Read-Rite Succeeds Using Veeco Instruments

Veeco Instruments Inc. (Plainview, NY) recently reported that Read-Rite Corporation's (Milpitas, CA) success in developing a high density giant magnetoresistive (GMR) thin film magnetic head success was achieved while using Veeco's ion beam etch, (IBE), ion beam deposition (IBD) and physical vapor deposition (PVD) equipment.

Read-Rite's advanced GMR heads manufactured in their Fremont, California production facilities exceeded areal densities of 11Gb per in2, which translates to 15GB per 3.5 inch disk. Read-Rite expects to be sampling these GMR heads to customers later this year.

Veeco expects to ship an additional ion beam deposition (IBD) system to Read-Rite in July.

Veeco Instruments Inc., is a worldwide supplier of Metrology tools for the data storage and semiconductor industries, and Process Equipment etch and deposition tools for the data storage industry.

Read-Rite Corporation is an independent manufacturer of recording heads, head gimbal assemblies (HGAs) and head stack assemblies (HSAs) for disk drives and magnetoresistive heads for quarter-inch-cartridge tape drives.

For more information: Debra Wasser. Tel: 516-349-8300, x1472