Fly height sensor control circuit

Abstract

A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk, a head for writing data to the disk, a first touchdown sensor, a second touchdown sensor, and control circuitry comprising a first current source coupled to the first touchdown sensor and a second current source coupled to the second touchdown sensor, the control circuitry operable to determine a common mode voltage between the first touchdown sensor and the second touchdown sensor, adjust the first current source and the second current source until the common mode voltage exceeds a first threshold, determine a differential voltage between the first touchdown sensor and the second touchdown sensor, adjust the first current source and the second current source until the differential voltage exceeds a second threshold, and detect a touchdown event based on the differential voltage exceeding a third threshold.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.