A Head Cleaning Procedure for Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording

In the heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), write-induced head contamination covering the near-field transducer (NFT) can affect the transmission efficiency of optical energy from the NFT to a recording medium. We have experimentally confirmed that write performances such as data track width and signal amplitude change as a function of elapsed write time due to accumulation of the write-induced head contamination. Unintended changes of write performances in a drive can lose the capability to perform magnetic recordings as requested by a host. Here, we introduce the head cleaning procedure which removes the contamination from the interfacing surface of the head by placing it in close proximity to a disk surface. Effectiveness of the cleaning operation for performance stabilization is demonstrated with integrated HAMR drives. Detrimental effects of the mechanical cleaning operation on both head and media reliabilities have not been observed.