INNOVATIVE INSTRUMENTATION INCORPORATED

Innovative Instrumentation Incorporated operated from 1987 to 2007 providing non-destructive magnetic characterization equipment for the magnetic recording industry. From the beginning, the company's philosophy was to build unique equipment whose robust and adjustment free operation provided reliable and accurate results independent of the operator's skill level. The first product was a magneto-optic magnetometer (MOM) for rapid determination of the loop shape and coercivity of thin film media. At the time, this was the only commercial MOM available for hard magnetic films.

After several years, as the industry progressed towards the use of MR heads, the MrT product became an increasingly important number. Innovative Instrumentation Inc. introduced an entirely new instrument, the remanent moment magnetometer (RMMTM), which could map the remanent properties (MrT, Hcr, S') around a disk. This instrument became the major magnetic characterization tool for a number of manufacturers. It was subsequently modified to make similar measurements on the permanent magnet layer on MR head wafers and was used widely by the head industry where it was known as the XY-RMMTM

Within the period 1997-1998, three new pieces of equipment were introduced. SUPER-MOMTM, the quintessential magneto-optic looper, was a totally automated apparatus which simultaneously measured both sides of a disk in fields of 6 kOe. It could be loaded with up to three cassettes and could sort according to Hc values with a throughput of 1500 disks/hr. The vibrating large sample magnetometer, VLSMTM, was the largest commercial VSM and could measure samples up to six inches in diameter in fields up to 2.0 kOe. Lastly, the orientation ratio magnetometer, ORMTM, was an entirely new RMMTM which could measure the remanent properties in any direction on a disk and map the ratio of the properties in the circumferential direction to their corresponding values in an arbitrary direction. It handled sizes to 27mm and smaller and could the measure the time dependence of Hcr. It became the industry-wide accepted tool for measuring the orientation ratio in longitudinal media.

Again, in response to industry needs for quicker, more extensive, and more automated measurements, a new instrument, the FAST RMMTM , was introduced in the summer of 1999. This was a cassette loaded tool, as much as 50 times faster then the RMMTM , for fast accurate production control of thin film media. It was also a valuable tool for accurate & quick determination of the time dependence of Hcr.

In 2006, again reflecting the latest direction of the recording industry, a new tool for characterizing the remanent magnetic properties of perpendicular media, the PRMMTM was introduced. This was the only instrument capable of measuring, in non-destructive fashion, the remanent magnetic properties, in particular Mrt, of such media.

Innovative Instrumentation Inc. was dedicated to finding innovative and unique solutions to the measurement problems encountered in the magnetics industry. The various pieces of our equipment were all responses to problems presented to us by different customers. Each new problem was a challenge which invigorated us and led us to create additional products. Our research and manufacturing facility was located in Horsham, Pennsylvania, about 25 miles north of Philadelphia. Changes in the recording industry, principally a contraction in the number of manufacturers, made it no longer viable for III to remain in business.

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