Infineon Technologies today announced that it is sampling the industry?s first hard-disk drive read-channel integrated circuit (IC) implemented in 0.13-micron process technology. Designed to achieve data transfer rates on a disk drive of 1.6 Gigabits per second under worst case conditions, the new read channels will help drive manufacturers keep pace with market demand for faster high-density drives used in enterprise data storage systems. Read channel ICs perform a critical function in translating the information encoded on magnetic hard disks into digital ?bits? of data. With the new read channel, Infineon combines more than four and one half years of hard disk read channel development experience and its advanced manufacturing technology to produce a read channel with data rate performance 40 percent greater than currently available components. First silicon was specifically developed for a strategic enterprise customer and is currently being integrated into drives. Infineon will release general engineering samples of the 0.13-micron read channel to qualified customers in the fall of this year, and plans to ramp production to support disk drive designs reaching market in the first half of 2003. Source: Infineon