JP2003109340A - Head slider having liquid attachment elimination mechanism and disk drive with the head slider mounted - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a magnetic disk drive that is highly reliable for a long time by using a method without the problem that heat deterioration of a head mechanism component is accelerated without adding a new device such as a heating heater on a head slide and attaching a mechanism capable of eliminating liquid attachment on the head slider which is accumulated in accordance with use for a long time. SOLUTION: A recording and reproducing element 12 that floats over a disk 5 and reproducing data recorded on the disk 5 is provided on the head slider 3, a groove part 15 whose width W is >=1 μm and <=5 μm is formed on a recording and reproducing element machined surface 14 of the head slider 3, and an exposure part 17 where at least one end of the groove part 15 exposes at a side in the vicinity of the recording and reproducing element 12 of a face (slider face) 13 that faces a disk of the head slider 3 is formed. Thus, liquid attachment that accumulates on the head slider is sucked in and held with a capillary phenomenon to be able to provide a highly reliable disk drive.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for improving the reliability of a disk device, and more particularly, to improving the reliability of a head / media interface in a magnetic disk device in which a head slider is levitated along with the rotation of a disk to perform a recording / reproducing operation. The present invention relates to a head slider provided with a function of capturing a liquid deposit attached to and deposited on a head slider during operation, and a disk device mounting the head slider.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a magnetic disk device which is a storage device,
Due to long-term use, various high boiling point outgas components released from internal parts of the device drive and the lubricant applied to the magnetic disk medium are wound up on the magnetic head slider negative pressure generating part (disk facing surface). It has been known in recent years that adhesion deposits occur.

When the amount of these deposits increases,
(1) Due to the transfer of the attached matter to the magnetic disk medium,
Data read / write errors may occur, and (2) changes in the flying posture of the magnetic head due to changes in the shape of the head slider surface may lead to problems such as damage to the magnetic disk medium surface. There has been concern over its occurrence.

For this reason, various improvements have been made such as optimization of various disk lubricating films applied to the surface of the magnetic disk medium and reduction of outgas generation amount of components inside the drive of the apparatus.

However, with the recent increase in recording density, the acceleration of lowering the flying height of the magnetic head has made the increase in the amount of deposits on the magnetic head more and more remarkable.

That is, as the recording density rises, there is a strong tendency that deposits preferentially deposit on the stepped portion of the head slider end face near the recording / reproducing element.

Since these deposits are close to the recording / reproducing element and the magnetic disk medium, the influence on reliability such as data destruction due to contact with the magnetic disk is becoming a serious concern.

As a prior art for removing these liquid deposits, there is known an invention in which a dedicated heater is provided on the head slider to remove the deposits by evaporating and vaporizing the deposits (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 8). -279120 "Head slider and magnetic disk device" Applicant: Hitachi).

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, the head slider surface (disk facing surface) requires a new device such as a heater and an external power supply circuit, which complicates the structure of the head. There was a problem that it was expensive.

Further, in recent years, a read head using a magnetoresistive effect (MR effect) has come to be used with an increase in recording density. Due to the heat resistance of the magnetoresistive effect (MR) head, it is practical. However, there is a problem in that the function of the functional component of the magnetoresistive effect (MR) head, which is a read head, is deteriorated by heat in some cases, in addition to the lack of efficient removal efficiency.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to add a new heater or other device on the head slider without adding a new device.
Furthermore, by providing a mechanism capable of removing the liquid deposits on the head slider that accumulates with long-term use, by using a method that does not cause the thermal deterioration of the head mechanism components to accelerate, long-term reliability can be improved. It is an object to provide a high disk device.

[0012]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION A disk device according to the present invention is a disk which is rotationally driven at a predetermined number of revolutions, and floats on the disk as the disk rotates and records and reproduces data on and from the disk. In addition to mounting a recording / reproducing element for carrying out the above, a disk facing surface facing the disk and a recording / reproducing element processing surface orthogonal to the disk facing surface on which the recording / reproducing element is mounted are provided. A head slider having a groove portion on its surface and at least one end of the groove portion having an exposed portion exposed on the side of the disk facing surface in the vicinity of the recording / reproducing element.

By incorporating a head slider having such a groove portion into a disk device, liquid deposits deposited on the head slider due to long-term use of the disk device,
By utilizing the capillary phenomenon of the groove, it is possible to suction and hold even a region that does not affect recording and reproduction, and it is possible to provide a highly reliable disk device for a long period of time.

Further, the disk device of the present invention is characterized in that liquid deposits deposited in the groove portion of the head slider are evaporated by Joule heat generated by the recording operation of the recording element of the recording / reproducing element. It is what

As a result, liquid deposits deposited on the head slider due to long-term use are suction-held to an area that does not affect recording / reproduction by utilizing the capillary action of the groove portion, and further with recording operation of the recording element. Since it can be removed by the generated Joule heat, it is possible to provide a highly reliable disk device for a long period of time.

Further, the head slider of the present invention is a head slider equipped with a recording / reproducing element that floats on the disk as the disk rotates and records / reproduces data on / from the disk. The recording medium has a facing surface and a recording / reproducing element processing surface that is orthogonal to the disk facing surface and on which the recording / reproducing element is mounted, and the recording / reproducing element processing surface has a groove and at least one end of the groove is the disk facing surface. It is characterized by having an exposed portion exposed on the side near the recording / reproducing element.

According to the head slider provided with such a groove portion, it becomes possible to suck and hold the liquid deposits deposited on the head slider to an area which does not affect the recording and reproduction by utilizing the capillary phenomenon of the groove portion. Thus, it is possible to provide a highly reliable head slider for a long period of time.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining the overall structure of a disk device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiments of the present invention, the contents will be described by taking a magnetic disk device as an example of the disk device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to other disk devices such as an optical disk device and a magneto-optical disk device.

The magnetic disk device includes an HDA base 1, a head carriage 2, a magnetic disk 5, a spindle motor 6, a lamp 8, a CPU 9, and a spindle motor drive circuit 1.
0 and a read / write control circuit 11.

The head carriage 2 further includes a magnetic head slider 3 and a head suspension assembly (HS).
A) Bearing 4, voice coil motor (VCM)
It is composed of a coil 7.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a magnetic head slider chip (head slider 3) mounted on a magnetic disk device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The head slider 3 is provided with a recording / reproducing element 12 as a head, and in the vicinity of this recording / reproducing element,
It has an air bearing slider (ABS) surface 13 which is a disk facing surface facing the magnetic disk 5 when mounted in a magnetic disk device, and contacts the disk facing surface (air bearing slider surface) 13 and goes straight to it. Thus, the recording / reproducing element processing surface 14 is provided. A groove portion 15 for sucking and removing the liquid deposit 16 is formed on the recording / reproducing element processing surface 14.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic view of the vicinity of a recording / reproducing head of a conventional magnetic head slider chip (head slider).

In this figure, what adheres to a slider chip (head slider) for a magnetic head, which is confirmed by a long-term reliability test of a magnetic disk device to be described later, is deposited on a step portion of the liquid deposit 16 near the recording / reproducing element 12. It is the figure which showed the condition typically.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic view of the vicinity of the recording / reproducing head according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the recording / reproducing element 12 is used.
Two groove portions 15 for sucking and removing the liquid deposit 16 are formed on the recording / reproducing element processing surface 14 in the vicinity of the above so as to come into contact with the air bearing slider (ABS) surface 13 which is the disk facing surface.

Further, an exposed portion 17 having an opening is provided in the vicinity of the recording / reproducing element 12 on the air bearing slider (ABS) surface 13, which is the disk facing surface of the groove portion 15.

In this embodiment, the width of the groove 15 is W and the depth is Dp, and in the portion where the width W of the groove 15 is in contact with the air bearing slider (ABS) surface 13 which is the disk facing surface, the disk facing surface is The width W is wider than the width W of a portion of the air bearing slider (ABS) surface 13 which is distant from the exposed portion 17 of the air bearing slider (ABS) surface 13 in the depth direction Dp. The width W is formed so that the width W becomes smaller as the distance W increases in the depth direction Dp.

Specifically, the width W of the groove portion 15 is set to the air bearing slider (ABS) surface 13 which is the disk facing surface.
Is 5 μm in the exposed portion 17, and the width W of the thinnest portion of the groove 15 away from the exposed portion 17 in the depth direction Dp is 2 μm. Further, the depth Dp2 of the groove portion 15 in the direction of the recording / reproducing element 12 at this time is all
It was 2 μm.

An exposed portion (opening) 1 provided on an air bearing slider (ABS) surface 13 which is a disk facing surface.
It is possible to arbitrarily select the number of the groove portions 15 having 7 and the respective intervals when a plurality of these are provided, but the width W of the groove portions 15 is at least 1 μm.
It has been confirmed by experiments that the thickness of 5 μm or less is desirable.

The reason is shown below.

The width W of the groove portion 15 provided on the air bearing slider (ABS) surface 13, which is the disk facing surface, is 1
If the width is less than μm, suction is hindered by the surface tension of the liquid deposit 16, and conversely, if the width W of the groove 15 is set to 5 μm or more, the liquid deposit 16 has a reduced suction force due to the capillary phenomenon and the liquid deposit 16 It has been experimentally confirmed that there is a problem in the retention of.

Further, the width W of the groove portion 15 is wide at the portion contacting the air bearing slider (ABS) surface 13 which is the disk facing surface, that is, at the exposed portion 17, which is wide and is the air bearing slider (ABS) surface which is the disk facing surface. 13, the suctioned liquid deposit 16 is held at the same portion by making it thinner as it goes away from the depth direction Dp 13 in the depth direction Dp and forming the narrowest groove width in the area that does not affect the recording / reproducing element 12. Is possible.

The shape of the groove portion 15 can be formed in a single linear shape with a curved line, or a plurality of groove portions 15 can be connected in a labyrinth shape and branched.

The groove 15 is formed on the head slider 3 by a semiconductor processing technique such as ion milling.

In the magnetic disk device according to the embodiment of the present invention, the liquid deposit 16 deposited in the vicinity of the recording / reproducing element 12 is processed by the recording / reproducing element 12 by performing a long-term reliability test described later. It is sucked by the groove portion 15 provided on the surface 14 and is held at the narrowest portion of the width W of the groove portion 15.

Next, the magnetic disk device using the head slider 3 in which the groove portion 15 for sucking the liquid deposit 16 is formed in the head slider 3 according to the embodiment and the conventional head slider in which the groove portion is not formed are used. 1. The magnetic disk device is composed of two magnetic heads each including one magnetic disk.
Built in 5 inch type magnetic disk unit, 1 for each
Zero units were subjected to a long-term reliability test.

At this time, as an acceleration factor for generating the liquid deposit 16 on the head slider 3 in a short time,
20 mg of grease containing a lithium soap type adjusting agent used for the spindle motor 6 or the head suspension assembly (HSA) bearing (voice coil motor drive shaft) 4 was added to each of the sample magnetic disk devices, and its HDA base (base) Base) 1 soaked in the particle filter.

The conditions for the long-term reliability test are as follows: the seek operation of the head is performed for 1 hour in an environment of 60 ° C. and 40%, and then 5
30 seek tests with 30 minute unload standby
It was subjected to a reliability test conducted for a day.

After that, a predetermined read / write check,
That is, as a result of checking whether or not a read / write error has occurred, in the conventional product that does not use the head slider according to the embodiment of the present invention, in three out of ten magnetic disk devices, a write miss system failure (specifically, Is an error)
However, in the magnetic disk device equipped with the head slider 3 according to the embodiment of the present invention, no error was observed.

The magnetic disk device which has been subjected to the above reliability test was further disassembled, and the air bearing slider (ABS) surface 13, which is the disk facing surface of the magnetic head 12, was observed with an optical microscope. In the head slider 3 according to the present invention, the liquid deposit 16 was not observed in all the head sliders 3, but in the head slider disassembled from the conventional magnetic disk device in which the problem occurred, the magnetic disk device in which the above error occurred 15 out of 20, including the head slider, liquid deposits 16 near the recording / reproducing element 12 on the air bearing slider (ABS) surface of the head slider.
Was observed.

Although the present embodiment has been described by taking the example of mounting the head slider having such a groove portion on the magnetic disk device, the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can be applied to other disk devices such as an optical disk device and a magneto-optical disk device.

[0044]

As described in detail above, by incorporating the head slider having the groove portion as in the embodiment of the present invention into the magnetic disk device, a new device such as a heater is provided on the head slider of the magnetic disk device. It is possible to suck and hold liquid deposits deposited on the head slider with long-term use up to a region that does not affect recording and reproduction by utilizing the capillary phenomenon of the groove portion, without adding.
Further, by using a method that does not cause a problem of accelerating thermal deterioration of head mechanism components, by providing a mechanism capable of removing the liquid deposits on the head slider that accumulates with long-term use,
It is possible to provide a highly reliable magnetic disk device for a long period of time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a magnetic disk device according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a slider chip (head slider) for a magnetic head mounted on the magnetic disk device according to the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a magnetic head slider chip (head slider) mounted on a conventional magnetic disk device.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic diagram of the vicinity of the recording / reproducing head according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Hard Disk Assembly (HDA) Base 2 ... Head Carriage 3 ... Magnetic Head Slider 4 ... Head Suspension Assembly (HSA)
Bearing 5 ... Magnetic disk 6 ... Spindle motor (SPM) 7 ... Voice coil motor (VCM) 8 ... Lamp 9 ... CPU 10 ... Spindle motor drive circuit 11 ... Read / write control Circuit 12 Recording / reproducing element 13 Disk facing surface (air bearing slider: A
BS) surface 14: recording / reproducing element processing surface 15: liquid adhered material suction removal groove portion 16: liquid adhered material 17: exposed portion W: liquid adhered material suction removal groove width Dp: Depth of liquid adhering substance suction removal groove Dp1: Depth of liquid adhering substance suction removal groove in the recording / reproducing element direction

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A disk which is rotationally driven at a predetermined rotational speed, and which floats on the disk as the disk rotates,
A recording / reproducing element for recording / reproducing data on / from the disk is mounted, and a disk-opposing surface facing the disk and a recording / reproducing element processing surface orthogonal to the disk-opposing surface on which the recording / reproducing element is mounted are provided. And a head slider having a groove portion on the processed surface of the recording / reproducing element, and at least one end of the groove portion having an exposed portion exposed at a side of the disk facing surface in the vicinity of the recording / reproducing element. 2. A width of a predetermined portion of the groove provided in the head slider, which is separated from an exposed portion of the disk facing surface of the groove in the depth direction, is formed narrower than a width of the exposed portion. The disk drive according to claim 1, further comprising a head slider. 3. The liquid deposits deposited on the groove of the head slider are evaporated by Joule heat generated by the recording operation of the recording element of the recording / reproducing element. The disk device according to claim 1. 4. The disk device according to claim 1, wherein the groove portion provided in the head slider is formed by ion milling. 5. A head slider equipped with a recording / reproducing element that floats on the disk as the disk rotates and records / reproduces data on / from the disk, the disk facing surface facing the disk, and the disk facing surface. It has a recording / reproducing element processed surface on which the recording / reproducing element is mounted, which is perpendicular to the surface, and a groove portion and at least one end of the groove portion are exposed on the recording / reproducing element processing surface of the recording / reproducing element processing surface near the recording / reproducing element. And a head slider having an exposed portion. 6. The width of a predetermined portion of the groove portion, which is separated from the exposed portion of the disc facing surface in the depth direction, is formed to be narrower than the width of the exposed portion. Head slider. 7. The liquid deposit deposited on the groove is evaporated by Joule heat generated by the recording operation of the recording element of the recording / reproducing element. The head slider according to claim 10.