Slider/disk separation at rest

The separation between a slider and a disk at rest is an important factor to be considered in the design of rigid disk drives. It provides designers with useful information about low safe flying height, maximum achievable areal density, and stiction performance. In this paper, we present an approach to estimate this separation. In contrast to approaches seen in the literature, this model takes into account the geometry of the contacting surfaces, e.g. slider crown, instead of assuming they are nominally flat. With this, the slider/disk separation can be better estimated for a given applied load. In addition to the separation, other useful information can also be obtained, such as the maximum contact pressure