Abstract
A slider with an air-bearing surface that has a small spherical pad around the read/write elements on the trailing center pad was developed to reduce the meniscus and friction forces and slider clearance loss. While the slider which has a spherical pad of a radius less than 10 mm, the meniscus force is reduced to less than 10% of the air-bearing lift force, thus, flying height modulation is decreased and instability are suppressed. Evaluation using an air-bearing surface model with a spherical pad showed that slider clearance was increased by 1 nm at a 5-nm nominal flying height. Evaluation using touchdown-takeoff testing of a spherical pad slider fabricated by depositing carbon on the center pad air-bearing surface by means of the lift-off resist technique showed that the spherical pad slider had a very small friction force and acoustic emission output up to a 5-nm interference height. It thus provides instability-free sliding in the near-contact regime.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 161-167 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Tribology Letters |
Volume | 30 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2008 Jun |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Friction force
- Head slider
- Head/disk interface
- Meniscus force
- Spherical pad slider
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering
- Surfaces and Interfaces
- Surfaces, Coatings and Films