor vibration,allowing the Dimension 3100 to perform atoptimum resolution and noise levels. Incorporat-ing compact vibration isolation technology intothe acoustic enclosure, the IS3K features a fullyintegrated ergonomic design, including keyboardsupport, twin flat panel displays, and with allelectronics and computer hardware mountedbelow the microscope and the acoustic enclosure.With a footprint of 30.5” x 42”, the system is well-suited for production and other environmentswhere space is limited. Call Digital Instruments at(805) 967-1400.

Aerosol Particle Counter forCleanroom EnvironmentsParticle Measuring Systems, Inc. announces theLASAIR® line of optical particle counting systemsdesigned specifically for contamination monitoringin cleanroom facilities. The new line of aerosolinstruments operate using a passive laser cavityand sample flow cell. Minimum sizing thresholdsare available at 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.5 microns atsample flow rates from 0.002 to 1 CRM. Aircleanliness certification is available with anoptional 3.5-inch disk drive and electroluminescentCRT display. The system records criticalcontamination trends and short term bursts, anddisplays data in a time series histogram.

Automatic samplingand storage of upto 99 data samplescan beprogrammed. CallParticle MeasuringSystems at (303)443-7100.

Advanced Stylus Profiler for Data StorageApplicationsVeeco Metrology Groupannounces the DEKTAK®

V 200-Si surface profiler fordata storage metrologyapplications. The advancedstylus-based systemprovides the flexibility for awide variety ofapplications, includingmeasuring step heights onthin film head wafers,sliders and tape, as well asurface texture and dub-offon hard disks. It is theindustry’s best guaranteedstep height repeatability of7.5 angstroms, 1 sigma, (+6angstroms, 1 sigma typical) and provides the precisionrequired to measure the thinnest of films. For diskapplications, the system provides high horizontal resolutionwith a maximum of 65,400 data points per scan, enablingthe system to detect finer levels of microroughness andproduce a truer profile representation of the sample surface.Call Veeco Metrology Group at (805) 963-4431.

New Wet Processor and Cleaner for GMRSlider FabricationSolid State Equipment Corporation (SSEC) announcesavailability of Model 300ML, a cleaning and solventprocessing machine for GMR Slider and Slider Bar WetProcessing. It features advanced process capabilities, aWindows® user interface and requires less capitalinvestment and a lower cost of ownership than previousgenerations of thin film head slider and slider bar cleaners.Advanced capabilities include: scrub brushing systems drivenby servo motors with torque monitoring; fluid through thebrush chemical dispensing; four scrub brush capability; highpressure scrubbing with pressure control for fluids up to3,000 psi; Megasonic and Ultrasonic Scrubbing Nozzles,nozzle height and dispensing control with 100 percentsurface coverage. Call SSEC at (215) 328-0700.

TeraStor Announces Alliance with MicroDesign InternationalTeraStor Corporation announces a strategic alliance withMicro Design International (MDI) to develop and promoteMDI’s Universal Disk Format (UDF)-compliant UNISONTM

software in conjunction with its Near Field RecordingTM

(NFRTM) drives. By providing UDF support for its NFRdrives, TeraStor will provide users of NFR drives with auniform means of data interchange that minimizes the costand complexity of sharing stored information across multipleoperating systems. Visit www.terastor.com.

Contec Expands Manufacturing FacilityContec, Inc., Spartanburg, S.C., completed a 37,500 squarefoot expansion of its warehouse and manufacturing facilitiesin January 1999. The new facility provides flexibility incustom manufacturing operations. Call Contec, Inc. at (800) 289-5762.

Industrial Tools Elects New President andBoard ChairmanIndustrial Tools, Inc. announces the election of Donald O.Murphy as president and chief executive officer, and KevinBernzott as board chairman, respectfully.

Circuit Assembly Announces New ProductMarketing DirectorFrancesco Liburdi joins Circuit Assembly Corporation (CA)as its director of new product marketing. Francesco hasextensive experience, domestically and internationally, withthe design and sale of interconnect products for the high-technology industry.

Four New Vice Presidents at Enthone-OMIEnthone-OMI announces the appointments of four newexecutive officers: Jo Wynschenk, vice president, functionaland decorative coatings; Stephen J. LaCroce, vice president,electronic materials; Huub van Dunn, vice president,managing director in Germany; and Robert H. Sharp,executive vice president, worldwide operations.

New BusinessDevelopment Sales Engineer at MTIManufacturing Technology, Inc.(MTI) announces the addition ofBill Abeyta, a 30-year industryveteran, as a key sales engineerfor new business development.Bill will be responsible fordeveloping new markets whereMTI’s expertise in high precision

machining processes can be expanded.

Semiconductor Equipment Technology (SET)Earns ISO 9001 RegistrationSET announced that it has earned ISO 9001 Registration fromUnderwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL). ISO 9001, the mostcomprehensive Standard in the ISO 9000 series, coversdesign, manufacturing, and servicing systems. Visit SET atwww.setshields.com.

The reductions in error propagation (EP) for MxDFEcan be realized by imposing the energy constraint intothe feedback equalizer and by use of some EPsuppression methods[10, 11]. When errors start topropagate, the amplitude of the signal at the slicer tendsto have a large change. By detecting this change, EP canbe detected, and some amount of dc-offset with theopposite sign of the decision can be added into the slicerso that long burst errors are reduced. After suppressingEP, the remaining EP has almost no degradation to theperformance of the sector failure rates after error-correction coding (ECC).

MxDFE read channel techniques have been outlined inthis article. They use (1, 7) code, have the sameequalizers, and are direct extensions of MDFE. Thisextendibility reduces the complexity of theirimplementations. When there are non-linear distortionspresent in channels, they perform better than (0, k)coded detectors. They are promising techniques for high-density and high data-rate applications. ●

References[1] K.Shimoda, et. al., IEEE Trans. Magn. vol.33,

pp 2812-2814, Sept. 1997.[2] H. Ueno, M3DFE consortium meeting, Sydney,

Nov. 10, 1998.[3] J.G. Kenney, L.R. Carley, and R.W. Wood, IEEE

Trans. Magn, vol.29, pp.2160-2171, 1993.[4] Y.X. Lee, et. al., IEEE Trans. Magn vol.30,

pp.166-171, 1998.[5] K.C. Indukumar, Y.X. Lee, and G. Mathew, appear

in IEEE Trans. Magn.[6] V. Krachkovsky and Y.X. Lee, M3DFE consortium

meeting, Sydney, Nov. 10, 1998.[7] K.C. Indukumar, M3DFE consortium meeting,

Singapore, July 24, 1998.[8] J. Kenney and M. Melas, Proc. IEEE Commun.

Conf. (ICC), 1996. [9] G. Mathew, Y.X. Lee, H. Mutoh, M3DFE

consortium meeting, Singapore, July 24, 1998.[10] Y.X. Lee, G. Mathew, M2DFE consortium meeting,

USA, Jan. 14, 1998.[11] H. Ueno, M2DFE consortium meeting, Singapore,

Nov. 24, 1997.

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March

8 DISKCON Asia Computer Storage Conference, HotelEquatorial, Penang, Malaysia. One-day technical conference. Formore information visit www.idema.org.

10-11 DISKCON Asia Computer Storage Conference andExhibition, Westin Stamford, Singapore. Two-day technicalconference and exhibition with concurrent ESD Symposium andclasses. For more information visit www.idema.org.

11 Silicon Valley EOS/ESD Society Meeting, Ramada Inn,Sunnyvale, Calif. Cocktails 4:30 p.m. Dinner 5:30 p.m.Presentation 6:00 p.m. For more information, visitwww.esdsv.org.

13 ESD Symposium and Exhibition with technical educationclasses, PSDC Penang, Malaysia. For more information visitwww.idema.org.

14-18 American Vacuum Society short course program,Orlando, Fla., and San Jose, Calif. Courses cover three broadcategories: applied vacuum technology; surface analysis andmaterials characterization; and materials, thin films, andcoatings—processing and properties. For more information, visitwww.vacuum.org.

15 IDEMA Fellowship application deadline. Submit completedapplication to Sally Bryant at IDEMA.

16 IEEE Magnetics Society Santa Clara Valley ChapterSeminar Series, Quantum Corporation, Milpitas, Calif. Cookiesand conversation at 7:30 p.m. Presentation at 8:00 p.m. formore information call Steven Stupp at (408) 324-7261 or send e-mail to [email protected].

16-18 18th Aerospace Testing Seminar, Marriott Hotel,Manhattan Beach, Calif. For more information call JoanHarpham, Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology,at (847) 255-1699.

17 Requirements for High TPI Recording Symposium Call forPapers deadline. Submit your 250-word abstract online atwww.idema.org.

31 Early Bird advertising deadline for 20 percent discount,IDEMA Directory of Products and Services for the Disk DriveIndustry. Online insertion order available at www.idema.org orcall Nicole Flynn at (408) 330-8107.

April

12-16 American Vacuum Society’s 26th InternationalConference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films, Town andCountry Hotel, San Diego, Calif. The week-long conference willaddress issues in the science and technology of thin films,metallurgical coatings, and surface modifications. For moreinformation, including abstracts of the papers and a schedule ofevents, visit www.vacuum.org/icmctf/icmctf.html.

14-16 DISKCON Japan, Tokyo International Exhibition Center,Tokyo, Japan. The largest technical conference and tradeshowdedicated to data storage in all of Asia. For more information, visitwww.idema.gr.jp or call IDEMA Japan at 81-3-3539-7071.

19 TPI for 2000, Enabling Technologies Symposium,Information Institute Storage Technology (IIST), Santa ClaraUniversity, Santa Clara Calif. Proposed topics include: TPI trends,SNR and digital servo, microactuators, spindle and motor design,head/medium aspects of high TPI recording, and servo writing.For more information, visit www.iist.scu.edu.

20 IEEE Magnetics Society Santa Clara Valley Chapter SeminarSeries, Quantum Corporation, Milpitas, Calif. Cookies andconversation at 7:30 p.m. Presentation at 8:00 p.m. for moreinformation call Steven Stupp at (408) 324-7261 or send e-mail [email protected].

Do you know of a storage event or meeting that would be ofinterest to INSIGHT’s readers? Send your industry calendar itemsto [email protected].

Take advantage of IDEMA’s expanded benefits andservices for 1999 by joining or renewing yourmembership in the only international tradeorganization serving the data storage industry. Formore information on membership, call Debbie Lee at408.330.8108 or send e-mail to [email protected].

CleanLinkEpion CorporationMobile Storage Technology, Inc.Noble PackagingOcean Manufacturing LimitedProlog AMSheldahl Corporation

IDEMA membersn e w

20 ESDiscovery ’99, The Westin Santa Clara, Santa Clara,Calif. An EOS/ESD tutorial and tabletop exhibition sponsored bythe Silicon Valley EOS/ESD Society. Visit www.idema.org for moreinformation and to register online.

21 ESD Symposium and Exploritorium, The Westin Santa Clara,Santa Clara, Calif. A one-day symposium and ESD tabletopexhibition with hands-on ESD experiments sponsored by IDEMA.Visit www.idema.org for more information and to register online.

May

2-7 IEST 45th Annual Technical Meeting and Exposition,Ontario Convention Center and DoubleTree Hotel, Ontario, Calif.For more information call Joan Harpham, Institute ofEnvironmental Sciences and Technology, at (847) 255-1699.

3-7 American Vacuum Society short course program,Minneapolis, Minn. Courses cover three broad categories:applied vacuum technology; surface analysis and materialscharacterization; and materials, thin films, and coatings—processing and properties. For more information, visitwww.vacuum.org.

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5 Analysts’ Assessment, The Westin Santa Clara, Santa Clara,Calif. A roundtable discussion about the state of data storagewith the industry’s leading analysts. For more information, visitwww.idema.org.

6 Quarterly Dinner Meeting featuring NSIC Executive DirectorDr. Barry Schechtman, The Westin Santa Clara, Santa Clara,Calif. For more information, visit www.idema.org.

11 IEEE Magnetics Society Santa Clara Valley ChapterSeminar Series, Quantum Corporation, Milpitas, Calif. Cookiesand conversation at 7:30 p.m. Presentation at 8:00 p.m. for moreinformation call Steven Stupp at (408) 324-7261 or send e-mailto [email protected].

17-21 American Vacuum Society short course program,Mesa, Ariz. Courses cover three broad categories: appliedvacuum technology; surface analysis and materialscharacterization; and materials, thin films, and coatings—processing and properties. For more information, visitwww.vacuum.org.

24 DISKCON USA Call for Papers deadline. Submit your 250-word abstract to Gloria Rodrigues at [email protected].

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May 6, 1999The Westin Santa Clara

IDEMA is pleased to present Dr.Barry Schechtman, executivedirector, National Storage Industry Consortium (NSIC), asIDEMA’s May Dinner Meeting speaker. Prior to joining NSIC,Barry held a variety of research and management positionsat the IBM Almaden Research and Storage Systems Division,San Jose, Calif. He was responsible for developing newtechnologies for lithography, printing, display, holography,magnetic storage, and optical storage. He held seniormanagement positions from 1976 to 1994, and wasresponsible for setting the technical strategy for keyprojects such as the international manufacturing of diskdrives.

He joined NSIC as its executive director in 1995. NSIC iscomprised of about 55 companies and universities, andsponsors and manages over $140 million in joint, pre-competitive data storage research projects. Barry holdsadvanced degrees in electrical engineering, including a Ph.D.from Stanford University.

The May Dinner Meeting will be held at the The WestinSanta Clara located at 5101 Great America Parkway in SantaClara, Calif. Cocktails at 6:00 p.m. Dinner at 7:00 p.m. Formore information or to register, visit the IDEMA Web site atwww.idema.org or call Lindsay Brown at (408) 330-8103.

NSIC Executive Director Dr. Barry Schechtman

Internet to Breath New LifeInto Disk Drive IndustryNationally recognized technology analyst ToddBakar, Hambrecht & Quist, provides optimisticoutlook for data storage market at IDEMAFebruary Dinner Meeting.

Nearly 1,000 data storage professionals gathered at theWestin Santa Clara on February 4 to hear Hambrecht &Quist’s Managing and Research Director Todd Bakar presenthis 1999 market outlook for the disk drive industry for thesixth consecutive year.

Bakar’s one-hour talk focused on the booming Internetindustry and the opportunities available to data storagemanufacturers for renewed growth. “The Internet will be themost important driving force for the data storage industryover the next five years,” said Bakar. He noted that Webusage is projected to triple by 2001 and that Internet trafficis doubling every 100 days. In addition, business-to-businesse-commerce is expected to reach $300 billion in the nextfew years. According to Bakar, companies who are“consumer oriented” and are the first to offer new onlineservices will be successful with e-commerce.

The phenomenal surge in Internet stock value has “probablynever been witnessed before in the history of the stockmarket,” said Bakar. He emphasized H&Q’s belief in theInternet’s potential and the global opportunities that will becreated from this new medium. “There are some awesomeopportunities for this [data storage] industry as the amount ofdata required, as the amount of information that’s digitizedand required to be stored, it’s going to be a greatopportunity for this [data storage] industry, going forward,and one that we’re very excited about,” said Bakar.

Bakar reviewed the disk drive industry’s high’s and low’s for1998, which included Maxtor’s successful IPO and theshocking dismissal of Al Shugart at Seagate. He noted thatwhile worldwide unit growth was up by 11 percent, revenuedropped by one percent. Bakar stated that the topcompanies continued to lose market share to “second-tiercompanies”, such as Fujitsu and Maxtor, and that disk driveand storage component manufacturers must begin to focuson supply-chain management if they are going to succeed inthis volatile market.

Bakar’s 1999 Predictions*Customer Base• Consolidation in the PC industry• Major shake-out in the distribution channel• Focus on supply chain management• OEMs to push risk down to supply base

Technology• Rapid transition to GMR heads through year 2000• Gradual transition to 7200 RPM on desktop and 10,000

RPM in enterprise

• Wireless suspensions ramp aggressively• Further decline in ratio of heads/disk per drive

Market• Worldwide HDD unit growth of 16-20 percent• New applications outside of PCs may emerge• Predictability and visibility remain low• ASPs will continue to decline• Competition at every level will remain intense• Supply chain execution will be key differentiator

*Presentation slide materialTranscript information provided by Word Power Plus, a tapetranscription and editorial service company for the disk drivecommunity.

John is also a member of the Executive andDinner Committees. His keen perspective on theindustry and its customers has helped to lead achange in the speaker selection process thisyear. Quarterly Dinner Meeting speakers will nolonger be limited to “industry experts”. Movingforward, the Dinner Committee will invite keyindustry “influencers”, such as PC and Internetauthorities, to share their outlook on the state ofthe data storage industry.

John believes that IDEMA’s most valuable serviceis its worldwide industry events—QuarterlyDinner Meetings, Symposia, and DISKCON.According to John, these events provide a forumfor storage professionals to get together todiscuss the storage industry with their customers,competitors, and suppliers. “It is not all workthough, and a big benefit is for us to take a stepback and talk with some of our friends that wedon't always get a chance to in our busy lives,”said John.

IDEMA recognizes and commends John’scommitment to the growth of IDEMA and itsservices. His active participation on IDEMA’sboard and volunteer committees has helpedshape IDEMA into the successful tradeassociation that it is today.

Read-Rite Corporation’s John Kurtzweil is one ofIDEMA’s most hard-working and valuable members.Elected to the board of directors in 1996 andnamed vice chairman in February 1998, Johnworks to ensure IDEMA’s financial health and helpsto set the direction for the association’s worldwideexpansion of services.

In 1996, John was elected chairman of the FinanceCommittee. His extensive experience in finance,accounting, and treasury has helped IDEMA toestablish fiscal controls to safeguard theassociation’s assets and to keep IDEMA’s not-for-profit status with the IRS. One significantimprovement John has made was to direct IDEMA’scash reserves into a conservative mutual fundspecifically designed for nonprofit companies. As aresult, IDEMA’s return is higher than the passbooksavings it was previously receiving.

In addition to setting financial procedures, theFinance Committee oversees IDEMA’s investmentsand capital to ensure that each of the 13 volunteercommittees have the board-authorized resourcesavailable. “The committees are really the key to thefinancial soundness of the organization,” said John.“The committees are run by very fiscallyresponsible people who ensure they are getting thebiggest bang for the buck. The key to the puzzle,and it is a puzzle, is to put all the pieces togetherand Gloria Rodrigues [IDEMA finance manager] isthe compiler of all the pieces for the committeechairs and the Finance Committee.”

In 1996, John was

elected chairman of

the Finance

Committee. His

extensive experience

in finance, accounting,

and treasury has

helped IDEMA to

establish fiscal

controls to safeguard

the association’s

assets and to keep

IDEMA’s not-for-profit

status with the IRS.

John KurtzweilFinance Committee Chairman

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ESD Safety in Cleanrooms: Natural vs. Man-made MaterialsDouglas W. Cooper, Rob C. Linke—The Texwipe Company

Electrostatic charge build-up in cleanrooms can producehigher levels of surface contamination, electrostaticdischarges that damage integrated circuits, MR andGMR heads, and electro-magnetic pulses that candisrupt robotics. [The July/August 1998 issue ofINSIGHT was largely devoted to electrostatic dischargeand its effects.] Cleanroom fabrics and documentmaterials ("papers") made of natural fibers aresomewhat hygroscopic and are often assumed to bestatic dissipative, in contrast to materials made fromartificial fibers (e.g., polyester and nylon). To handlespecial situations that involve low humidities, the ESDAssociation test for surface resistivity (S11.11, ESDAssociation, 1993) is run at 12 ±3 percent relativehumidity (RH).

"Humidity and Temperature Effects on SurfaceResistivities" was reported by Kolyer and Rushworth(Kolyer and Watson, 1996). They studied antistaticpolyethylene, antistatic nylon, polyethylene withradiation cured coating, cellophane (bare, plasticized,coated and plasticized), filter paper, paper, static limitingfloor finish, detergent, and leather. They noted thatsurface resistivity has been assumed to follow relativehumidity (H) exponentially, with R(H) proportional toexp(-bH), but that this behavior was seen only for paper,cellophane and leather in their study. On their graphs of

log(R) vs. H graphs, a straight line would correspondto:

R(H) / R(0) = exp(-bH).

In most of their cases, R(1)/R(0) = 1/(1 million) to 1/(10million), which would be a value of about b = 14 to 16.This corresponds to halving the resistivity for every +5percent RH increment.

The graphs of Kolyer and Watson (1996) show surfaceresistivities at 100 percent RH that were between0.1Mohm/square and 100Mohm/square, with1Mohm/square being typical. At 100 percent RH, onewould expect a monolayer of water to exist, havingalmost the resistivity characteristic of pure water, ormore due to the very shallow depth. At zero percentRH, one would expect a surface resistivity whollycharacteristic of the solid material, independent ofwater, so this could have any value, though thematerials of interest were primarily insulators, havingresistivities on the order of Tohm/square or even more.ASTM (1993) noted a somewhat similar effect, "Achange from 25 to 90 percent relative humidity maychange insulation resistance or conductance by as muchas a factor of 1,000,000 or more." This corresponds tohalving the resistivity every +3 percent RH increment.

A simple, heuristic model to explain the exponentialdependence of surface resistivity on relative humiditywould be that high resistance is associated with theprobability of finding zero water molecules per unit(small) area. This probability is approximately P(0) =exp (-m), where m is the mean number per unit area.An uncomplicated isotherm, relating number ofmolecules per area to humidity at a particulartemperature, would be m = bH, the surfaceconcentration being proportional to the relativehumidity. Combined, these relationships would give anexp(-bH) dependence on relative humidity, which is astraight line with a negative slope on a graph of log(R)vs. H. Depending on the surface, however, there arevarious isotherms that are appropriate. Anothercommon isotherm is Langmuir, with the surfacemolecular coverage fraction being given by k H / (1 + k H). This isotherm rises linearly with H at H << 1,approaching one (1) asymptotically, implying the slopeof resistance change would become less negative as Happroached H = 1 = 100 percent RH, behavior found

deadlinedeadlineFellowship Deadline March 15

Graduate students interested in applying for one of

three IDEMA Fellowships must submit their application

to IDEMA no later than March 15. Fellowship

applications are available at the academic counselor’s

office at IDEMA member universities. For more

information, call IDEMA Education Director Sally

Bryant, Ed.D. at 408.330.8106.

for a detergent—coated plastic and for material coatedwith "static-limiting floor finish".

The solid surface and the water "film" can be viewed astwo resistances in parallel, Rs and Rw. The combinedresistance becomes 1/(1/Rs + 1/Rw). The lower resistancedominates. Thus, we expect the water film to have amore pronounced effect when the solid surface resistivityis relatively high. "Halving every +5 percent RH" cannotbe universally true, becoming less accurate the lower thesolid surface's resistance is. This idea of parallelresistances also illuminates the measurement of thinfilms. At low relative humidity (c. 12 percent RH), wefound that thicknesses of 0.6, 1, 2, 4 and 125 mil staticdissipative polymer alloy had surface resistivities thatdecreased as the thickness increased, consistent with adependence of apparent surface resistivity on depth ofpenetration of the current. Subsequently, both sides ofthe same polymer films were exposed to 48 percent RHfor 66 hours, then the resistivity was measured. Muchthe same trend with thickness was found at thismoderate humidity (c. 50 percent RH), except that thethinnest film was intermediate in resistivity and all wereless resistive than at the low humidity. It seemedprobable that the current penetrated the thinnest filmand used the water on the bottom surface as anothercurrent path.

Triboelectrification represents charge generation bycontact, offset by charge loss (due to conduction, airionization, etc.). Some measured values (by McFarland)of electrostatic voltage in practical situations at variousrelative humidities were cited by McAteer (1990).Halving every five percent RH would have producedsmaller ratios. As McAteer noted, the decreasedaccumulated charge was probably due both to somedecrease in resistivity (thus more rapid dissipation) and

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Figure 1. Surface resistivity of a fabric being measured in acontrolled humidity chamber.

Disk/Substrates CommitteeNext Meeting: TBD (check www.idema.org)The Committee is working on a proposal forstandardizing the chamfer angle (45 degrees) and adefinition for disk waviness.

Lube Thickness & Control Start Stop(CSS) Testing SubcommitteeNext Meeting: TBD (check www.idema.org)The Subcommittee is working on a set of terms anddefinitions for lube thickness, CSS, and laser bumpheights. Three standards are also underdevelopment: Method for Measuring the Thicknessof Bonded Lubricant on Disk; LubricantMeasurement Method; and Bulk CharacterizationMethod.

Optical Inspection WorkshopNext Meeting: May 6, 9:00 a.m.—1:00 p.m. (To be held at UCSC Extension)The workshop will focus on new challenges foroptical testing and inspection of discrete and arealdefects on media surfaces. This Workshop will beheld at the UCSC Extension located at 3120 De LaCruz Boulevard, Santa Clara.

Disk Magnetics SubcommitteeNext Meeting: May 5, 9:00 a.m.—11:00 a.m.The Subcommittee is currently performing a DiskMagnetometer Pilot Study. The Study has three

goals: 1) Determine single-lab and multi-labcorrelation of magnetometers on selectedsamples among a limited number oflaboratories; 2) Support development of anIDEMA magnetometer test method for magnetic

remanence, coercivity and remanentcoercivity; and 3) Determine need for full-scale round robin test using the new testmethod.

Emitted Shock & Vibration CommitteeNext Meeting: March 16, 9:00 a.m.—NoonThe charter for the Committee is to create auseful specification which defines the vibrationand shock energy emitted by a storage deviceand transmitted to the housing supporting thedevice.

Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS)CommitteeNext Meeting: TBD (check www.idema.org)The Committee is developing a proposal formeasuring power consumption of a hard diskdrive (i.e. watts per gigabyte). In addition theyare working to establish several standards: EHSTerms & Definitions and Water Recycling.

The committee is organizing a Water Workshop tobe held this spring. The workshop will focus onregional and international water usage in themanufacturing of HDDs, disks, and heads.

HDD Reliability CommitteeUpcoming Meetings: March 3, 9:00 a.m.—4:00 p.m.

April 7, 9:00 a.m.—4:00 p.m.The Committee is working on developingdefinitions for AFR and AFP, and BenchmarkReliability Tests for HDDs used in the desktop andportable computer market. They are alsodeveloping an AFR Summary document thatcontains philosophy and mathematics regardingAFR, AFP and ARR.

Heads CommitteeNext Meeting: April 22, 9:00 a.m.—Noon The Committee has developed two standardproposals: Femto Transducer and Femto Bond PadLocation. These two proposals are currently beingreviewed by head manufacturers, and their inputwill be discussed at the April meeting.

ESD SubcommitteeNext Meeting: March 17, 10:00 a.m.—3:00 p.m.Four proposals are under review: 1) MR and GMRHeads—ESD Testing; 2) Tweezers; 3) GeneralPractices with GMR / MR Heads; and 4) ESDMaterials for MR and GMR Heads.

Femto Head-Substrate SubcommitteeNext Meeting: TBD (check www.idema.org)The Subcommittee is working to develop a FemtoHead-Substrate standard.

Rowbar Carrier SubcommitteeNext Meeting: TBD (check www.idema.org)The subcommittee is developing a rowbar carrierstandard for the Femto head form factor.

IDEMA’s Standards Program has grown to morethan eight committees and ten subcommittees/taskforces worldwide covering critical issues facingthe data storage industry today. Members areencouraged to take an active role in thedevelopment of industry standards by attendingmeetings and participating in technical symposiaoffered throughout the year.

Check the IDEMA Web site, www.idema.org, forupcoming standards meetings, agendas, anddirections. All meetings are held at the IDEMAoffice (unless otherwise indicated).

Microcontamination CommitteeNext Meeting: March 18, 9:00 a.m.—2:00 p.m.At the February 4 meeting, the committee approved a newstandard, “General Outgas Test Procedure by Dynamic HeadspaceAnalysis.” They also reviewed two new proposals: 1) On-LineMeasurement of Ionic Contamination on Sliders by IonChromatography, and 2) Particulate Clean-up Test For Hard DiskDrives. Both proposals are under review by the committee and willbe discussed in detail at the March meeting. In addition, thecommittee will re-ballot the proposed standard “Measurement ofExtractable Ionic Contamination Levels on Drive Components” inearly March.

Cleanroom Contamination SubcommitteeNext Meeting: March 9, 9:00 a.m.—NoonThe mission statement for the subcommittee is "to investigateparticulate and molecular contamination, and its effect on futurecleanroom environments." The objectives of the subcommittee areto: 1) catalogue known molecular contaminants and define possiblesources; 2) establish benchmarks for future product sensitivity andmaterial selection criteria; 3) establish standard detection/monitoring techniques; 4) determine process sensitivities and killerpercentage levels.

Lab Correlation SubcommitteeFirst Meeting: March 18, 2:00 p.m.—4:00 p.m.The focus of the subcommittee is on the development of a labcorrelation procedure.

HDD Reliability CommitteeMarch 3, 9:00 a.m.—4:00 p.m.

Cleanroom Contamination SubcommitteeMarch 9, 9:00 a.m.—Noon

Emitted Shock & Vibration CommitteeMarch 16, 9:00 a.m.—Noon

ESD SubcommitteeMarch 17, 10:00 a.m.—3:00 p.m.

Microcontamination CommitteeMarch 18, 9:00 a.m.—2:00 p.m.

Lab Correlation SubcommitteeMarch 18, 2:00 p.m.—4:00 p.m.

HDD Reliability CommitteeApril 7, 9:00 a.m.—4:00 p.m.

Heads CommitteeApril 22, 9:00 a.m.—Noon

Disk Magnetics SubcommitteeMay 5, 9:00 a.m.—11:00 a.m.

Optical Inspection WorkshopMay 6, 9:00 a.m.—1:00 p.m.

upcoming meetings

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to some increase in lubricity (thus lessening of the chargegeneration). Similar information (from Moss) presentedin the book by Amerasekera and Duvvury (1995) for 20percent RH and 80 percent RH indicated the voltageswere typically an order of magnitude different, less than2x change per five percent RH. There are other paths forcharge dissipation besides that of surface conduction.

Test Methods and ResultsWe tested a variety of materials, at various humidities,near the ESD S11.11 relative humidity condition of 12±3 percent RH or the "typical" value of 50 percent RH.The S11.11 test involves placing onto a flat sample (onan insulating base) a probe made with an annularelectrode that surrounds a disk electrode (See Figure 1).The resistance is obtained from R=V/I, voltage / current.Resistivity (in ohms for this standard geometry or inohm/square) is determined by the material's resistanceand geometry. A criterion for being static dissipative ishaving surface resistivity <1000Gohm/square,<1Tohm/square (ESD Association, 1994).

At 12 percent RH, a special cleanroom paper fabricatedfrom natural and man-made material was found to havea resistivity of 3.2Gohm/square, with a standarddeviation of 0.1Gohm/square. [1 Gohm = 10^9 ohm.]Under the same conditions, common cellulosic notebookpaper had a resistivity hundreds of times higher,9300Gohm/square, with a standard deviation of290Gohm/square. Standard cleanroom documentmaterial was tested after c. 30 minutes of exposure to airat 52 percent RH and was found to be static dissipative(near 0.04Tohm/square). At 12 percent RH, the samematerials had been insulative (>1Tohm/square), about1000 times as resistive as they were at 52 percent RH.Humidity had rapidly made a big difference in surfaceresistivity, roughly consistent with halving the resistivityfor every five percent RH increase. In a similar series oftests, five types of cleanroom document materials weretested at both 12 percent RH and 50 percent RH, andthe surface resistivities were found to be between 100xand 1000x as high at 12 percent RH than at 50 percentRH. At 12 percent RH, they were insulative; at 50percent RH, they were static dissipative. Halving everyfive percent RH predicts a 128x to 256x change for a+35 percent RH to +40 percent RH change, in roughagreement with these measurements.

Wipers are another important cleanroom consumable. At13-17 percent relative humidity (not wholly within ESDS11.11 specification of 12 ±3 percent RH), afterconditioning for 48-72 hours, a set of textile wipers showedthese results (Table 1).

The natural cotton was about as resistive as the leastresistive artificial polyesters, and none of these qualifiedas static dissipative.

Silk, being a natural material, seemed likely to besensitive to RH. We tested seven different types of silkfabrics that were allowed to equilibrate in the lab roomat 40-50 percent RH for three days before testing. Theyall tested in the 10 to 100 Tohm/square range, clearlynot static dissipative, despite the moderate humidity.

Tests for resistivity were done on some other wipers after68-72 hours of exposure to intermediate-humidityconditions (42-48 percent RH, 24-25°C).

Designed not to rely on humidity for static dissipation,ESD Wipes gave 0.019Tohm/square at 43 percent RH,0.007Tohm/square at 41 percent RH, 0.016Tohm/squareat 13 percent RH and 0.013Tohm/square at 17 percentRH. All were clearly static dissipative. There was littlechange with RH.

Cotton wipes (TexWipes) gave 0.71Tohm/square [barelydissipative] at 46 percent and 0.24Tohm/square at 41percentRH, but 5.3Tohm/square [insulative] at 13percent RH and 29Tohm/square at 17 percent RH,resistivities 7.5x to 100x higher, depending on whichvalues are compared. [Doubling every -5 percent RHwould have given a reading approximately 128x higher.].Whether or not they were static dissipative depended onthe humidity.

Polyester knit wipes (Alpha 10) at 47 percent RH gave17Tohm/square [insulative] and at 12 percent RH gave7.3Tohm/square. This is only a 2x ratio, for about -35percent RH change, much less difference in resistivitiesthan the cotton wipes showed, but they were not staticdissipative at either humidity.

Although relative humidity was important in influencingthe surface resistivity of the natural materials we tested(roughly halving the resistivity for every five percent RHincrement), silk did not become static dissipative even at40-50 percent RH and cotton did not become staticdissipative at 17 percent RH. Paper was not staticdissipative at 12 percent RH, though it was staticdissipative at 52 percent RH. The widely-held view thatnatural materials are static dissipative was not supported

WIPER MATERIAL MEAN STD.DEV.(Tohm/sq) (Tohm/sq)

A polyester 13.2 3.5M polyester 12.0 2.5T cotton 5.3 1.3S polyester 4.0 0.6

AS polyester 3.9 0.4Q polyester 11.6 1.5M nylon 16.9 4.8P polyester 11.5 3.3

Table 1

by our results. Whetherthey are static dissipativeor not depends on therelative humidity. Theartificial materials testedshowed less sensitivity tohumidity. ●

ReferencesA. Amerasekera and C.Duvvury, ESD in SiliconIntegrated Circuits, Wiley,N.Y. 1995.ASTM, "Standard TestMethods for DC Resistanceor Conductance of InsulatingMaterials," ASTM D 257 -93, American Society forTesting and Materials, W.Conshohocken, PA. 1993.D.W. Cooper and R.C.Linke, "Measurement ofCleanroom Fabric SurfaceResistivities," EOS/ESDSymposium 97, Santa Clara,Calif., September 1997.EOS/ESD AssociationStandard, "Surface

Resistance Measurement ofStatic Dissipative PlanarMaterials," EOS/ESD-S11.11-1993. ElectrostaticDischarge Association,Rome, NY., 1993.ESD Association, "Advisoryfor Electrostatic DischargeTerminology - Glossary,"ESD-ADV1.0-1994,Electrostatic DischargeAssociation, Rome, N.Y.,1994.J.M. Kolyer and D.E.Watson, ESD from A to Z,Second Edition, Chapmanand Hall, N.Y., 1996.O. J. McAteer, ElectrostaticDischarge Control, McGrawHill, N.Y., 1989.

letterletterto the editor

Just a note to commend and congratulate you on the recentnew look and design of INSIGHT! SET is a member ofIDEMA and I have always appreciated its editorial content.

Have you considered printing a summary of the informationpresented in the Quarterly Dinner Meetings? There areseveral of our employees who do not get to attend thedinners, but would certainly benefit from the information.

Cyrena WoodMarketing Communications Manager-SET

Cyrena,

Thank you for the great suggestion. INSIGHT will nowfeature a Dinner Meeting summary each quarter. See page17 in this issue for a short article on the February DinnerMeeting featuring Hambrecht & Quist’s Managing andResearch Director Todd Bakar.

INSIGHT Editor

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scorching

Don’t get burned by electrostatic discharge (ESD)! Withsupersensitive GMR heads becoming the norm in high performance drives,conventional approaches to managing ESD are proving insufficient. At oneof the largest events dedicated to ESD in magnetic recording, IDEMAprovides a forum for storage professionals to learn from the industry’sleading innovators about this problem.

With special attention given to GMR, symposium speakers will explore newalternatives for identifying ESD event location; event characterization;testing; process improvements; and packaging in the magneticrecording environment. Speakers will examine the newest tools toenhance productivity without posing an ESD-risk.

During session breaks, discover cutting-edge solutions forgrounding ESD in data storage environments by exploring thetabletop exhibition. And visit the ESD Exploratorium to participatein hands-on ESD experiments.

IDEMA presents

Understanding ESD in Magnetic Recording Symposiumand Tabletop ExhibitionApril 21, 1999The Westin Santa Clara, Santa Clara, California

8:00 a.m. Registration & Tabletop Exhibition

8:30 a.m. Introduction

8:45 a.m. David Swenson, 3MAssessment of Energy

9:10 a.m. Leo G. Henry, Oryx Instruments HBM and MM ESD Modules for Testing AMR/GMR Heads Should be Standardized

9:35 a.m. Chung Lam, Read-Rite CorporationHot Versus Cold Resistance Measurements, Will it Work?

10:00 a.m. Break & Tabletop Exhibition

10:30 a.m. Paul Sherman, IBM CorporationESD from the Read/Write Preamplifier

10:55 a.m. Al Wallash, Quantum CorporationESD Testing of Head Stack Assemblies with GMR Heads

11:20 a.m. Bert Perry, Maxtor CorporationUsing HGA Antennas to Measure EMI: Establishing and Correlating Damage Thresholds of GMR Heads

scheduleRegister online atwww.idema.org to attend IDEMA’sUnderstanding ESD in MagneticRecording symposium today!

ESD can turn your product totoast in one nanosecond—Is grounding your onlyprotection?

11:45 a.m. Buffet Lunch & Tabletop Exhibition

1:15 p.m. Carl Newberg, River’s Edge Technical ServiceAnalysis of the Electrical Field Effects of AC andDC Ionization Systems for MR Head Manufacturing

1:40 p.m. Davide Guarisco, Maxtor CorporationESD Sensitivity of GMR Heads: A CombinedDynamic and Quasi-static Study

2:05 p.m. Chris Moore, Integral SolutionsESD Failure Voltage of GMR Heads as a Function of Temperature

2:30 p.m. Break & Tabletop Exhibition

3:00 p.m. Li-Yan Zhu, Headway TechnologiesESD Damage by Directly Arcing to a MR Head

3:25 p.m. Clifton Chang, Seagate Technology

3:50 p.m. Reception & No-Host Bar

In the 1970s and 1980s,Japanese disk drive firmswere quite significant inmarket share terms. However,as competitive dynamicschanged, namely shorterproduct life cycles thatdemanded riskier design andprocurement strategies,Japanese firms fell badlybehind. But given theimportance of data storageto the mushrooming PC andIT markets, both governmentsand large companiesadjusted their businessmodels to compete moreeffectively in the HDD market.The results have beendramatic; Japanese andKorean HDD companies areflexing their muscles andtaking increasing marketshare. In 1993, non-U.S.drive suppliers had acollective share of under fivepercent. By 1998, this hadchanged markedly: Japaneseand Korean drive vendorscommanded nearly 25percent of unit shipments. IfQuantum was counted as anon-U.S. supplier (itssubcontract manufacturer,Matsushita Kotobuki (MKE),builds all its drives outsidethe U.S.), this figure balloonsto 41 percent. Of someconcern to U.S. HDDcompanies are the resourceand technology bases theseAsian firms draw from. Forexample, Fujitsu is a full-lineHDD supplier that makesnearly all of its own headsand media; its share hasmushroomed in recent years(12 percent in 1998) and ispoised to continue growing.Hitachi has awesometechnical capabilities, and itsannual 2.5" drive output isskyrocketing. Toshiba is awell-known manufacturer withdeep pockets and resources.And who knows how muchSamsung is willing to investto make its HDD division amarket leader (see figure 1)?

In short, there isincontrovertible evidence thatdemonstrates momentum—for

Asian HDD producers thatwill continually challengeU.S. hegemony in the drivemarket.

Now, to the vendor base.The disk drive companies getall the press. But what thismasks is the vast vendorbase of supply in Asia. Morethan 200 regional firmsreside there, and countingfactories and subsidiaries ofU.S., Japanese, Korean, andEuropean firms, more than350 firms operatedevelopment centers andfactories. This stacks up wellunder 300 "true" U.S.companies. If one was toanalyze the bill of materialsfor a disk drive, 65 percentto 85 percent or more of theparts and materials used inthe drive are manufacturedin Asia. Virtually all baseplates, top covers, flexcircuits, actuator assemblies,and other parts are made inthe region. Of course, manyparts are made by U.S. orJapanese firms withmanufacturing sites in Asia,but the fact remains that theregion offers an overalladvantage for production.

The same scenario isincreasingly true in the"technology" areas. Again,American companies havetended to garner most of theattention in the HDD industry.IBM leads in technology(MR, GMR, glass media,etc.), Seagate leads in unitshipments and revenue, and(until recently) Read-Rite andKomag were the undisputedleaders in heads and media,respectively. But there is aclear and simple fact thatmany people don't like toadmit: a growing portion ofthe technology found in ahard disk drive emanatesfrom Asian companies.

Looking at heads and media,for example, Asianmanufacturers are even morepivotal in market impact thantheir HDD compatriots. Theadvent of MR headscatapulted firms like TDK

(and its subsidiary SAEMagnetics), Yamaha, andAlps Electric into collectivemarket preeminence. It is awidely held belief that from atechnology, automation, andinvestment standpoint,Japanese suppliers areahead of U.S. headsuppliers. Of course, Read-Rite stacks up well with allJapanese head vendors, butoutside of IBM's externalhead sales, there arecurrently only two other U.S.head manufacturers, AppliedMagnetics and HeadwayTechnologies. A roll-up ofregional shares shows asolid trend favoring Asiansuppliers (see figure 2).

If the graph denoted non-captive suppliers only, Asianfirms controlled 60 percentof the HDD recording headsmarket in 1998, with U.S.vendors accounting for 40percent. Only the addition ofhuge output from Seagate

and IBM tip the overall scalesin favor of Americancompanies. One would behard-pressed recently to haveany HDD company rank U.S.head makers ahead ofJapanese suppliers.

In media, U.S. suppliers arestill dominant, but Asian firmsare steadily gainingmomentum. The followinggraph shows some vacillationin overall regional shares, butcannot hide the steady shift toAsian vendors (see figure 3).

Again, if only OEM partsmakers were included, Asiancompanies produced over 63percent of all noncaptivemedia sold in 1998.

We can draw severalconclusions from this analysis.First, although it is obvious atthis point, Asia is a criticaland growing part of the data

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Figure 1. Changing HDD Shares

Figure 2. Changing Shares, Total HDD Recording Head Market

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storage industry. Not onlywill an increasingly largenumber of PCs and diskdrives be consumed there,but the design, development,and production of diskdrives will only grow as apercentage of global totals.Second, cost and investmentcontinue to favor Asia.Lower labor rates, taxholidays, and land leaseagreements will continue tomake product cost lower forthose items made in Asia.Until there is another areathat can offer as much to amanufacturer as Asia can,there is nothing to supplantthe region as themanufacturing hub.Additionally, although thefinancial picture in Japanand the rest of Asia has

been cloudy for some time,there continues to be morereadily available capital forR&D and manufacturinginvestment. Third, theindustry's key componentsand technology areincreasingly designed andmanufactured in Asia. WithJapan as the engine ofchange, U.S. componentcompanies will bechallenged to maintaindevelopment and technologypace with Asian firms.Momentum already favorsAsian companies, so theU.S. must make a strong andimmediate stand to stem thetide. And fourth, a presencein Asia is absolutely criticalto survival in the datastorage industry. For HDDcompanies, manufacturing,designing, and selling in theregion are paramount tosuccess. For suppliers,producing, supporting

Radisson Hotel South and Plaza Tower,Minneapolis, MinnesotaJune 2, 1999

As the technology for disk drives continues to advance, andthe desire to increase volumetric storage has growndramatically, MR and GMR heads have now made it possibleto significantly increase areal density by increasing the BPIand TPI of the media.

The main issue facing this increased density is data access. Toaccess data at an acceptable rate requires higher rotationspeeds, as well as solutions to several critical issues, such asflutter, heat, NRRO, TMR and PES. The requirements for HighTPI Recording Symposium will address these issues as theypertain to higher TPI, and ultimately, high-density media andhigher capacity drives.

Heads1. Trail Edge Definitions2. Bit Aspect Ratio3. Secondary & Micro Actuators

Requirements for High TPIRecording Symposium

for papers

Media1. High TPI Media2. Media Noise3. Grain Structure & Uniformity4. Patterned Media

Interested in presenting? Submit your 250-word abstract onlineat www.idema.org.

Selected speakers will be notified by March 30. A hard copyof the final presentation is required by May 4. IDEMA acceptsthe following presentation formats: slides, overheads, and multi-media productions. Papers which differ significantly from theabstract or are sales oriented may be excluded from the finalprogram.

callcall

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Figure 3. Changing Shares, Total Rigid Disk Media Market

customers, marketing, andsheer, visible presence arekey.

The HDD and componentsindustries have long beenglobal in nature. This will notchange. What is changing isthe balance of power, andthat is increasingly tiltingtoward Asia. ●

Mark T. Geenen is thefounder of TRENDFOCUS.Mr. Geenen brings extensiveskill and data storageindustry knowledge toTRENDFOCUS, includingover 15 years working in andresearching the disk driveand components markets. Mr.Geenen was executivedirector of the InternationalDisk Drive Equipment andMaterials Association(IDEMA) from 1991 to1995.

Q When was the University Committee formed?

A The University Committee was formed in 1990by Dr. Jack McLaughlin, an emeritus member of theboard of directors and an association advisor. TheCommittee has had three chairpersons in nineyears: Norm Pond, Jack McLaughlin, and myself.

Q How does the Committee and its FellowshipProgram benefit IDEMA members and the datastorage industry?

A There are several benefits. The Committee andthe Fellowship Program:• supports data storage research and industry

advancement. Since 1996, about one percentof IDEMA’s annual membership dues is allottedfor the Fellowship Program’s scholarshipawards, totaling $40,000. IDEMA providesadministrative resources to select winners anddistributes the awards to worthy students. AllIDEMA members share in the advancement ofthe data storage industry through these awardswhich sponsor important industry research.

• improves communication between theuniversities and IDEMA membership via acommittee containing members from bothgroups. Cooperative activities to date includethe Fellowship Program and a DISKCONUniversity Forum in which the Fellowshipwinners receive their awards and describe theirwork in the field. Additional benefits beingpursued are educational programs fromuniversities for our members.

• motivates promising graduate students and helpsthem to pursue a career in the disk drivebusiness, thereby helping build an infrastructureof future employees for our members.

Q Why do you think this Committee is important?

A This committee “gives back” something to thedisk drive industry, and visibly promotes researchthrough monetary awards in areas of interest to ourindustry. It also helps to form additional bondsbetween universities and our membership, andprovides (via the annual University Forum) feedbackon research we have helped to sponsor.

University Committee

Q What is the Committee’s main goal for 1999?

A The main goal for 1999 is to continue toimprove the quality and visibility of the FellowshipProgram and University Forum, which bringsmembers and universities into greater contact.Another goal is to expand the number of memberuniversities—currently at ten.

Q What has the Committee accomplished?

A Accomplishments include three years offellowship scholarships awarded to outstandingstudents of member universities across thecountry. We have also published three years ofpapers from winning students and distributedthem at the University Forum, and to any IDEMAmember requesting them. Thus details of the workwe sponsored is given back to the membership asan additional benefit. We have also increasedthe number of foreign universities to three, andreceived applicants from all of the foreignuniversity members in 1998.

Q Who should participate in the Committee and why?

A Participation in the University Committeeshould include representatives from universitieshaving master’s and doctorate programs relevantto our industry, and IDEMA members qualified toreview programs of work submitted by thestudents.

Q Who is currently involved in the Committee?

A University Committee members currentlyconsists of 10 people, three from universities(Stanford, CMU, UCSD), six from IDEMAmembership, and IDEMA Education Director SallyBryant, Ed.D. Members are active advocates ofthe Committee’s goals, and are technicallyqualified to judge graduate student submissions.Each committee member holds an advanceddegree. Committee members from universities donot review students from their own institutions toavoid possible conflicts of interest regardingscholarship awards.

An interview with Committee Chairman Bill Carlson, Tessera System Building Blocks

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1999 Analysts’ Assessment—May 5, 1999

name _________________________________ company _______________________________

address ________________________________________________________________________

phone ________________________________ fax ____________________________________

email _________________________________

payment ■■ check* ■■ credit card ■■ purchase order (p.o.)

credit card or p.o. number _______________ exp. date _______________________________

signature ______________________________ ■■ mc ■■ visa ■■ american express ■■ discover

please circle one Member Non-Member Member Non-Memberbefore April 28 $195 $265 after April 28 $225 $295

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1999Analysts’ AssessmentMay 5, 1999 The Westin Santa Clara, Santa Clara, CaliforniaAnalyst Program 1:00—5:00 p.m.Hosted Reception 5:00—6:00 p.m.

Meet the industry’s top market analysts face to face for anopen and thought provoking discussion on the challengesfacing storage manufacturers today and in the new millenium.Limited to 150 attendees, this exclusive event offers executivesand marketing managers an opportunity to learn the analysts’perspectives about the global storage market and industrytrends, including new business and management models.

This half-day event also features an extended Q&A session,where attendees will have an opportunity to ask key questionsabout the sub-$1,000 PC market, growth opportunities in 1999,and near-term applications demanding increased storagecapacities. The day will conclude with a hosted reception.

No where else will you have an opportunity to meet andinteract with six leading industry analysts than at this exclusiveevent. Hear market perspectives first-hand and get the answersto your most critical storage questions face to face.

Analyst Line UpCrawford Del Prete, International Data Corporation

John Donovan, TrendFOCUS, Inc.

John Monroe, Dataquest

James N. Porter, DISK/TREND, Planning Business Resource

Pamela B. Roberts, PBR Consulting

Dennis D. Waid, Peripheral Research

register online at www.idema.orgor complete this form and fax to 408.492.1425

* Make checkspayable to:IDEMA andforward to 3255 Scott Blvd.,Suite 2-102, Santa Clara, CA 95054-3013

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IDEMA is gearing up toproduce its 1999/2000Directory of Products andServices for the Disk DriveIndustry, the onlyinternational publicationwhich lists the Who’s Who inthe data storage industry.

Hailed as one of theindustry’s leading resourcetools, IDEMA’s Directory ofProducts and Services for theDisk Drive Industry is an idealpublication to communicateyour company’s corporateand product messages. As anannual publication, storageprofessionals use theDirectory all year to identifypotential customers,determine product suppliers,as well as to search forcorporate contact information.

The Directory lists more than800 storage equipment,component, and drivemanufacturers worldwide, and

Accurate Member Listing = Completed Contact Sheet

After companies have renewed their membership for 1999,Finance Manager Gloria Rodrigues mails back a confirmationnotice along with a contact sheet. The information provided onthis contact sheet will be used to build the 1999/2000 Directoryof Products and Services for the Disk Drive Industry. Thiscontact sheet is to be completed and returned to IDEMA byMarch 31.

It is imperative that corporate contacts complete and return thecorporate contact sheet to IDEMA by the March 31 deadline;otherwise, IDEMA will use last year’s contact information.

Post available job opportunities FREEon IDEMA’s Web site, and the datastorage industry’s most qualifiedcandidates will contact you!Corporate members are encouraged to utilizethe IDEMA Web site to post their current jobopenings. Staffing managers can use theirmember password to access the Club IDEMAsection to post all their current job openings.Take advantage of this great corporatemember benefit, list your available jobopportunities today! If you have misplaced orhave forgotten your password, call CreativeDirector Chris Carrig at (408) 330-8110.

a few key employees?

IDEMA’s 1999-2000 Directory of Productsand Services for the Disk Drive Industry

features a data storageglossary, as well as aproduct index and matrix.This popular IDEMApublication is used as a deskreference for corporateexecutives, buyers, salesexecutives, engineers, andother data storageprofessionals. The Directoryhas a circulation of over10,000, and it is free to allIDEMA members.

Promote your company inthe only directory that liststhe key players in the datastorage industry. Visit theadvertising section onIDEMA’s Web site atwww.idema.org to submityour insertion order online.Get your order in withpayment or a purchase orderby March 31, to receive 20percent off the regularadvertising rate. Call NicoleFlynn at (408) 330-8107 formore details.

seeking

name _________________________________ company _______________________________

address_________________________________________________________________________

phone _________________________________ fax ____________________________________

email _________________________________ ■■ vegetarian meal

payment ■■ check* ■■ credit card ■■ purchase order (p.o.)

credit card or p.o. number ______________________________ exp. date ________________

signature ______________________________ ■■ mc ■■ visa ■■ american express ■■ discover

please circle one Member Non-Member Member Non-Memberbefore May 24 $145 $195 after May 24 $175 $245

Requirements for High TPI Recording Symposium—RegistrationComplete the form and fax it to IDEMA at 408.492.1425

* Make checks payable to: IDEMA and forward to 3255 Scott Blvd., Suite 2-102 Santa Clara, CA 95054-3013

Requirements for High TPI Recording SymposiumJune 2, 1999—Radisson Hotel South and Plaza Tower, Minneapolis, Minnesota

As the technology for disk drives continues to advance, the desire to increase

volumetric storage has grown dramatically. Magnetoresistive and Giant

Magnetoresistive heads have now made it possible to significantly increase areal density by

increasing the number of bits per inch and tracks per inch (TPI) on the media. The main issue facing

this increased density is data access. To access data at an acceptable rate requires higher rotation

speeds, as well as solutions to several critical issues, such as flutter, heat, NRRO, TMR, and PES.

Attend IDEMA’s Requirements for High TPI Recording Symposium and learn about these critical

issues as they pertain to higher TPI, and ultimately, high-density media and higher capacity drives.

Sign-up by May 24 and receive a discount off the regular registration fee. You may register online

at www.idema.org or by fax. Simply complete the form below and fax it to IDEMA at

(408) 492.1425. On-site registration available after May 31.

Advertisers IndexSeagate—www.seagate.com inside front coverDover Instruments—www.doverinstr.com page 5Praxair Surface Technologies page 12Texas Instruments—www.ti.com/storage/c27x7023 page 13ADE Technologies—www.adetech.com page 15DuPont—www.dupont.com/vertrel page 16VTC Inc.—www.vtc.com page 19Veeco Metrology—www.veeco.com page 21Veeco Process Equipment—www.veeco.com page 23

SpeedFam—www.speedfam.com page 25General Scanning Inc.—www.genscan.com page 26Cirrus Logic—www.cirrus.com page 29 Gintic—www.gintic.gov.sg:8000 page 30MTI—www.mtionline.com page 333M—www.3m.com page 34Avery Dennison—www.averydennison.com page 35Datatech Magazine—www.fabtech.org page 19Phase Metrics—www.phasemetrics.com page 39EFD—www.efd-inc.com back cover

A block of roomswill be held untilMay 5 at the rateof $109. Call theRadisson HotelSouth and PlazaTower at (612)835-7800 tomake yourreservation.

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Savvy storagecompanies are taking an

active role in the education oftomorrow’s workforce by

partnering with local community colleges,such as Evergreen Valley College, Calif., andNormandale Community College, Minn., to developprograms to meet their growing need for skilledmanufacturing professionals.

Evergreen Valley College, located in the SiliconValley, has developed several certificate andassociate degree programs with the aid ofcompanies like IBM, Komag, MaxMedia, andSeagate Technology. These companies serve asadvisers and help develop curricula pertinent to thedisk drive industry.

Since 1994, approximately 400 students have takenEvergreen Valley’s data storage courses. About 60students are enrolled for the 1999 Spring semester.Evergreen Valley offers programs in: DiskDrive/Thin Film Technology; ManufacturingMaintenance; Head, Gimble & Stack Assembly; andSubstrate Technology. Program classes are alsooffered at San Jose City College. According toEvergreen Valley College Program Dean KathyWerle, the advantage for the industry is that theworkforce becomes more knowledgeable at anegligible cost to the companies.

And in Minnesota, where there is a shortage ofqualified vacuum technicians and operators, SeagateTechnology, VTC Inc., Cypress Semiconductor, andHoneywell have teamed with NormandaleCommunity College to develop a VacuumTechnology Program. Although vacuum technologyis an integral part in the manufacture ofsemiconductor chips, thin film heads, and recordingmedia, there are few educational options thatspecifically focus on this important subject. TheNormandale program offers a solution to this skilled

Director ofEducation,Sally Bryant,Ed.D.408.330.8106

Storage Companies Partner withCommunity Colleges to ProvideSkilled WorkforceNew programs at Evergreen Valley College, San Jose, Calif.,and Normandale Community College, Bloomington, Minn.,help students prepare for the information storage industry.

workforce shortage by providing students withthe education and training needed to run andmaintain expensive vacuum equipment.

“The importance of a partnership between localsemiconductor companies and the educationsystems became apparent at VTC when werecognized the disparity between the skillsrequired and the skills available within theworkforce,” said Ed Schnable, vice president ofManufacturing Operations, VTC Inc., a leadingmanufacturer of integrated circuits.

In addition to providing curriculum developmentassistance, partner companies built and maintaina state-of-the-art teaching lab on the SeagateTechnology campus. With over a million dollarsin thin film, photolithography and trainingequipment, the vacuum technology lab providesthe hands-on training vital to understanding thiscomplex subject. Students work along sideseasoned engineers to solve the most difficultvacuum problems.

Many of the Evergreen Valley and Normandalestudents are currently working in the data storageindustry, but don’t have a degree. These datastorage programs are designed for workingprofessionals, and provide theory and hands-ontraining that enable students to problem-solveand increase their efficiency at work. By takingcourses developed in conjunction with leadingstorage companies, students gain a better senseof how the products their companies manufacturefit into the big picture.

To learn more about the Evergreen Valley Collegeand Normandale Community College programs,contact Dean Kathy Werle, Evergreen ValleyCollege at (408) 270-6490 or send e-mail [email protected]; or call Kent Maffitt,Normandale Community College, at (612) 832-6430 or send e-mail to [email protected] [email protected]

up

Stanford University’s StanfordCenter for ProfessionalDevelopment (SCPD) offersIDEMA members graduate-level courses via satellite toIDEMA’s training facility.Beginning this spring,Professor Robert White,director, Stanford Center forResearch on InformationStorage Materials, will teachIntroduction to Magnetismand Magnetic Materials, acourse designed forengineers and scientistsworking in the field ofmagnetic recording.

May 18IDEMA office, Santa Clara, Calif.• Disk Drive Basics• Understanding Thin Film Media

Manufacturing

May 19IDEMA office, Santa Clara, Calif.• An Introduction to MR Head Technology• Understanding Thin Film Head

Manufacturing

June 3Radisson Hotel South and Plaza TowerMinneapolis, Minn. • Disk Drive Basics• Understanding Thin Film Media

Manufacturing

June 4Radisson Hotel South and Plaza TowerMinneapolis, Minn. • An Introduction to MR Head Technology• Understanding Thin Film Head

Manufacturing

July 13IDEMA office, Santa Clara, Calif.• Disk Drive Basics• An Introduction to MR Head Technology

July 14IDEMA office, Santa Clara, Calif.• An Introduction to MR Head Technology• Understanding Thin Film Head

Manufacturing

Register online at www.idema.org or call (408) 330-8103 for more information.

IDEMA education classes can be deliveredat your location, and tailored to meet yourneeds. Call (408) 330-8106 to arrange foron-site class instruction.

upcoming classes

The SCPD focuses on researchrelative to informationstorage materials, especiallymagnetism, thin films, andmultilayers. There are severalenrollment and tuitionoptions available. For moreenrollment information, visitwww.stanford.edu/dept/registrat/bulletin/SchoolOfEngineering/MaterialsScienceAndEngineering.

Stanford University Delivers Courses to IDEMAMembers via Satellite

Promote your company all yearwith IDEMA’s Disk Drive WorldMap Calendar

Kick off the new millenium with your company logo andheadquarters on IDEMA’s popular Disk Drive World MapCalendar, a colorful poster illustrating the data storageindustry. This promotional opportunity is exclusivelyoffered to IDEMA corporate members, and providesworldwide exposure to your company’s corporate image.

“We know it is a successful promotional tool because wesee it at our customers’ offices when we visit,” said Dr.Jay Sasserath, vice president of technical marketing atPlasma-Therm, Inc.

The IDEMA Disk Drive World Map Calendar is the mostcost-effective marketing tool available to storagecompanies today. For only $595, that’s less than $2 aday, your get your company logo and an artist’srendition of your facility, plus 30 FREE copies. Thecalendar also includes a foil stamped border featuringthe “Who’s Who” of the worldwide data storageindustry—IDEMA’s corporate members. Space islimited—place your order online at www.idema.orgbefore the April 16 deadline.

DISKCON JapanInternational Disk Forum Sessions

IDEMA Japan hosted its quarterly seminar on January 22,and more than 200 storage professionals attended tohear industry emissaries present their strategy for successin manufacturing and marketing data storage equipmentand materials. Speakers included: Jyunichi Numazawa,NHK Science and Technical Research Labs; Hideya Ino,director of storage development and manufacturing, IBMJapan; Yoshimasa Miura, general manager storageproducts division, Fujitsu; Jyoichiro Ezaki, generalmanager recording device division, TDK; YoshimitsuKobayashi, general manager recording materials division,Mitsubishi Chemical; as well as Dataquest Chief AnalystJohn Monroe, who spoke on the recent developments inthe rigid disk drive industry.

And on April 14-16, IDEMA Japan will present the 7thannual DISKCON Japan, the largest technical conferenceand trade show dedicated to the data storage industry inall Asia. The show, held at Tokyo Big Sight, will featuremore than 150 companies exhibiting the next generationof disk drive components and materials. Last year, over16,000 people registered to attend this important IDEMAevent, and more are expected to attend this year.DISKCON also hosts Information Storage Japan, aseparate tradeshow featuring manufacturers of disk drivesand other storage devices.

DISKCON Japan provides storage professionals with aworld class International Disk Forum with speakers from

April 141:00—3:00 p.m. Keynote Speech2:00—3:30 p.m. Marketing Trends3:30—5:00 p.m. Media Technology

April 1510:00—11:30 a.m. Measurement Technology1:00—2:00 p.m. Topics from Academy2:00—5:00 p.m. Removable Storage Technology

April 161:00—3:00 p.m. Drive, Mechanical Technology3:00—5:00 p.m. Head Technology

IDEMA Japan

the industry’s leading companies. Over 300 professionals fromaround the world are expected to attend the Forum this year tolearn about key storage issues, such as head, media andmeasurement technologies, removable storage and drivemechanics.

Storage professionals interested in learning more about IDEMAactivities in Japan are encouraged to visit the IDEMA JapanWeb site at www.idema.gr.jp.

Tatsuo Sugiura,Executive Director

more exhibitsSponsored by the International DiskDrive Equipment and MaterialsAssociation (IDEMA), the seventhannual DISKCON Japan delivers morethan 150 companies exhibiting thenext generation of disk drivecomponents and materials.DISKCON also hosts InformationStorage Japan, a separatetradeshow featuring manufacturersof disk drives and storage devices.Learn how your company canbenefit from the industry’s next-generation products by attendingthe free exhibitor presentations.

technical conferencesDISKCON Japan provides storageprofessionals with a world classInternational Disk Forum withspeakers from the industry’s leadingcompanies. Over 300 professionalsare expected to attend the Forum thisyear to learn about key storageissues, such as head, media andmeasurement technologies, removable

storage and drive mechanics.

online registrationFor comprehensive conference details

and to register online, visit the IDEMAJapan Web site today at

http://www.idema.gr.jp/ or call 81-3-3539-7071. For exhibit information,

contact SHO at 650-964-2050 or e-mail showorganizer Mesago Japan Corporation at

[email protected] or call 81-3-3359-0894.

April 14-16, 1999Tokyo Big Sight

Tokyo International Exhibition Center

DISKCON®

Delivers.

Sponsored by

Setting the Direction in

Storage Solutions

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Asia: Shifting the Balance of Power in the HDD Industry?

ESD Safety in Cleanrooms: Natural vs. Man-made Materials

Understanding ESD in Magnetic Recording Symposium and Tabletop Exhibition

Storage Companies Partner with Community Colleges to Provide Skilled Workforce

March/April 1999

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