Negative pressure slider with temperature-insensitive flying...

Details Negative pressure slider with temperature-insensitive flying... Negative pressure slider with temperature-insensitive flying...

2000-11-03

2002-10-15

Tupper, Robert S. (Department: 2652)

Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval

Fluid bearing head support

Disk record

Reexamination Certificate

active

06466409

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to controlling the flying height of a magnetic head or slider relative to a magnetic disk in a disk storage device. More specifically, the present invention relates to the design of a negative pressure slider having a flying height that is not affected by changes in temperature.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the storage density of hard disk drives (HDDs) in magnetic disk storage devices increases, the HDDs are exposed to increasingly high-temperature environments. For example, as external factors, personal computers (notebook-sized personal computers and desktop personal computers) themselves that are objects that the HDDs are built in, are also downsized and further highly functioned. Therefore, heating values per unit area are apt to increase. In addition, since the HDDs themselves also generate heat from their insides with their operation, similarly to the densification reduction of thickness of package, reduction of diameter of disk and high functioning, the heating values per unit area also are apt to increase. Therefore, by mixing these external factors with internal factors, the HDDs are forced to be installed in severe high-temperature environments. From the background like this, HDDs are requested to have performance corresponding to a large temperature change with supposing that the HDDs are installed and used in the high-temperature environment.
When the HDDs operate under the large temperature change, reliability of the HDDs becomes important. Therefore, first, the internal construction and functions of the HDDs that relate to the reliability as an object of the present invention, will be described schematically. After that, relation between these construction and functions, and the temperature change will be described.
As shown in FIGS.
1
(
a
) and
1
(
b
), in a well-known method in the field of HDDs, a cantilever mechanism
20
, which supports a magnetic head
40
with traversing a surface of a magnetic disk
10
that rotates around a spindle in the direction shown by an arrow and is concentric circular, is driven by an actuator mechanism (this is also called a head positioner)
30
. Here, a rotary actuator mechanism driven with a shaft as the center is shown. Owing to the operation of these mechanisms, the magnetic head
40
is positioned at a desired position on the surface of the magnetic disk so as to allow read/write on the magnetic disk.
As shown in
FIG. 2
with being enlarged, the magnetic head
40
is mounted on an end of the cantilever mechanism
20
. Here, only a set necessary for sandwiching a sheet of magnetic disk from the face and back of the sheet of magnetic disk is shown. Nevertheless, two magnetic heads are mounted on two cantilever mechanisms
20
with facing each other so as to align the magnetic heads to both of the face and back of the sheet of magnetic disk. Inside an HDD (refer to
FIG. 1
) internally having a plurality of magnetic disks for increasing memory capacity, this plurality of cantilever mechanisms
20
is piled (in consequence, this becomes comb-shaped) so that the plurality of cantilever mechanisms
20
can enter at a time between the plurality of magnetic disks. In this specification, for convenience, this cantilever mechanism
20
or this piled mechanism will be called a suspension comprehensively.
In addition, a mechanism configured by the magnetic head
40
and suspension
20
will be called a suspension assembly. Furthermore, a mechanism including also an actuator mechanism
30
driving the mechanism composed of the magnetic head
40
and suspension
20
will be called an actuator mechanism assembly.
In this specification, the magnetic head
40
is a generic name of a mechanism that writes data by magnetizing a desired position on a surface of a magnetic disk, and on the contrary, reads data from a surface magnetized. In order to perform such functions, recently in particular, in a downsized magnetic head
40
, for example, a write transducer and read magnetizing means are separately provided at the location
42
. As the read magnetizing means, means using a magnetoresistive effect and means using a giant magneto resistive effect that has a larger magnetic resistance change than this are put into practice.
It is defined in this specification that the magnetic head
40
, as shown in
FIG. 3
, is equivalent to the slider
40
. The write transducer and read magnetizing means at the location
42
directly perform magnetic functions in the magnetic head
40
. Therefore, there was significance of distinguishing the magnetic head from the other parts in case only the parts at the location
42
were treated as different parts. Nevertheless, recently, downsizing of the slider itself progresses, and hence the write transducer and read magnetizing means are formed at a small range of the location
42
on the slider in one piece at the same time of forming the slider. Hence, there is no significance of distinguishing these parts as the different parts. Thus, although the slider in this specification indicates the mechanism including the write transducer and read magnetizing means the technical idea of the present invention can be also applied to a mechanism not including these mechanisms. Therefore, it is natural to widely comprehend the meaning of the slider.
In a state of the magnetic disk rotating, an air bearing is formed by airflow (air flows along the direction of an arrow, but refer to
FIG. 9
for a detailed direction), induced by the rotation, on a slider surface
46
where the slider faces a surface of the magnetic disk. Therefore, the slider, as shown in
FIG. 4
, is made to float above the surface of the magnetic disk. Owing to this, since the slider can flexibly follow the unevenness of the surface of the magnetic disk at the time of the magnetic disk rotating, high-speed data transfer can be realized. Although-a rectangular solid of the slider shown has six surfaces as a solid (hexahedron), a surface called a “slider surface” is only one surface of the slider that faces the surface of the magnetic disk. This slider surface is the most important slider construction that is an object of the present invention.
FIG. 4
shows a state of the slider flying above the magnetic disk rotating. Airflow induced by the rotation flows along the direction of an arrow. In order to perform a function of flying that the slider has, “flying height (this is also called a flying amount or a flying gap)” h is extremely important. If the flying height is excessively low, the slider may physically contact to the surface of the magnetic disk or a fine convex part being thereon. Then, although the probability of the contact decreases if the flying height is made sufficiently high, now, a sufficient magnetic interaction with the magnetic disk cannot be performed, and hence this is not suitable to high-density data storage.
With high densification of HDDs, the size of sliders also has been downsized. Sliders from standard sliders (these are also called 100% sliders) to nano-sliders (these are also called 50% sliders) that are further smaller than the standard sliders are widespread. Presently, sliders called pico-sliders (these are also called 30% sliders) that are subminiature are going to be put to practical use. Furthermore, studies of femto-sliders (these are also sometimes called 20% sliders) that are ultra subminiature are going to be advanced, and hence practical use will be performed in the near future.
As one of magnetic interactions between the magnetic disk and magnetic head, overwrite of data on a surface of the magnetic disk will be discussed. Since information is overwritten on information previously written on the surface of the magnetic disk with the same track width, a characteristic of overwrite changes according to the flying height of the slider. Thus, this is because, by the slider highly flying, data write to the surface of the magnetic disk cannot be completely performed, and is hence a reproduced output fluctuates, and a data-erasing error

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