Some tribology and mechanics issues for 100 Gbit/in/sup 2/ HDD

Summary form only given. The goal of 100 Gbit/in/sup 2/ storage density places severe requirements on the tribology and mechanics in hard disk drives. The physical air bearing spacing needed to achieve the required bit density along the track is about 5 nm, while the track density required is about 175 k tracks per inch. The head-disk interface assumes that the protective overcoat on the media is only 2 nm, with less on the slider to protect against catalytic degradation of the disk lubricant, which is itself assumed to be about 1 nm thick. This paper describes some of the developments needed to accomplish these goals.