An active head slider using a piezoelectric cantilever for in-situ flying-height control

Author

Suzuki, Kenji ; Maeda, Ryutaro ; Chu, Jiaru ; Kato, Takahisa ; Kurita, Masayuki

Author_Institution

Dept. of Eng. Synthesis, Univ. of Tokyo, Japan

fYear

2002

fDate

27-29 Aug. 2002

Abstract

This paper describes design and fabrication of MEMS-based active head sliders using piezoelectric unimorph cantilevers for in-situ flying-height control. Silicon sliders with PZT thin films were fabricated monolithically using a micromachining process. A deflection of more than 40 nm was obtained at the cantilever tip by applying a voltage of 4 V. Furthermore, an ABS (air bearing surface) design that makes the reduction of the aerodynamic reaction force possible during the head operation is discussed.

Keywords

aerodynamics; disc drives; elemental semiconductors; hard discs; machine bearings; magnetic heads; microactuators; micromachining; piezoelectric actuators; piezoelectric thin films; position control; silicon; 4 V; 40 nm; ABS design; MEMS-based active head sliders; PZT thin films; PZT-Si; PbZrO3TiO3-Si; Si; aerodynamic reaction force; air bearing surface design; cantilever tip deflection; cantilever voltage; head operation; in-situ flying-height control; microactuators; microelectromechanical devices; micromachining process; piezoelectric unimorph cantilevers; silicon sliders; Aerodynamics; Fabrication; Magnetic heads; Microactuators; Micromachining; Piezoelectric films; Semiconductor thin films; Silicon; Transistors; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Magnetic Recording Conference, 2002. Digest of the Asia-Pacific

Conference_Location

Singapore

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7509-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/APMRC.2002.1037944

Filename

1037944