Head protrusion and its implications on head-disk interface reliability

Author

Wang, Run-Han ; Wu, Xiao Z. ; Weresin, Walt ; Ju, Y. Sungtaek

Author_Institution

IBM Res. Div., IBM Almaden Res. Center, San Jose, CA, USA

Volume

37

Issue

4

fYear

2001

fDate

7/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1842

Lastpage

1844

Abstract

As magnetic recording areal density increases the mechanical spacing between the head and the disk continues to shrink. Head protrusion, induced by write current heating of the coil and yoke during recording at operating temperature, may interfere with the disk. In this work, we have measured the head temperatures as a function of write current, frequency and flying conditions. The rise in coil temperature for a flying head was found to be much less than a head on the load/unload ramp. The measured temperature coefficient was consistent with the simulation. The amount of head protrusion was measured as a function of the write current. The head-disk interaction of the interface after 100000 write current bursts resulted in alumina wear. Some of the effects of head protrusion on the interface reliability are discussed

Keywords

magnetic disc storage; magnetic heads; Al₂O₃; alumina wear; areal density; coil temperature coefficient; flying height; head protrusion; head-disk interface reliability; load/unload technology; magnetic recording; mechanical spacing; write current heating; Atomic force microscopy; Coils; Current measurement; Force measurement; Frequency; Magnetic heads; Magnetic recording; Temperature measurement; Temperature sensors; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.950985

Filename

950985