Stiction improvement for sub-microinch glide height media using small crater laser bumps

The effect of smaller crater laser bumps on stiction performance was investigated in this paper. A Nd-YVO/sub 4/ laser and a green laser were employed to generate crater laser bumps on NiP/AlMg substrates. A stiction map for three different bump diameters was made to depict high stiction and normal stiction regions. It shows that smaller bump diameter is a good approach to meet both low stiction and low glide requirements. This is attributed to the reduction in radius of curvature at the top of the laser bump rim. A novel tilted crater laser bump providing good wear durability and low stiction was also evaluated.