Active-head sliders using piezoelectric thin films for flying height control

This paper describes design and fabrication of a MEMS-based active-head slider using a PZT thin film for flying height control in hard disk drives. A piezoelectric cantilever integrated in the air bearing slider is used to adjust the flying height individually. An air bearing surface (ABS) geometry that minimizes the aerodynamic lift force generated beneath the head has been designed based on the molecular gas film lubrication (MGL) theory. The sliders with PZT actuators were fabricated monolithically by silicon micromachining process. Performance of the actuator was tested by using an optical surface profiler. Furthermore, the fabricated slider was mounted on a suspension and the flying height of the slider above a spinning disk has been measured by multiple wavelength interferometry. Change in the head-disk spacing has been successfully confirmed by applying voltage to the actuator.