In Situ Spacing Fluctuation Monitoring of Hard Disk Drive with Thermal Asperity Sensors

This paper presents an investigation of spacing fluctuation characterization (SFC) of Hard Disk Drive (HDD) using thermal asperity (TA) sensor. Firstly, the spacing fluctuation monitored by TA sensor is correlated with that monitored by a Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV). Secondly, a series of experiments are conducted to study the factors affecting the spacing fluctuation, including disk distortion, head crown sensitivity, ZH sensitivity. Good disk assembly and small crown sensitivity and ZH sensitivity will be helpful to reduce spacing fluctuation.