Head integrated touchdown sensor for hard disk drives
AssigneeWestern Digital (Fremont), LLC
InventorsDavid E. Fowler, Sateeshchandra S. Bajikar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system for providing a disk drive is described. The disk drive includes media such as one or more disks, a slider and a head residing on the slider. The head has an air-bearing surface (ABS) and includes a touchdown sensor proximate to the ABS. The touchdown sensor is capable of detecting a temperature change of 0.1 degree Celsius or, in some embodiments, smaller. The disk drive also includes touchdown sensor control circuitry coupled with the touchdown sensor. The touchdown sensor control circuitry drives a current through the touchdown sensor and converts a signal from the touchdown sensor into an indication of whether touchdown has occurred.
Claims16
A disk drive comprising:
- a slider;
- media;
- a head residing on the slider and having an air-bearing surface (ABS), the head further including a touchdown sensor proximate to the ABS, the touchdown sensor being capable of detecting a temperature change of 0.1 degree Celsius;
- and
- touchdown sensor control circuitry coupled with the touchdown sensor, the touchdown sensor control circuitry for driving a current through the touchdown sensor and converting a signal from the touchdown sensor into an indication of whether touchdown has occurred.
A disk drive comprising:
- a slider;
- media;
- a head residing on the slider and having an air-bearing surface (ABS), the head further including a touchdown sensor proximate to the ABS, the touchdown sensor being capable of detecting a temperature change of 0.1 degree Celsius, the touchdown sensor including at least one of amorphous Ge, amorphous Si, amorphous GeSi, and amorphous GeSiO and having a lateral dimension of not more than one micron and a thickness of not more than four hundred nanometers;
- and
- touchdown sensor control circuitry coupled with the touchdown sensor, the touchdown sensor control circuitry for driving a current through the touchdown sensor and converting a signal from the touchdown sensor into an indication of whether touchdown has occurred.
A method for detecting a touchdown of a head having an air-bearing surface (ABS) on a medium, the method comprising:
- determining a first temperature of a touchdown sensor integrated in the head, the touchdown sensor being proximate to the ABS, the touchdown sensor capable of detecting a temperature change of 0.1 degree;
- determining a second temperature of the touchdown sensor;
- calculating a difference between the first temperature and the second temperature;
- and
- detecting the touchdown based on the difference.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.