Chemically modified air-bearing surface for the near contact regime - part 1: concept and characterization

In order to increase the areal density of hard disk drives, it is crucial to reduce the physical spacing between the read-write head and the magnetic layer. Currently, the head-disk clearance decreases to less than 10 nm. At such a clearance the thickness of the lubricant on a hard disk contributes more than 10% of the clearance. Consequently, the lubricant pickup phenomenon becomes a serious problem. One solution for achieving good flying ability under 10 nm would be to lower the surface energy of the air-bearing surface of the slider. Reducing the surface energy of ABS provides the promise of good flying ability. In order to confirm an improvement in slider performance, take-off velocity (TOV) was examined. As a result, TOV changed roughly from 3000 rpm to 2000 rpm. The subsequent paper shows improvements in the slider´s performance.