Fly height control for a read/write head over patterned media

摘要

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a fly height of a read/write head in a disc drive is actively controlled as the read/write head is positioned over a rotating disc with a patterned media. The patterned media includes ridges and grooves in servo wedges in the patterned media. According to another embodiment of the present invention, an estimated fly height of the read/write head is compared with a desired fly height to generate a control signal. The control signal is used to apply a voltage difference across a piezoelectric layer joining the read/write head to a slider to move the read/write head relative to the slider and adjust the fly height of the read/write head. According to another embodiment of the present invention, a map of ridges and grooves in the patterned media is generated and the fly height of the read/write head is actively controlled based on information in the map.