TMR is a new technology that gained Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1988, which also earned them the title of “The fathers of the Hard Drive” for the discovery of the “Great Magnetoresistance” effect. Let’s look into this today.
What is TMR?
TMR (Tunnel Magnetoresistance) is a technology introduced to hard drives in 2004 to create Terabyte level single disc hard drives.
In 2024 TMR has been used in aftermarket joystick replacements to remove the issue of “stick drift”.
What is Stick Drift?
Joysticks often use carbon film potentiometers to detect the movement of the stick in both the up-down and left-right movement. Over a short time (weeks in the hands of a heavy gamer) the potentiometers wear out and the controller starts to drift in a direction. This drift makes games unplayable and the controller has to be replaced.
How does TMR stop Stick Drift?
The original design of Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo game controllers uses traditional resistive carbon film joystick technology with a constant power supply design, with a power capacity limited to about 1mA. This power limitation rules out a technology known as Hall Effect, which typically requires higher current to operate. TMR joysticks are a drop-in replacement and draw between 0.1mA and 0.3mA.
Like Hall Effect sensors, TMR joysticks use a magnet on the stick and sensors that detect the movemnet of the magnetic field so there are fewer moving parts and the active parts don’t wear out.
Where can I get replacement joysticks?
You need to find a games controller repair company, and the manufacturer of the aftermarket TMR joysticks is GuliKit. iFixit have a video detailing the replacement of a joystick in an XBox controller:
