DESIGN OF LASER ZONE TEXTURE FOR LOW GLIDE MEDIA

The design of laser zone texture on NiP/Aluminum substrates to create below-25 nm-glide-height media is described in this paper. A range of laser parameters such as beam size, pulse energy, and temporal pulse w idth of a pulsed Nd-YVO4 laser are explored to reveal their relationsh ip to the resulting bump topography. Depending on where the head conta ct is formed, four major categories of bump shapes are found to exist. The single-crater bump shape was selected to conduct the low glide te xture design. Stiction and glide performance are shown to be in agreem ent with theoretical predictions, which constitute our major design gu idelines. It is clearly demonstrated that with proper texture design b elow-25 nm-glide-height media with low stiction and minimal wear are r eadily achievable even in the landing zone with laser texture.