JPS63138580A - Floating head slider - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a floating head slider which can provide a floating head sliding structure capable of realizing an ultrafine clearance and capable of activating and stopping without adopting a CSS system by providing a notch- shaped groove at the air flowing-out edge part of a reverse step surface, and holding an ultrafine type negative pressure floating head slider at a groove with a supporting spring. CONSTITUTION:At the air flowing-out edge part of the reverse step surface of a negative pressure slider 1, a groove is provided and an ultrafine type negative pressure slider 2 is held at a suspension supporting spring 4. Together with the rotation of a magnetic recording medium, the head slider 1 of a single body structure is made close to the direction of a recording medium surface and a self-floating action is generated by an air floating effect. By the action, the slider 1 is floated by the floating quantity of a submicron. Next, the slider 2 is adsorbed further to a recording medium surface by a self-floating effect and the slider 2 is floated by the ultrafine clearance of the submicron.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a magnetic disk device, and more particularly to a floating head slider that stably floats above the surface of a magnetic recording medium with a minute air film.

(Prior Art) As is well known, a magnetic head for a conventional magnetic disk device uses a floating head slider that floats above a recording medium surface based on the principle of a hydrodynamic gas bearing. The flying height of this floating head slider is preferably as small as possible in order to increase the capacity and density of magnetic disk drives, and currently it is 0.3.
A microlevitation amount of about 4.4 has been achieved. The magnetic heads that are currently in practical use are positive pressure type floating head sliders that generate only positive load capacity as the recording medium travels. In particular, in order to maintain good slider followability against vibrations of a recording medium, an extremely light-loaded slider of an elongated Cheeverd flat type with a slider air film having high rigidity and large damping has been put into practical use.

However, in order to further reduce the amount of levitation with this type of floating head slider, it is necessary to increase the load (=load capacity) applied to the slider, which has a large impact on the reliability of the slider recording medium interface. It becomes a problem. Therefore, in recent years, a so-called negative pressure floating head slider has been developed in which a reverse step surface or the like is formed within the slider bearing surface and negative pressure is generated by lubrication of an air film on the reverse step surface.

FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) show a front view and a side view, respectively, of a conventional negative pressure floating head slider.

In this type of slider, the load to be applied from the outside is partially covered by the suction force of the negative pressure generated within the slider bearing surface, so an air film of extremely high rigidity can be effectively realized with a light load.

In addition, in the start/stop method for the floating head slider 1 and the recording medium, the so-called contact start/stop method (hereinafter abbreviated as C8S method) is adopted, in which the floating head slider 1 is started and stopped while it is in contact with the recording medium. The CSS method was put into practical use because the load on the slider is extremely small.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Incidentally, in order to increase the capacity and density of storage devices based on magnetic recording, it is necessary to make the amount of spacing between the head and the recording medium extremely small. The challenge is to achieve a levitation amount in the sub-submicron range of less than m. For this purpose, a negative pressure floating head slider must be used, but due to the size effect of the negative pressure floating head slider, it must be an extremely small slider of about 1 to 2 inches. Forming a slider alone and having it supported by a gimbaled support spring suspension with three degrees of freedom is a very difficult I''Iff problem in terms of mechanical implementation.Therefore, in the sub-submicron region It is necessary to devise a floating head slider with a new structure in which an ultra-small slider that lubricates the air film functions as a magnetic head.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned C3S method has the advantage of being able to reduce costs because the structure of the floating head slider mechanism is simple, but on the other hand, it has the disadvantage of tribological reliability in the mechanical interface between the slider and the recording medium. Gender has become a big issue.

That is, in this C8S method, a boundary lubrication region exists because the slider and the recording medium run while contacting each other until they reach a complete air film lubrication state. In this region, the slider and recording medium exhibit extremely complicated phenomena such as stick-slip phenomena. Then, tribological interference occurs between the medium protective film or lubricant formed on the recording medium and the slider, causing a head crash phenomenon in which the medium is scratched. In current magnetic disk drives, approximately 20,000 cycles of C8S must be achieved with high reliability, but this is extremely difficult.In particular, recent floating head sliders are made of ultra-hard ceramics (e.g. A41!20B-TiC, etc.) are used, and it is extremely difficult to perform C8S with metal thin film media, which are expected to be the next generation recording media.

Furthermore, this C8S method has a slider float of #1ft.
As they become smaller, another big problem arises.

That is, it is a problem of adhesion between the slider and the recording medium. Due to the increase in capacity and density of magnetic disk drives, the flying height of the slider is now in the submicron range of about 0.3, but the slider surface of current floating head sliders and the medium surface of thin film media are Processed to have a mirror finish. Therefore, if a magnetic disk drive is left in a state where the slider and recording medium are in contact with each other, a phenomenon will occur where the slider and recording medium will stick to each other.6 Both surfaces are extremely flat, and the attraction force is large. If the recording medium does not rotate or if the recording medium is forced to rotate, injuries such as damage to the gimbal spring that supports the floating Hent slider may occur.

An object of the present invention is to provide a floating head slider structure that can realize an extremely small gap in the sub-submicron range, and to provide a C8S
An object of the present invention is to provide a floating head slider that can be started and stopped without adopting any system.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a negative pressure floating system having a reverse step surface opposite to the positive pressure generating surface. The head slider is characterized in that a cutout-like groove is provided at the air outflow end of the reverse step surface, and an ultra-small negative pressure floating head slider is held in the groove by a support spring.

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1(a) is a front view showing an embodiment of a floating head slider according to the present invention, and FIG. 1(b) is a side view thereof. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a negative pressure floating head slider similar to that used conventionally. Reference numeral 2 denotes a negative pressure floating head slider, which is attached to a groove provided at the air outflow end of the reverse step surface of the negative pressure floating head slider 1. This negative pressure floating head slider 2 is a negative pressure floating bed slider that is extremely small and has the same shape as the negative pressure floating head slider 1. 3 is a magnetic transducer that performs electromagnetic conversion with the recording medium. 4 is a suspension support mechanism schematically shown.

Next, the effect will be explained.

In this slider mechanism, as the magnetic recording medium rotates, first the integrated negative pressure floating head slider 1 approaches the surface of the recording medium to generate a self-loading effect due to the air bearing effect. Due to this self-loading effect, the negative pressure floating head slider 1 floats with a floating amount of submicrons.

Thereafter, the ultra-small negative pressure floating head slider 2 is further attracted to the surface of the recording medium by the self-loading effect.
The slider 2 can float in an extremely small gap of sub-submicrons.

Next, the negative pressure head slider of the present invention will be explained in comparison with a conventional one.

Figure 2 shows a conventional negative pressure floating head slider. In order to make a slider with such a structure float above the recording medium surface with an extremely small gap of sub-submicrons, the dimensions of the head slider must be similarly adjusted. We need to make it smaller. When the shape of the head slider is made extremely small and its length is set to about 1 to 1.5 m, the suspension support spring m structure that supports the head slider also becomes extremely small.

When such a floating head mechanism is attached to the data arm of a magnetic disk drive and used for normal access operations, the head mechanism is extremely small and lightweight, resulting in a decrease in overall rigidity and dynamic instability. It may happen. Furthermore, the magnetic recording medium also rotates at a high speed of 3,000 to 3,600 rpm+, and is greatly affected by the rotating airflow, which may cause it to become unstable. Therefore, it is not a good idea to make the ultra-small negative pressure floating head slider mechanism itself ultra-small and configure it according to the conventional concept.

The slider mechanism of the present invention does not have the above drawbacks. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the ultra-small negative pressure floating head slider 2 is formed within the negative pressure floating head slider 1, which has the same dimensions as the conventional negative pressure floating head slider that floats in the submicron range. The suspension support spring mechanism for the entire system can now have the same dimensions as before.

Therefore, there is no decrease in overall rigidity, and the structure is as strong as the conventional one against the effects of high-speed rotation of the magnetic recording medium and access operations. Regarding the slider loading mechanism, first, the self-loading action of the negative pressure floating head slider 1 is excited by bringing the integrated negative pressure floating head slider 1 close to the recording medium using a piezoelectric element, etc. The negative pressure floating head slider 1 is attracted to the surface of the recording medium. Subsequently, the ultra-small negative-pressure floating head slider 2 generates a self-loading effect in the sub-micron levitation amount range, resulting in floating in the sub-sub-micron range.

A two-step hydrodynamic loading actuator action is performed. That is, in this mechanism, in the initial state where the levitation gap is large, a large suction force is first generated in the negative pressure floating head slider 1, which has a large negative pressure surface, and a self-loading effect occurs, resulting in stable levitation with a submicron levitation amount. That will happen. Next, in the sub-micron levitation area, the ultra-small negative pressure floating head slider 2 with a small negative pressure surface area generates sufficient suction force to cause a self-loading effect, and furthermore, the sub-sub-micron head levitation gap generates sufficient suction force to cause a self-loading effect. It will levitate.

Therefore, the magnetic transducer 3 that performs electromagnetic conversion with the magnetic recording medium is attached to this ultra-small negative pressure floating head slider 2.
It is better to form it on the trailing etched portion of the positive pressure generating surface.

From the above, in the floating head slider of the present invention, by forming and holding the ultra-small negative pressure floating head slider 2 on the negative pressure surface of the negative pressure floating head slider 1, the floating gap of sub-submicrons can be reduced using the C8S method. This can be achieved by starting and stopping the disk without having to use a system.

Note that any modification may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention; for example, the shape of the negative pressure floating head slider, the shape of the support spring, etc. may be suitable for each case, and the above embodiments may be modified. It goes without saying that this does not limit the scope of the present invention in any way.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above in detail about the present invention, the floating head slider of the present invention can be started or stopped without adopting the C8S method, and has extremely small gaps of sub-submicrons. It is possible to realize a floating head slider that floats stably.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1(a) and (b) are a front view and a side view showing an embodiment of a negative pressure floating head slider of the present invention, respectively, and FIGS. 2(a) and (b) are respectively a conventional negative pressure floating head. FIG. 3 is a front view and a side view showing a slider. 1...Negative pressure floating head slider, 2...Ultra small negative pressure floating head slider, 3...Magnetic transducer, 4...Suspension support for holding ultra small negative pressure floating head slider 2 Spring.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a negative pressure floating head slider having a reverse step surface that is a step opposite to the positive pressure generating surface, a notch-like groove is provided at the air outflow end of the reverse step surface, and an ultra-small negative A floating head slider characterized in that the floating head slider is held by a support spring. (2) A loading mechanism is attached that displaces the negative pressure floating head slider to a predetermined floating gap above the magnetic recording medium to generate a self-loading effect, and then self-loads the ultra-compact negative pressure floating head slider. A floating head slider according to claim 1, characterized in that: