DESIGN, SIMULATION, FABRICATION AND MEASUREMENT OF A 25-NM, 50-PERCENT SLIDER

In the near future magnetic hard disk drives are expected to achieve d ensities approaching 10 gigabits per square inch. This will require ma gnetic spacings between the read/write transducer and magnetic disk of less than 25 nm. Such spacings are being referred to in the industry as ''near contact''. This paper presents a 50% / 25 nm slider with sha ped rails and sub-ambient pressure zones. The sliders were fabricated using chemical etch techniques, and their spacings were measured again st a glass disk by interferometry. It was found that the measured spac ings were substantially greater than the design values. However, stylu s measurements of the etch profiles indicated slopes different from th ose incorporated in the simulator. After accounting for these slopes i n the simulator input data we found that the subsequently obtained sim ulation results were in good agreement with measurements.