Air Bearing Pushback in Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording

Author(s):  
Shaomin Xiong ◽  
Robert Smith ◽  
Chanh Nguyen ◽  
Youfeng Zhang ◽  
Yeoungchin Yoon

Abstract The air bearing surface is critical to the spacing control in current hard disk drives (HDDs). Thermal protrusions, including thermal flying height control (TFC) and writer coil protrusion, drive the reader/writer elements closer to the magnetic media. The spacing control actuation efficiency depends on the air bearing push back response after the TFC or writer protrudes. In the next generation hard disk drive technology, heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), laser induced protrusions further complicate the spacing control. The laser induced protrusions, such as the localized NFT protrusion and a wider change of the crown and camber, have very different dimensions and transient characteristics than the traditional TFC and writer protrusion. The dimension of the NFT protrusion is relatively smaller, and the transient is much faster than the TFC protrusion. However, it is found that the NFT protrusion is large enough to generate an air bearing push back effect, which changes the read and write spacing when the laser is powered on. To accurately control spacing in HAMR, this push back effect has to be taken into account.

Author(s):  
Shuyu Zhang ◽  
Brian Strom ◽  
Sungchang Lee ◽  
George Tyndall

For a hard disk drive operating in a humid environment, the water vapor in the slider’s air bearing is typically compressed beyond its saturation vapor pressure, causing the vapor to condense. Consequently, the air bearing pressure decreases and the slider’s flying attitude adjusts to balance the forces from the suspension. A method for calculating this air bearing response to humid air is presented. Using one particular air bearing design as an example, several test cases are analyzed to illustrate the air bearing response for various temperatures and humidity levels. The calculated flying heights agree with those measured in commercial hard disk drives.


2007 ◽  
Vol 130 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuyu Zhang ◽  
Brian Strom ◽  
Sung-Chang Lee ◽  
George Tyndall

For a hard disk drive operating in a humid environment, the water vapor in the slider’s air bearing is typically compressed beyond its saturation vapor pressure, causing the vapor to condense. Consequently, the air bearing pressure decreases and the slider’s flying attitude adjusts to balance the forces from the suspension. A method for calculating this air bearing response to humid air is presented. Using two air bearing designs, several test cases are analyzed to illustrate the air bearing response for various temperatures and humidity levels. The calculated flying heights agree with those measured in commercial hard disk drives.


Author(s):  
Eric M. Jayson ◽  
Frank E. Talke

Hard disk drives must be designed to withstand shock during operation. Large movements of the slider during shock impulse can cause reading and writing errors, track misregistration, or in extreme cases, damage to the magnetic material and loss of data. The design of the air bearing contour determines the steady state flying conditions of the slider as well as dynamic flying conditions, including shock response. In this paper a finite element model of the hard disk drive mechanical components was developed to determine the time dependent forces and moments applied to the slider during a shock event. The time dependent forces and moments are applied as external loads in a solution of the dynamic Reynolds equation to determine the slider response to a shock event. The genetic algorithm was then used to optimize the air bearing contour for optimum shock response while keeping the steady flying conditions constant. The results show substantial differences in the spacing modulation of the head/disk interface after a shock as a function of the design of the air bearing contour.


2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 1693-1701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liane Matthes ◽  
Uwe Boettcher ◽  
Bernhard Knigge ◽  
Raymond de Callafon ◽  
Frank E. Talke

2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia-Yang Juang ◽  
David B. Bogy ◽  
C. Singh Bhatia

To achieve the areal density goal in hard disk drives of 1Tbit∕in.2 the minimum physical spacing or flying height (FH) between the read/write element and disk must be reduced to ∼2nm. A brief review of several FH adjustment schemes is first presented and discussed. Previous research showed that the actuation efficiency (defined as the ratio of the FH reduction to the stroke) was low due to the significant air bearing coupling. In this paper, an air bearing surface design, Slider B, for a FH control slider with a piezoelectric nanoactuator is proposed to achieve virtually 100% efficiency and to increase dynamics stability by minimizing the nanoscale adhesion forces. A numerical study was conducted to investigate both the static and dynamic performances of the Slider B, such as uniformity of gap FH with near-zero roll over the entire disk, ultrahigh roll stiffness and damping, low nanoscale adhesion forces, uniform FH track-seeking motion, dynamic load/unload, and FH modulation. Slider B was found to exhibit an overall enhancement in performance, stability, and reliability in ultrahigh density magnetic recording.


2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (5-7) ◽  
pp. 937-944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uwe Boettcher ◽  
Christopher A. Lacey ◽  
Hui Li ◽  
Kensuke Amemiya ◽  
Raymond A. de Callafon ◽  
...  

2008 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung-Chang Lee ◽  
Soo-Youl Hong ◽  
Na-Young Kim ◽  
Joerg Ferber ◽  
Xiadong Che ◽  
...  

Model scratches of the size found in hard disk drives are produced under controlled conditions at a series of applied loads on both longitudinal magnetic recording (LMR) media and perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) media using a diamond tip. The scratches are created at low speed, eliminating thermal considerations from the interpretation of the media response. Nanoindentations are produced as well. The scratches and indentations are characterized by atomic force microscope (AFM), magnetic force microscope (MFM), and also by the same magnetic reader and writer used in an integrated hard disk drive (HDD). A comparison of the response of PMR and LMR media shows the PMR media to have larger scratches and greater magnetic signal degradation than LMR media for a given scratch load. The extent of magnetic damage, as measured by MFM, is greater than the extent of surface mechanical damage, as measured by AFM. Analysis of scratches using the HDD reveals that the magnetic damage is irreversible and permanent damage in magnetic layer, which is confirmed by cross section transmission electron microscope image. The experiments reveal the mechanism for magnetic scratch erasure in the absence of thermal effects. This understanding is expected to lead to improved designs for mechanical scratch robustness of next-generation PMR media.


2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Puneet Bhargava ◽  
David B. Bogy

Prediction of the steady state flying height and attitude of air-bearing sliders in hard disk drives via simulations is the basis of their design process. Over the past few years air-bearing surfaces have become increasingly complex incorporating deep etches and steep wall profiles. In this paper we present a novel method of solving the inverse problem for air-bearing sliders in hard disk drives that works well for such new designs. We also present a new method for calculating the static air-bearing stiffness by solving three linear systems of equations. The formulation is implemented, and convergence studies are carried out for the method. Mesh refinements based on flux jumps and pressure gradients are found to work better than those based on other criteria.


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