Skew compensation signal

Abstract

The relative trajectory of a transducer head over bit-patterned media (BPM) may be skewed with respect to a down-track direction on the media (i.e., skew error). In order to resolve the skew error, the presently disclosed technology measures the skew error without adding additional patterning on the media. A detector circuit detects a sequential series of data bits on a storage media. The sequential series of data bits alternate between at least two tracks on the storage media. The sequential series of data bits are sent to a timing circuit, which sets a time stamp indicating when each data bit is received using, for example, a delay chain or a voltage ramp. A time elapsed between receiving a first data bit, a second data bit, and a third data bit is tracked. Transducer head skew is adjusted based on a signal containing the time elapsed between the bits.