Analysis of Tape Surface Roughness by Magnetic Recording and Mechanical Methods

Tape surface roughness noise is a large component of medium noise in high-density tape recording systems. Here, the results of tape surface roughness characterization by both mechanical and magnetic measurements are presented. The goal is to measure and compare both RMS roughness variance [Sigma] and roughness correlation length l. The results show that the magnetic recording determination of [Sigma] and l agrees extremely well with the mechanical measurements. Index Terms--Magnetic tape, roughness correlation length, roughness variance, surface roughness.