Tribological testing technology for sub-10 nm flying height recording system

As the technology goes to sub-10 nm head-disk clearance, the head flying stability, which is disturbed by slider disk contact or the waveness of the disk, becomes the most important concern. The optical FH tester is not suitable due to the use of special glass disk. The LDV cannot measure the gap FH with enough precision. The in-situ FH testing technology is a good solution to test the slider-tube-disk interaction and the flying stability at sub-10 nm FH. This work integrated the in-situ FH testing function and other common tribological testing functions, such as CSS, L/UL, AE, TA into one testing platform. But the main focus is on the characterization of the head flying stability and the slider-tube-disk interaction.