Direct observation of padded slider tipping using the MRE cooling effect [HDDs]

Summary form only given. The padded slider is a necessary design to extend the CSS solution to the regime of ultra-low head-disc spacing required for high areal density recording. In the design of a padded slider, the rear-most pads are necessarily recessed, by an adequate amount, from the slider trailing edge in order for the pads not to protrude below the read/write elements during flying. Such a geometry permits the head to rest on the disc in a tipped state, i.e., resting on its rear-most pads and the ABS trailing edge. This may lead to stiction failure as large, high-pressure menisci may be formed underneath the non-padded air-bearing surface near the trailing. The occurrence of head tipping, while indirectly verified in earlier backward-forward disc rotation experiments, has never been directly observed.