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Interactions between nano-spacing flying head sliders and ultra-thin liquid lubricant films with non-uniform distribution in hard disk drives

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Abstract

This paper describes the effect of ultra-thin liquid lubricant films on air bearing dynamics and flyability of less than 10 nm spacing flying head sliders in hard disk drives. In particular, the effect of non-uniform lubricant film distributions on head/disk interface dynamics are studied. The disks with lubricant on one half of disk surface thicker than the other half were used in this study. The dynamics of sliders is monitored using acoustic emission (AE) and the interactions between the slider and disk are investigated experimentally. The disks were also examined with a scanning micro-ellipsometer before and after each test. Complicated slider responses were observed and clarified. In addition, it was found that the periodic lubricant film thickness modulations or non-uniformity caused by the slider-disk contact interactions could be observed. It is suggested that this lubricant film thickness non-uniformity will be one of the technical issues in order to achieve ultra-low head/disk contact interface of less than 10 nm.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kansai University, 3-3-35, Yamate-cho, Suita, Osaka, 564-8680, Japan

    Norio Tagawa & Atsunobu Mori

  2. Production Engineering Center, Matsusita Electronic Components Co., Ltd., 1006, Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka, 571-8506, Japan

    Noritaka Yoshioka

Authors
  1. Norio Tagawa
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  2. Noritaka Yoshioka
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  3. Atsunobu Mori
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Correspondence to Norio Tagawa.

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Tagawa, N., Yoshioka, N. & Mori, A. Interactions between nano-spacing flying head sliders and ultra-thin liquid lubricant films with non-uniform distribution in hard disk drives. Microsyst Technol 11, 867–874 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-005-0564-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-005-0564-y

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