Title: Flying height adjustment technologies for high-density magnetic recording

Authors: Mingsheng Zhang, Bo Liu

Addresses: Data Storage Institute, Spintronics, Media and Interface Division, 5, Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117608. ' Data Storage Institute, Spintronics, Media and Interface Division, 5, Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117608

Abstract: The flying height adjustment technology becomes important to achieve the stable ultra low flying height for recording density 1 Tb/in² in hard disk drive. The possible approaches towards flying height adjustment, advantages and disadvantages of different adjusting methods are discussed. Finally, the flying stability of thermal actuated slider is studied taking into account the short-range interaction forces. It is noticed that the flying height of thermal actuated slider is less sensitive to the short-range interactions than the normal slider and can sustain larger shocks. The thermal actuated flying height adjusting technology is more suitable for ultra-low flying height applications.

Keywords: head-disk interface; HDI; flying height adjustment; air-bearing surface; ABS; microactuator; magnetic recording; magnetic hard disk drives; stability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2008.017466

International Journal of Product Development, 2008 Vol.5 No.3/4, pp.306 - 320

Published online: 11 Mar 2008 *

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