MEASUREMENT OF FLY HEIGHT BY SCATTERED TOTAL INTERNAL-REFLECTION

Scattered total internal reflection (SCATIR) is an optical phenomenon that allows measurement of the fly height of sliders. Good agreement b etween the measurements made with scattered total internal reflection (SCATIR) and the nominal fly heights (100, 65, and 25 nm) of three com mercial sliders was obtained. Fluctuations in the flying height of a t ri-pad slider as a function of load were observed. Applying a correcti on for the Gaussian profile of the incident laser revealed the crown o f a 70% slider. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.