Abstract
In recent magnetic storage systems, the spacing between the flying head and the disk has been dramatically decreased to less than 5 nm for realizing ultra-high density recording. Liquid lubricant on the disk is transferred to the flying head slider (pick-up) due to the intermittent contact between the slider and the disk or due to the condensation of the lubricant vapor. The small amount of the lubricant picked-up to the flying head slider will affect the flying characteristics and the read/write performance. In this study, characteristics of liquid transfer due to the breakage of a liquid meniscus bridge are investigated experimentally and theoretically. In particular, the effects of surface roughness on liquid transfer characteristics have been investigated.
