1409 Measurements of surface forces by AFM : Theoretical analysis by interface model and its experimental verification

Abstract

In the head disk interface (HDI) of a hard disk drive (HDD), flying characteristics of the head slider is influenced by the intermolecular force, the instability of lubricant and the solid contact, as the flying height decreases. Therefore, the interface model considering these effect is important. In the present study, force curve, which is generally used for measuring the surface interaction forces in atomic force microscope (AFM), was analyzed theoretically by applying the interface model to the mechanical model of AFM measurement. In this analysis method, effects of parameters on force curve were investigated. Furthermore, it was found that the theoretical values agree well with experimental values.