1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a powder for disks, such as glass disks used in storage devices, and in particular to a powder for separating and cushioning stacked glass disks.
2. Background Information
Circular-shaped magnetic disks are typically used in hard disk drives of computers, for example, for use in data storage applications. Such magnetic disks may be formed from aluminum or from glass, for example, and will typically have a magnetic surface coating located thereon. A head of the disk drive interacts with the magnetic surface coating to read and write information to the disk. Such magnetic disks have achieved storage capacities of several gigabytes or more, using current technology.
Typically, the head of the disk drive that reads and writes information to the disk is arranged to fly a small distance above a surface of the disk. By bringing the head closer to the surface of the disk, higher density recording becomes possible.
As mentioned, often the magnetic disks are formed from aluminum. However, aluminum is relatively soft, so when it is handled, it is possible to ding the disk and form an area where data can not be retrieved from.
Further, the aluminum is typically coated with nickel plating to give the disk a harder and more defect free surface. However, the nickel plating has a low limit in hardness and has a tendency to become magnetic from composition or heating in sputter at temperatures greater than 300° C., causing errors in reading and writing to the disk.
Additionally, while aluminum disks can be made smooth, their surfaces are very easily damaged during disk manufacturing or file build causing asperities and glide failures. The smoother a magnetic disk can be made and kept, the closer the head can be brought to the surface of the disk during the read/write operations.
To overcome the problems associated with aluminum disks, attention has been directed to the utilization of glass disks, formed from alumina-silicate glass, for example. Typically, computer manufacturers purchase blank glass disks, for example from a glass manufacturer. Once received, the computer manufacturer subjects the blank glass disks to various processes that prepare the glass disks for use as a data storage device. For example, the blank glass disks may be polished by the computer manufacturer to remove surface scratches from the disks, and to planarize the surface of the disks to remove any waviness.
Conventionally, the glass manufacturer stacks the glass disks on top of one another to facilitate the transportation of the disks to the end user (i.e., the computer manufacturer, for instance). For example, the glass disks may be shipped in 50 disk stacks (i.e., 50 disks to a stack). To prevent the surface of one disk from scratching the surface of an adjacent disk, and to facilitate separation of the disks from the stack, it is further conventional to place a piece of paper between adjacent disks.
However, the use of such paper is problematic to the end user. For example, prior to any subsequent processing, the paper must be removed from between the glass disks and disposed of. Nevertheless, it is relatively common for some of the paper to end up in undesired locations, such as caught in the workings of an expensive piece of manufacturing equipment causing possible equipment damage and loss of thru-put, or as debris on the floor.
Moreover, in an attempt to automate the processing of the glass disks, it is also conventional to utilize specially tailored machines that are used to automatically remove the paper from the glass disks. For example, one such machine utilizes a needle to poke a hole in the paper and separate the paper from the associated disk. However, the paper will often fall off the disk at a non-desired location, such as in the final process cassette, causing manufacturing problems discussed above.
Moreover, occasionally more than one piece of paper will be erroneously placed between two adjacent stacked disks. Thus, even if the normal paper-removing process is successful in removing one of the pieces of paper, the other piece of paper may remain on the surface of the respective disk. This could cause the remaining paper to be moved into subsequent processing areas together with the disk, or the paper could be misidentified as the next disk, resulting in machine malfunctions. The paper could also be in a position to contaminate processing equipment.
Further, after the removal of the paper, the disks may be automatically moved using a disk-moving mechanism. However, if any paper remains on the surface of the disk, the disk-moving mechanism may erroneously identify the paper as being a disk, and attempt to move the paper, rather than the disk, to further processing stations. As will be appreciated, the presence of undesired paper can thus cause subsequent problems, including down time of the disk preparation processes, reduced productivity, and unnecessary expenses.
Thus, there is a need for a way to transport stacked glass disks that will protect the glass disks from damage, is compatible with subsequent processes to the glass disks, and will allow easy separation of the stacked glass disks, without the use of paper disposed between adjacent ones of the glass disks.