Utilization of CD and DVD Pick-Up Heads for Scratch Inspection of Magnetic Disk in Dynamic State Using Microcontroller

Abstract

A non-destructive technique to inspect a scratch on all magnetic disks in the beginning process of hard disk drive (HDD) manufacturing by using CD and DVD pick-up heads as the detector is proposed. It requires a 100% disk inspection of micrometer-sized scratches in a quick measurement with low cost inventing. Most of the previous studies were in static state but this is the first time to be done in dynamic study using the microcontroller in order to promptly serve for industrial utilization. The size, position, and shape characteristic of scratches are examined using light reflection technique. The results show that, when the laser beam is targeted on a magnetic disk in a position, either scratch or non-scratch, the reflected light intensity differs. The DVD pick-up head can detect the width and the surface characteristic of the scratches, which is similar to the results from scanning electron microscope (SEM) for all scratches sizes less than 100 µm. It is also found that using a DVD pick-up head provides a better resolution of shape characteristic and roughness of scratches surface than a CD pick-up head. Hence, the scratch size of 10s µm scale on the magnetic disk can be accurately characterized by this proposed technique, which can be further utilized for magnetic disk inspection in the hard disk drive manufacturing process.