Abstract
This paper describes the design of active head sliders for flying height control using micromachined thin-film PZT. Because of the low power of the actuator, it is necessary to minimize the aerodynamic reaction force and the change of the flying attitude when the head is lowered. In order to meet these requirements, air bearing surface (ABS) geometry with 5 pads has been designed and the driving voltage has been calculated, using the MGL theory for flying height analysis and FEM model for piezoelectric analysis. The head/disk distance of 5 nm is achieved by applying 2.2 V to the slider flying at 20 nm height, with little change of the flying attitude. Furthermore, ABS geometry which generates the negative pressure around the head has been designed. This reduces the driving voltage necessary for the head/disk distance of 5nm to 1.7V.
