In-situ alumina recession and protrusion measurement on a magnetic head

Abstract

A method is proposed in this study to measure the alumina recession and protrusion of a magnetic head. This method is accurate and efficient, eliminates the ambiguity caused by reference plane selection, and can be easily implemented during flying height measurement. It also can be extended to measure the minimum flying height of an air-bearing surface, and more accurately evaluate the flying height standard variation of a HGA manufacturing process.