Dual-element, unshielded hall head

A new Hall-effect read head, consisting of either one or two thin InSb films perpendicular to the medium surface and incorporating no ferromagnetic materials, is proposed. The predicted performance of this head, obtained by numerical modeling, is better than that of inductive or magnetoresistive film heads, as well as that of ferrite heads. Because of the absence of ferromagnetic materials, this head generates no Barkhausen noise. Using the best presently available materials, its output voltage, signal-to-noise ratio and off-track performance are such that very high track densities - 100 tracks/mm (2500 tpi) and higher - are achievable.