NOVEL THERMAL ACTUATOR DESIGN FOR THERMAL FLYING HEIGHT CONTROL SLIDER

摘要

This invention relates to a slider that includes a thermal actuator for controlling the flying height of the slider over a disk in a HDD. The thermal actuator comprises a thermal insulator, a thermal heater and a thermal conductor. The thermal heater is proximate a bottom surface of a slider body on one side of a read/write element. The thermal conductor has a higher thermal coefficient of thermal expansion than a remainder of the slider body and is formed between the first thermal heater and the one side of the read/write element. The first thermal insulator is proximate the bottom surface of the slider body and adjacent to the first thermal heater on an opposing side of the first thermal heater.