Abstract
HDDs are used in a plethora of business applications ranging from PCs,
notebooks, printers and copiers, consumer products such as MP3 music players,
digital video recorders, game consoles, media-rich mobile phones, and home
servers. Every application dictates a different type of HDD, ranging in
capacity from 1GB to 500GB, in physical size from 0.85 inches to 3.5 inches,
featuring a variety of spindle speeds: 3,600-rpm, 4,200-rpm, 5,400-rpm,
7,200-rpm, 10,000-rpm and 15,000-rpm.
Increasing demand for computing and consumer devices is driving demand for
digital data storage and low-cost, high-performance disk drives. We believe
there are a number of key factors driving this demand, including:
- Increased demand for personal computers with high storage capacities
driven by consumer multi-media, broadband and wireless applications, increased
business usage and proliferation of computers in developing economies;
- Increased demand for enterprise storage driven by a broader deployment of
applications which require significant storage capacity, such as enterprise
software, data warehousing, data recovery, and data security operations;
- Increased demand for new consumer electronic applications which require
significant digital data storage capability, including digital video and audio
recorders, video game platforms, emerging high-definition television
applications, and global positioning systems.
Thin-film media, or disks, are enabling components in disk drives. The
technical advances by disk suppliers, along with those of other component
suppliers, have improved the performance and storage capacity of disk drives
and dramatically lowered the cost per GB stored. Disk suppliers help drive
technology innovation in disk drives by increasing storage capacities per
square inch of disk surface, referred to as areal density, and improving
reliability.
Disks are sold primarily to disk drive manufacturers for incorporation into
disk drives. Disk drives, in turn, are sold to computer or consumer appliance
manufacturers that incorporate the disk drives into their systems, or are sold
directly to consumers.
Hard drives have delivered remarkable advances in capacity, reliability and
cost, but until now those advances have been primarily directed at traditional
computing applications. The consumer electronics market is ripe for widespread
implementation of hard drives to boost storage capacity and deliver rapid and
random access to audio, video and gaming content. The different needs of
consumer devices will challenge hard-drive makers to develop innovative
solutions that balance capacity, power consumption, reliability and other
performance issues to best fit the application at an acceptable cost in a
highly competitive industry. Hard drive electronics can play an essential part
in meeting these needs by providing advanced capabilities that offer drive
makers more design options and flexibility in smaller, power efficient chips
and through system-on-a-chip integration.
The relentless migration in consumer electronics toward mobility at a small
form factor indicates that size does matter. New 0.85-inch HDDs, only a
quarter the size of a 1.8-inch hard disk drive and about the size of a postage
stamp, boost the functionality of a new generation of products, including
mobile phones, digital audio players, PDAs, digital still cameras, and
camcorders.
In the fast-growing consumer electronics market such as MP3 and digital video
camcorder, HDDs compete against flash memory. Compared to flash memory, a
1-inch hard drive has greater capacity, lower cost per gigabyte and faster
data transfer rates than flash, whereas flash memory is smaller, lower in
power, and more rugged. Both drives and flash manufacturers keep upping
capacities and lowering prices, as witnessed by Apple Computer' s recent switch
from HDD in the iPod Mini to flash memory in the iPod Nano.
This report focuses on the entire hard disk drive market food chain, analyzing
the markets for hard disk drives, substrates, and thin film heads. Processing
issues in the manufacture of each of these sectors in included and the report
details the CMP and Lithography sectors of thin film head processing. Market
forecasts of all sectors are detailed.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - The Disk Drive Market Infrastructure
Chapter 2 - The Disk Drive Industry
- 2.1 Hard Disk Drive Trends
- 2.2 Hard Disk Form Factors
- 2.3 Hard Disk Drive Market Analysis
- 2.3.1 Desktop PCs
- 2.3.2 Portable PCs
- 2.3.3 Enterprise
- 2.3.4 Consumer Electronics
- 2.4 Competitive Structure
- 2.4.1 HDD Market Share
- 2.4.2 Solid-State Drives (SSD)
- 2.4.3 Hybrid Hard Drives (HHD)
Chapter 3 - The Media Market
- 3.1 Industry Trends
- 3.2 Media Profiles
- 3.3 Media Market Supplier Shares
Chapter 4 - The Substrate Market
- 4.1 Platter Substrate Materials
- 4.1.1 Aluminum Disks
- 4.1.2 Glass Disks
- 4.2 Substrate Market
- 4.3 Substrate Suppliers
- 4.4 Glass Substrate Supplier Shares
Chapter 5 - Recording Heads 5-
- 5.1 Thin Film Read/Write Heads
- 5.1.1 Thin Film (TF) Heads
- 5.1.2 Magnetoresistive (MR/AMR) Heads
- 5.1.3 Giant Magnetoresistive (GMR) Heads
- 5.1.4 Colossal Magnetoresistive (CMR) Heads
- 5.1.5 Current-Perpendicular-To-Place (CPP) Heads
- 5.1.6 Ballistic Magnetoresistance (BMR) Heads
- 5.2 Trends
- 5.3 Recording Head Market Forecast
Chapter 6 - Processing Trends And Markets
- 6.1 Head Processing
- 6.1.1 Head Fabrication - CMP, Deposition, Lithography
- 6.1.1.1 CMP Challenges
- 6.1.1.2 Lithography Challenges
- 6.2 Patterned Magnetic Media
- 6.2.1 Conventional Media
- 6.2.2 Patterned Media
- 6.3 Market Analysis Of Discrete Track Media
- 6.3.1 The Perpendicular Recording Movement
- 6.3.2 A Blurry Roadmap From HDD Manufacturers
- 6.3.3 Analogy From The Semiconductor Industry
- 6.3.4 A Blurry Roadmap From Equipment Suppliers
- 6.3.5 Cost of Ownership (CoO) Analysis
- 6.4 CMP Slurry Market
- 6.4.1 Ceria Slurry For Glass Disk Market
- 6.4.2 Oxide Slurry For Metal Disk Market
- 6.4.3 Oxide Slurry For Thin Film Head Market
LIST OF FIGURES
- 1.1. Hard Disk Drive Infrastructure
- 2.1. Hard Disk Drive Roadmap
- 2.2. Decrease In Average Price Of Storage
- 2.3. Heads Per Drive -- 2003-2014
- 2.4. Increase In Areal Density
- 2.5. HDD Market Forecast By Form Factor
- 2.6. HDD Market Percentages By Form Factor
- 2.7. 1.8 inch HDD Market Forecast
- 2.8. Platter Forecast
- 2.9. Ratio of Platter to HDDs
- 2.10. Forecast of Desktop Computers
- 2.11. Forecast of Portable Computers
- 2.12. 2010 HDD Supplier Market Shares - Total Market
- 2.13. 2010 HDD Supplier Market Shares - Mobile
- 2.14. 2010 HDD Supplier Market Shares - CE
- 2.15. 2010 HDD Supplier Market Shares - Desktop
- 2.16. 2010 HDD Supplier Market Shares - Enterprise ATA
- 2.17. 2010 HDD Supplier Market Shares - Enterprise
- 2.18. 2010 HDD Supplier Market Shares - 1.8 Inch
- 2.19. 2010 HDD Supplier Market Shares - 2.5 Inch
- 2.20. 2010 HDD Supplier Market Shares - 3.5 Inch
- 3.1. HDD Media Structure
- 3.2. Market Shares Of Media Suppliers - 2010
- 3.3. Market Shares Of Independent Media Suppliers - 2010
- 4.1. HDD Platter Demand
- 4.2. HDD Shipment Forecast By Media Type
- 4.3. HDD Shipments By Media Type As Percentage Of Total
- 4.4. Glass Substrate Market Shares - 2010
- 5.1. Detailed Structure Diagram Of A GMR Head Assembly
- 5.2. (A) CIP Recording Head Structure (B) CPP Head Structure
- 5.3. Evolution Of Slider/Air Bearing Surface
- 5.4. Evolution Of HDD Recording Head Formats
- 5.5. Market Forecast Of Recording Head Consumption
- 5.6. Heads Per Drive Forecast
- 5.7. Market Share Of Head Suppliers - 2010
- 6.1. Thin Film Head Structure
- 6.2. Critical Features In Thin Film Head Structure
- 6.3. Spin Valve Head Structure
- 6.4. Cross-Sectional View TFH Stacks
- 6.5. Cross-Sectional View Of A TFH Design
- 6.6. CMP Slurry System For TFH Wafer Polishing
- 6.7. Critical Feature Trends In Thin Film Heads
- 6.8. Conventional Multigrain Media
- 6.9. Patterned Media
- 6.10a. Fabrication Of Patterned Media
- 6.10b. Fabrication Of Patterned Media
- 6.11. Nanoimprint Lithography Fabrication Of DTR Media
- 6.12. Hitachi' s Technology Roadmap
- 6.13. Seagate' s Technology Roadmap
- 6.14. Samsung' s Technology Roadmap
- 6.15. Magnetic Materials For DTR
- 6.16. Example Of A Thin Film Stack For DTR
- 6.17. Nanoimprint Lithography Process
- 6.18. DTR Film Deposition Alternatives
- 6.19. Ion Beam Etching Processes
- 6.20. Planarization By Etchback
- 6.21. Total Slurry Consumption For HDD Forecast
LIST OF TABLES
- 2.1. HDD Shipments by Form Factor 2001-2014
- 2.2. HDD Shipments by Application 2001-2014
- 2.3. Consumer Electronics HDD Shipments by Application 2001-2014
- 3.1. Substrate Materials Of Media Suppliers
- 4.1. Worldwide Glass Disk Capacity
- 5.1. Market Share of Suspension Manufacturers
- 6.1. Cost Of Ownership Assumptions
- 6.2. Cost Of Ownership Analysis
- 6.3. Cost Of Ownership Analysis
- 6.4. Slurry And Abrasive Suppliers And Products
- 6.5. Worldwide Ceria Slurry For Glass Media Market
- 6.6. Worldwide Oxide Slurry For Metal Market
- 6.7. Worldwide Oxide Slurry For Thin Film Heads
