Agere Systems Begins Sampling Industry’s Fastest Preamplifier Chip For Enterprise And Desktop Hard Disk Drive Markets. Agere Systems today announced that it is shipping samples to customers of its latest high-performance; low-power preamplifier integrated circuit (IC) specifically designed for use in enterprise and desktop computer hard disk drives (HDDs). Agere’s new TrueStore PA7800 preamplifier offers exceptional performance, with the industry’s fastest operating speeds topping 2.5 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) while consuming nearly 30 percent less power in write mode than the previous-generation Agere chips. The PA7800 enables higher capacity through its increased data rate, compatibility with a new generation of TMR heads and reduced power dissipation.
An HDD’s preamplifier is closely tied to the performance of the drive’s heads and media. As a drive “reads” analog data from the disk drive platter, the preamplifier amplifies these extremely small signals before they are sent to a read-channel IC for sophisticated processing and digitization. A preamplifier is also integral to the write process by driving current through the inductive write head, which records information on the platter. Agere expects to be in volume production with its high-performance PA7800 preamplifier IC by the fall of 2007.