Analysis and performance characteristics of the Seagate advanced air bearing slider

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Abstract
The challenge of increasing disc drive capacity and performance while improving reliability requires a departure from typical straight rail air bearing sliders. This paper proposes a shaped air bearing that uses sub-ambient pressure. This design improves reliability by increasing air bearing stiffness, decreasing fly tolerances, increasing pitch angle, minimizing roll and improving take-off performance. The shaped rails and partially stepped edges control the fly height profile. This paper presents modeling of the slider's steady state and dynamic performance. Also presented are take-off velocity comparisons with catamaran, contact start/stop performance and the design's contamination sensitivity.