Abstract:
In order to obtain improved magnetic track density, it is desirable to bring the read and write elements as close to the recording surface as possible, short of actually touching it. This has been achieved by utilizing a magnetostrictive actuator, comprising single or multiple pairs of magnetostrictive elements and their associated conductor coils. A magnetic field is generated by passing electrical current through the conductor coils. This field will saturate the actuator and cause the magnetostrictive elements to contract or expand, thus moving the read/write element whenever so desired.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The invention relates to the general field of magnetic disk storage systems with particular reference to dynamically adjusting a part of the ABS (air bearing surface) in order to vary the distance between the read and/or write elements and the recording media.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     It is well known that increasing areal density in magnetic recording requires a corresponding reduction in the magnetic spacing between the write/read elements and the recording media. Previous inventions in this field have employed piezoelectric elements, thermal heating coils, and electrostatic attraction to reduce magnetic spacing. For example, a piezoelectric transducer (PZT) was applied to the suspension so as to reduce the flying height at the head region. Reducing the flying height is, however, undesirable because of the increased likelihood of head disk interference or even a head crash.  
         [0003]     Thermal protrusion does not reduce the slider flying height, but it increases the sensor temperature and thus reduces reliability of the sensor. In addition, thermal expansion is relatively slow in response time. Electrostatic attractive force generation between head and media through a voltage application at the slider body has deficiency in potential “pull-in” crash due to the non-linearity in actuation outside the narrow nominal range. Also, the electrical charge could discharge to result in pin hole formation at the surface of the recording disk, creating a potential reliability problem of corrosion. There is a need for performance and reliability improvement on the methodology to achieve magnetic spacing adjustment.  
         [0004]     A routine search of the prior art was performed with the following references of interest being found.  
         [0005]     In U.S. Pat. No. 6,587,314, Lille discloses a deformable layer to temporarily reduce magnetic spacing between the head and the disk while in US Application Publication 2003/0174430, Takahashi et al show use of thermal expansion to adjust magnetic spacing.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     It has been an object of at least one embodiment of the present invention to dynamically vary the separation between the write gap in a write head and the recording medium surface.  
         [0007]     Another object of at least one embodiment of the present invention has been to dynamically vary the separation between the sensor part of a read head and the recording medium surface.  
         [0008]     Still another object of at least one embodiment of the present invention has been to provide a strain/stress sensor for use in conjunction with a read-write head.  
         [0009]     A further object of at least one embodiment of the present invention has been to provide a means to detect contact between a read-write head and a recording medium surface.  
         [0010]     These objects have been achieved by utilizing a magnetostrictive actuator, comprising single or multiple pairs of magnetostrictive elements and their associated conductor coils. A magnetic field is generated by passing electrical current through the conductor coils. This field will saturate the actuator and cause the magnetostrictive elements to contract or expand, thus moving the read/write element in the slider along the desired direction. The read element and the write element may be independently controlled or they may be caused to move together. By observing changes in the power used to energize the actuator coils, the device may also be used as a strain/stress sensor or as a contact detector (between either element and the recording medium surface.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]      FIG. 1  shows a first embodiment of the invention, employing a single actuator coil used in conjunction with a pair of magnetostrictive rods.  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  shows a second embodiment of the invention, employing a two layer actuator coil used in conjunction with a single magnetostrictive rod.  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  illustrates a read-write head containing read and write heads, both of which are moveable relative to the ABS.  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  displays actuation profiles for FHA (flying height adjustment) obtained through simulation for both reader and write heads. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0015]     The present invention discloses a new method of controlling magnetic spacing. It utilizes a magnetostrictive actuator, comprising single or multiple pairs of magnetostrictive elements and their associated conductor coils. A magnetic field is generated by passing electrical current through the conductor coils. The field in turn will saturate the actuator and cause the magnetostrictive elements to contract or expand, thus moving the read/write element in the slider along the desired direction.  
         [0016]     A preferred embodiment of this invention is to embed the actuator into a slider element during wafer fabrication. The actuator position can be determined by considering the desired read/write element actuation and the complexity of wafer process integration. Another embodiment of the invention requires individual conductor coils for write field generation and for saturation of the actuator. A schematic diagram of this design is shown in  FIG. 1 . Multiple magnetostrictive actuators can be embedded in the slider to achieve a particular actuation profile at the read/write element either individually (i.e. one actuator for reader and the other for writer) or collectively through superposition effects.  
         [0017]     Another embodiment of the invention utilizes the magnetic field generated by the existing write coils for easy wafer process integration. A schematic example of this configuration, with the placement of the actuator between the two-layer “return” write coils, is shown in  FIG. 2 . In this design, the actuation mode can be accomplished with opposite current flows at the top and bottom coils, so that no magnetic flux is produced at the ABS due to cancellation. When the current direction is the same in both coils, the writer activates for writing at the disk and the actuator is de-activated with canceled magnetic field.  
         [0018]     For the actuator rod, materials having a high magnetostriction constant (k), such as Terfenol (an alloy with Iron, Terbium and Dysprosium) are to be preferred. Other possible magnetostrictive materials that could be used in place of Terfenol include TbZn, TbDyZn, Fe 3 O 4 , TbFe 2 , DyFe 2 , and SmFe 2 . The choice of material for the coil is less restricted—it can be any good electrical conductor, such as copper. The coil can be used to conduct current for the generation of a magnetic field for actuation, or it can be used to sense mechanical stress and produce an electrical signal. Therefore, the actuator can simultaneously be used to sense head-disk interference.  
         [0019]     The biasing requirement of this actuator is similar to an MR head where an adjustable constant current is forced thru the coil for actuation, and a low noise differential preamp can be used for sensing the voltage on the coil from a signal generated by head disk contact. A constant voltage bias can also be used together with sensing current changes in the coil from a signal generated by head-disk contact.  
         [0020]     More specifically, we refer once again to  FIG. 1  where slider element  11  is seen to also be a self-contained write head that includes top and bottom magnetic poles  12  and  13  respectively, separated at one end by write gap  16  and magnetically connected at the other end by yoke  14 .  
         [0021]     Write coil  15  lies inside slider element  11  while a second, actuator, coil ( 17 ) lies in line with, and wholly outside of, slider element  11 . Attached to yoke  14  are rods  18  of magnetostrictive material, one above and one below said coil  17 .  
         [0022]     Thus, when coil  17  is energized, rods  18  expand, because of their magnetostrictive characteristics, and cause slider element  11  to move in a direction normal to the ABS.  
         [0023]     Referring next to  FIG. 2 , in this embodiment both slider and actuator elements are housed within the write head. As before, top and bottom magnetic poles,  12  and  13  respectively are separated at one end by write gap  16  and magnetically connected through yoke  14  at the other end.  
         [0024]     Two layer write coil  25  lies inside slider element  21  which also includes vertical magnetic member  23  that serves to provide magnetic continuity between the top and bottom magnetic poles, including write gap  16 . Rod of magnetostrictive material  18  is attached to the rear wall of slider  21 , extending away therefrom so as to lie between upper and lower actuator coils  27  so that when the latter are energized, rod  18  pushes on slider element  21  and causes it to move in a direction normal to the ABS.  
         [0025]      FIG. 3  illustrates a read-write head in which both heads may be moved in a direction normal to the ABS. Seen there are actuator rods  38  and  39 . Rod  38  is part of moveable write head  32 , which is the same as the device shown in  FIG. 2 . It could however, as a matter of design choice, have been the design that is shown in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0026]     Immediately below device  32  (and separated therefrom by magnetic shield layer  34 ) is moveable read head  31  which is caused to move by the action of rods  39 . It is apparent that the moveable read head (shown in its extended position of closest approach to the surface of recording medium layer  33 , which reduces its normal distance therefrom by between about 3 and 4 nm) is similar in most respects to the writer device seen in  FIG. 1  except that, in place of a write coil and a write gap, it contains magnetic field sensor  33  which could be, for example, a GMR (Giant Magneto-Resistance) device or a MTJ (Magnetic Tunnel Junction device).  
         [0027]     It is important to note that, although  FIG. 3  shows the read and write heads under the control of independently operated actuators, it would be a straightforward matter of design choice to provide only a single actuator for the read-write unit as a whole so that both read and write heads always move together.  
         [0028]     In general, magnetostrictive rod  38  would be between about 100 and 125 microns long and magnetostrictive rods  39  would also be between about 100 and 125 microns long. Additionally, while element  32  is writing data, the actuator that is connected to element  31  may be used as a strain/stress sensor and/or as a detector of any contact between the read-write head and the recording medium surface. Similarly, when element  33  is reading data, the actuator that is connected to element  31  may be used as a strain/stress sensor and/or as a detector of any contact between the read-write head and the recording medium surface.  
         [0000]     Confirmation of the Effectiveness of the Invention:  
         [0029]     To verify the effectiveness of the magnetostrictive actuator in reducing magnetic spacing, a finite element model (FEM) was created for simulation of the steady-state condition. Planar writer structures for each of the two embodiments discussed above were investigated. In the first example there are two actuator rods at the same levels, and same thicknesses, as the top layer write coil and the bottom layer write coil (see  FIG. 1 ). The layout of each actuator in the simulation was 100 μm by 100 μm. The distance from the front edge of the actuators to the ABS was 37 μm. In the second example, the magnetostrictive actuator was embedded between the top/bottom write return coils ( FIG. 2 ). The thickness was 2 μm and the layout was 100 μm by 100 μm. The distance from the front edge of the actuator to the ABS was 12 μm. The material for the actuator in the simulation was Terfenol (with magnetostriction λ at 0.2%. The actuators were assumed to be fully saturated by the magnetic field for maximum magneto-mechanical effect.  
         [0030]     The actuation profiles from the FEM computation for both examples are shown in  FIG. 4 . For the first example (curve  41 ), the write gap actuation was 4.1 nm and the read gap actuation was 2.8 nm. In the second example (curve  42 ), the reader actuation was 4 nm and 5.7 nm for the writer. The profile computed for the second example is more desirable since the actuation at the overcoat region is attenuated, unlike in the first example. Higher actuation efficiency can be achieved through further optimization of actuator layout (e.g. aspect ratio), thickness, embedded position in the slider, material selection, etc.  
         [0031]     Note that a magnetostrictive actuator is significantly more efficient for power dissipation, and significantly faster in response time, when compared to thermal heating methods. Since it utilizes controllable localized protrusion to reduce the magnetic spacing, it can maintain a safe flying height margin thereby maintaining the reliability of the head disk interface.  
         [0032]     Note, too, that since the actual amount of expansion of the actuator rods is very small, the length and elasticity of the leads that connect the device to the outside world is more than sufficient to accommodate the associated stress (about 8 mPa for gold leads at least 100 microns long).