Approaches to reduce effect of short-range interactions in head disk interface

Different approaches to reduce the effect of short-range interactions on slider’s flying stability—reduction of pad width at trailing edge and increase of air pressure on trailing pad—are compared for the flying stability and flying height modulation. The static and dynamic simulations show both approaches can reduce the effect of intermolecular force and electrostatic force on the slider’s flying stability. On the other hand, the increase of air pressure on trailing pad can also reduce the flying height modulation caused by disk waviness, but reduction of pad width at trailing edge increases the flying height modulation. Hence, the increase of air pressure on trailing pad is more suitable for the application of the ultra low flying height in hard disk drives.