Roughness and recording properties of particulate tapes: A quantitative study

Recording properties such as modulation noise and output are known to be strongly influenced by the surface roughness of the magnetic coating. On the basis of a simple two-dimensional model for the contact between magnetic head and coating we are able to account for the roughness effects quantitatively. The head-tape distance is used as an intermediate parameter. Our model was successfully tested by experiments on 8 mm metal powder tapes and 1/2-inch video tapes.