A Slider With an Integrated Microactuator (SLIM) for Second Stage Actuation in Hard Disc Drives

A slider with an integrated microactuator (SLIM) was devised, which is capable of actuating a read-write element of a hard disc drive (HDD) in both vertical direction (adjusting the flying height) and in lateral direction (allowing second stage actuation). The read-write element is located on a chiplet attached to a mounting platform. A pair of integrated electromagnetic microactuators appropriately activates this mounting platform and thus the read-write element. This design promises a cost competitive solution for HDD recording head microactuation. While the SLIM design as well as the thin-film fabrication of the SLIM component parts were completed, a 40 : 1 model allowed for initial system level experimental measurements which indicate a good agreement between the performance of the model and the actual SLIM device.