Dynamics of sub-5-nm air-bearing sliders in the presence of electrostatic and intermolecular forces at the head-disk interface

A head-disk interface (HDI) model has been used to investigate the effect of the intermolecular and electrostatic forces on the static and dynamic performance of air-bearing sliders. It is seen that the intermolecular and electrostatic forces increase the level of flying height modulations at low flying heights, which in turn results in dynamic instability of the system similar to what has also been observed in experiments. In the analysis a stiffness matrix is defined to characterize the stability in the vertical, pitch, and roll directions. Fly height diagrams are used to examine the multiple equilibriums that exist for low flying sliders. In addition, the simulation results are compared with previously published experiments for validation.