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| Hitachi GST's areal density has increased
by a factor of 35 million since the first disk drive, RAMAC,
was introduced in 1957. Since 1991, the rate of increase has
accelerated to 60% per year, and since 1997 this rate has further
accelerated to an incredible 100% per year. This acceleration
is the result of the introduction of MR read heads in 1991,
GMR read heads in 1997 and AFC media in 2001, all of which were
first introduced by Hitachi GST. Today nearly all disk drives
in the industry incorporate the GMR read head design based on
the technology pioneered by Hitachi GST in 1997. It is of interest
to consider future areal density growth and the technology requirements
to maintain this growth. Generally, the industry expects areal
density to continue to increase to 100 Gbits/in2 and beyond
but at a somewhat lower growth rate. |
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