Molecular tribology of disk drives

Abstract

A good molecular level understanding of the tribological properties of the materials at the slider-disk interface is essential to the future development of disk drive technology. This paper provides a short overview of the molecular tribology of disk drives related to the selection of lubricant materials for the slider-disk interface. Besides providing criteria for lubricant selection, this paper briefly discusses our current understanding of stiction and friction forces, lubricant degradation, lubricant mobility, spin-off, and lubricant transfer to sliders.