Contact Hysteresis Behavior of Textured Pad Slider in Head–Disk Interface

Takeoff performance of the magnetic head slider on head-disk interface is influenced by a stick-slip vibration of a slider enhanced by the friction of the head-disk contact. We studied this phenomenon using a simulation of slider vibration based on stick-slip analysis. Obvious degradation in the takeoff performance was estimated for the disks with large friction through the simulation of the contact hysteresis defined by the difference of takeoff height and touchdown height. In order to confirm that simulation result, several types of textured pad sliders by focused ion beam fabrication were evaluated by touchdown and takeoff measurement. These pad sliders were textured at a small area near the trailing edge on a trailing pad as a corresponding contact area. The texturing of a trailing pad did not disturb the flyability of slider because the textured area was very small and did not decrease the slider fly height. As a result, the contact hysteresis of textured sliders became smaller as a function of contact area and improved the takeoff performance