Data storage IC technology

This paper focuses on the evolution and present trends of disk drive read channel implementations. This segment of the data storage IC industry is under tremendous performance and price pressure to meet the demands of the ever increasing computational and storage capacity requirements of now widely available computer platforms. These requirements have fueled the appearance of more and more sophisticated read channel processors. Classical peak detector channels have ruled disk drives for 30 years before giving way to discrete time read channel processors. A plethora of new channel architectures and suppliers have entered the market. Understanding the merits and the performance potentials of the various approaches is important for everybody who is involved in this industry.