Simulation of Piezoelectric Flying Height Control Slider Using Shear-Mode Deformation

The piezoelectric flying height control slider has recently been implemented in magnetic recording disk drives to reduce the flying height. This paper has examined the piezoelectric flying height control slider using shear-model deformation of piezoelectric transducer (PZT). A finite element model of the PZT slider using shear-model deformation has been built, and the electromechanical simulation and air-bearing simulation have been performed to investigate the effects of the shear-model deformation on the static flying attitude of the PZT slider. The results show that the flying height and pitch angle of the PZT slider can be significantly reduced with an increase in the drive voltage on the PZT sheet. However, beyond the drive voltage of 80 V for the proposed PZT slider, the reduction in the flying height of PZT slider is limited owing to the high air bearing stiffness at low flying height region. Furthermore, the PZT slider can be rotated and balanced at a negative pitch angle.