Thin film thermocouple sensors for measurement of contact temperatures during slider asperity interaction on magnetic recording disks

Thin-film thermocouple sensors have been fabricated on a magnetic recording slider. Both the sensors and the reference junctions are located on the air bearing surface of the slider. The effective size of the junctions is 4 mu m, and response time is faster than 0.5 mu s. The sensitivity of these thermocouples is measured to be 7 mu V/ degrees C. The thermocouple signals obtained at the slider asperity contacts show a temperature rise of 1-5 degrees C. Incorporating the sensor dimensions and assuming asperities of 0.5 mu m width, the actual temperatures are estimated to be in the range of 90-450 degrees C.<
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