IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 42, NO.

10, OCTOBER 2006

2489

Air Bearing Simulation of Discrete Track

Recording Media
Maik Duwensee1 , Shoji Suzuki2 , Judy Lin2 , David Wachenschwanz2 , and Frank E. Talke1
Center for Magnetic Recording Research, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0401 USA
KOMAG, Inc., San Jose, CA 95131 USA
Sliders flying over patterned or discrete track media are exposed to an entirely different pressure field from the air bearing than in
the case of present day smooth disks. In this first study, we investigate the influence of discrete track media parameters such as groove
width, groove pitch, and groove depth on the steady-state flying characteristics of five different slider designs using a finite-element-based
air bearing simulator.
Index TermsAir bearing, discrete track media, patterned media, simulation.

I. INTRODUCTION

EAT ASSISTED MAGNETIC RECORDING (HAMR)

or patterned media recording is expected to be used in
future disk drives in order to increase the areal density above
500 Gbit/in . In HAMR, laser light is used to heat individual
bit cells, thereby lowering the media coercivity during the write
process. In patterned media recording, individual tracks or individual discrete bits are fabricated on the disk surface. Fig. 1(a)
illustrates typical discrete track media and Fig. 1(b) typical discrete bit media, respectively. In bit patterned media (BPM), each
bit forms a single surface entity that is physically separated from
neighboring bits in the circumferential, as well as radial direction. Thus, transition noise between adjacent bits is absent. In
discrete track recording (DTR) technology, the bits are stored
on single tracks which are physically separated from each other.
Thus, the transition noise is eliminated in the radial direction but
not in the circumferential direction.
Sliders flying over BPM or DTR media see a disk surface
that consists of ridges and grooves in the case of DTR, or individual island-like regions in the case of BPM. The flying behavior of a slider over such a surface is different from that for
flying over a smooth disk. A reduction in the steady-state
flying height coupled with a different flying attitude can be expected for DTR or BPM media unless planarization of the disk
surface is performed.
To investigate the effect of discrete tracks, we have modified an existing finite-element-based air bearing simulator [1]
that takes the characteristics of the grooved disk surface into account. A finite-element approach was chosen, because of the
ease of implementation of mesh size variations for different
areas of the air bearing surface. In areas of high pressure and
low spacing, a very fine mesh is selected to investigate the effect of the ultra fine grooves appropriately. In areas of higher
spacing, we have chosen a coarser mesh, assuming that the influence of surface features is negligible at large spacing. This
approach keeps the overall model size small enough to be solvable on a PC. A uniform high mesh density would result in a

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2006.878617

Fig. 1.

a) Discrete track recording. b) Bit patterned media.

Fig. 2. Pico slider design.

forbiddingly large numerical problem that could not be handled

on present day computers.
II. MODELING
Five different slider designs were simulated, one pico and
four femto form factor designs. Fig. 2 shows the subambient
pressure pico slider design used. On a nongrooved smooth surface this design has a flying height of 4 nm.
Fig. 3(a)(d) shows the four femto designs used in this investigation. The femto designs 14 have flying heights of 30, 14,
15, and 19 nm, respectively. Design femto 2 was derived from
design femto 1 by decreasing the size of the center pad, design
3 is a modified version of design 2 as can be seen from the differently shaped center pad. In design number 4, we moved the
two side pads closer to the trailing edge, resulting in additional
air bearing pressure support for the slider. All other air bearing
design parameters were kept constant.
For the pico slider design, we created a finite-element mesh
with an element edge length of 1 m. A uniform mesh density
was maintained. For the femto designs, we used nonuniform
meshes, with extremely small elements in the area of the trailing
edge and center pad. On the trailing edge part of the center pad
an element size of 40 nm was defined. The center pad surface
was meshed with elements 100 nm in size. The same element

0018-9464/$20.00 2006 IEEE

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 42, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2006

Fig. 5. Pressure distribution of slider flying over DTR media. a) Entire air
bearing surface. b) Detail of pressure at trailing edge pad.
Fig. 3. Femto designs 14 [a)d), respectively].
TABLE I
RESULTING MODEL SIZES

Fig. 4.

DTR parameter.

size was realized on the two side pad surfaces. The rest of the
air bearing surface was meshed with elements 1 m in size.
The resulting model sizes for all air bearing designs used in this
study are summarized in Table I.
Fig. 4 shows the parameters that determine DTR media. They
are groove depth (d), groove width (w), and groove pitch (p), respectively. For the simulation of the pico design, we have used a
m and a constant groove pitch
constant groove width of
of
m. The groove depth was chosen to be between zero
nm). For the femto designs,
and eight nanometer (
nm and a groove
we have chosen a groove width of
nm, due to the very fine meshes for these
pitch of
designs. The range of the simulated groove depth was from 0 to
nm). The skew angle for all simula15 nanometer (
tions was assumed to be zero.
III. SIMULATION RESULTS
Fig. 5(a) shows a typical pressure distribution of a slider
flying over DTR media using a uniform mesh. A magnified
view of the pressure distribution in the area of the trailing edge
center is shown in Fig. 5(b). We observe from Fig. 5(b) that the
grooves influence the pressure distribution in the trailing edge
area significantly. However, very little change in the pressure
distribution was found in areas of high spacing. Thus, it is
apparent that a fine mesh is needed only in the areas of high
pressure and low spacing, while a larger mesh size can be

Fig. 6. a) Absolute and b) normalized flying height change versus groove

depth.

used elsewhere. This knowledge was used during the meshing

process of the femto slider designs.
Fig. 6(a) shows the absolute change in flying height as a function of groove depth, while Fig. 6(b) shows the normalized loss
of flying height as a function of groove depth. As can be seen, the
absolute loss in flying height (FH) is the same for all slider designs investigated. Analyzing the slope of the curves, we derive
the following empirical expression for the loss of flying height:
(1)
This formula is known to be a correct approximation for positive pressure air bearings such as two rail slider designs. The
expression can be derived from the Reynolds equation for an
infinitely wide inclined plane air bearing. Surprisingly, it seems
to be also a good estimate for the loss in flying height of subambient pressure sliders flying over a grooved disk, considering

DUWENSEE et al.: AIR BEARING SIMULATION OF DISCRETE TRACK RECORDING MEDIA

Fig. 7. Pitch angle change versus groove depth.

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Fig. 7 shows the simulated pitch angle change as a function

of groove depth. In all our simulations, the pitch angle remained
nearly constant.
Fig. 8(a) shows the increase in peak pressure as a function of
groove depth for the femto slider designs investigated. We notice only a slight increase in peak pressure. In Fig. 8(b), we have
plotted the peak pressure versus groove depth for all designs.
As can be seen from this graph, the increase in peak pressure
for the pico design is significant, up to five times the value of a
nongrooved head disk interface. Comparing the absolute peak
pressure values for the pico design of 1.8 MPa (18 atm) (nongrooved case) with close to 9.1 MPa (90 atm) (10 nm groove
depth), this slider design may require a special lubricant that
can withstand such high pressure values without excessive lubricant migration.
IV. SUMMARY
One pico and four femto slider designs have been analyzed to
investigate the influence of DTR media on flying height, pitch
angle, and peak pressure. It was found that the flying height loss
can be expressed by a simple (1) involving groove width, groove
pitch, and groove depth. The results show that the peak pressure
can increase significantly for sliders with a low initial flying
height. Only a small increase in peak pressure was observed for
sliders with an initial flying height of 14 nm and higher. The
pitch angle appears to be independent of DTR parameters.
REFERENCES

Fig. 8. Relative peak pressure increase. a) Just femto designs. b) All designs.

that
in our simulations. This result is an indication for the dominant role of the trailing edge pad in the designs
investigated.

[1] M. Wahl, P. Lee, and F. Talke, An efficient finite element-based air

bearing simulator for pivoted slider bearings using bi-conjugate gradient
algorithms, STLE Trib. Trans., vol. 39, no. 1, 1996.
[2] D. Wachenschwanz et al., Design of a manufacturable discrete track
recording medium, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 670675,
Feb. 2005.
[3] B. Horton, Magnetic head flyability on patterned media, M.S. thesis,
Georgia Inst. Technol., Atlanta, GA, Jul. 2004.
[4] Y. Soeno et al., Feasibility of discrete track perpendicular media for
high track density recording, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 39, no. 4, pp.
19671971, Jul. 2003.

Manuscript received March 13, 2006 (e-mail: maik@talkelab.ucsd.edu).