‘Near Zero Power’ Disk Drive Preamplifiers for Sub-2.5" Drives in Portable Products from STMicroelectronics

Disk drives with platter size smaller than 2.5 inch are currently used almost exclusively in MP3 players and portable video recorders and players. Total Write-Mode power consumption of the new L6440 – the first device in the NZP family – is just 170mW (at 450-Mbits/sec data rate), and will enable manufacturers to offer longer battery lifetime between charges, or more compact products with the same battery life by using a smaller battery. The L6440 is the latest implementation of proprietary architectures that aim to reduce power consumption and increase overshoot voltage.



ST’s L6440 currently supports a maximum data rate of up to 600 Mbps, some three times higher than that of existing preamplifiers designed for portable applications. This significant speed increase will allow higher data transfer rates to and from storage devices, enabling the use of 1.8 inch drives in the emerging market for ultra-slim laptop PCs; most laptops now use bulkier 2.5 inch drives.



“Once again, ST is at the forefront of hard-disk drive IC technology, shattering the boundaries in power consumption,” said Roberto Fantechi, General Manager of ST’s Data Storage Division. “Our ‘Near Zero Power’ technology enables a new generation of open-market preamplifiers for sub-2.5 inch hard drives with unprecedented low power consumption, extending battery life and opening new markets for tiny hard drives.”



ST’s proprietary Fast Sleep Mode further reduces overall power requirements by allowing the preamplifier to remain in a sleep mode even most of time the end-product is operating, extending battery life. Fast Sleep combines low 250µW sleep power with very fast 500ns Sleep-to-Read recovery time, so that the amplifier can wake rapidly from Sleep to perform a short Read operation and then return to Sleep to save power. A Deep Sleep Mode reduces power consumption even lower, either under control or automatically after a 350µs timeout, at the expense of a slightly longer (2.5µs) recovery to Read.



The L6440 4-channel version and the L6420 2-channel preamplifiers are ready for both single- and dual-platter drives, supporting both longitudinal and perpendicular recording. Sample devices, priced at $5.00, plus an evaluation board, will be available from the end of July 2006, with volume production planned for Q1 2007. They will be shipped as bumped bare dice.