• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.312-320
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• 2001

In magnetic hard disk drives, higher areal recording density requires reduction of head-disk spacing. To overcome the increase of stiction associated with reduction of head-disk spacing, a padder slider, which adds pads to slider's air bearing surface, can be one of the practical solution for sub 20 nm flying height, and even for near contact recording. This study investigated the tribological characteristics of a padder slider. A padder slider took off slowly but showed less friction force than a normal slider. The hot/dry CSS test and drag test indicated that pad wear of a padder slider was negligible. The tribological performance of disk is an important factor to be considered. In particular, less carbon overcoat layer of the disk will result in higher stiction and wear in slider/disk interface. In conclusion, a padder slider shows encouraging tribological performances for practical use in HDD.