抄録
To decrease magnetic spacing on head/disk interface of hard disk drive (HDD), magnetic spacing variations due to manufacturing tolerances and environmental variations should be reduced. To solve this problem, thermal flying height control (TFC) technology, which carries micro actuator near magnetic element, is applied. TFC technology can control the magnetic spacing during HDD operation by applying power. It is known that reduction of flying height is compensated by increasing in air bearing force due to TFC protrusion. This effect obstructs efficient flying height control. Larger TFC power is required to decrease magnetic spacing further. To ensure the reliability of magnetic element and reduce consumption power of HDD, TFC efficiency should be improved. In this report, we have investigated theoretically and experimentally how to improve the TFC efficiency for air bearing surface (ABS) design. We developed prototype slider of improved TFC efficiency design and investigated TFC related characteristics. As a result, the new design shows higher TFC efficiency than that of conventional design.
