The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 10, 2006
Filed:
Jun. 30, 2004
Walton Fong, San Jose, CA (US);
Donald Ray Gillis, San Jose, CA (US);
Bernhard E. Knigge, San Jose, CA (US);
Remmelt Pit, Cupertino, CA (US);
Mike Suk, San Jose, CA (US);
Walton Fong, San Jose, CA (US);
Donald Ray Gillis, San Jose, CA (US);
Bernhard E. Knigge, San Jose, CA (US);
Remmelt Pit, Cupertino, CA (US);
Mike Suk, San Jose, CA (US);
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, NL;
Abstract
A method for measuring the clearance of a slider over a rotating disk by inducing a collision between the slider and the disk is described. After the normal flying height of the slider is established, the slider is driven into a collision with the rotating disk surface by applying a DC or AC voltage between the slider and the disk. The clearance data can be extracted from the induced collision by measuring a parameter, such as the change in the amplitude of the readback signal from the magnetic sensor, which is related to fly-height at the normal fly-height and at the disk surface. The two data points can then be used to derive the clearance. One embodiment uses a single beam interferometer to derive the vibrational displacement of the collision event.