Agere Systems Tuesday unveiled a new chip
geared to make desktop and mobile hard disk drives capable of storing more
data than ever — and with little data integrity compromise.
The chip, the first in Agere’s family of TrueStore components for storage
applications, offers increased functionality and signal integrity. The
TrueStore RC6500 read-channel is being fitted by major drive makers to
extend capacity beyond current 80-Gigabyte-per-platter desktop drives and
40-Gigabyte-per-platter mobile drives.
The chips will be used in hard drives to accommodate consumer PC
applications such as interactive games and digital video, digital photos and
MP3s.
The TrueStore RC6500 read-channel was manufactured using the standard 130
nanometer complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process technology,
allowing Allentown, Pa.’s Agere to add more signal processing while
maintaining small chip size and low power consumption.
Agere’s read-channel ICs, found in more than 40 percent of the world’s disk
drives according to IDC, ensure the accuracy of all of the data read from or
written to a disk drive.
The read-channel is available in 56- and 68-pin MLCC packages, which are
thermally enhanced for improved power dissipation. Engineering samples of
the RC6500 will be shipped to key customers in February, with production
quantities expected in July 2003.
