Hard disk drive

These days, hard disk manufacturers are engaged in a cost and reliability race against solid state drive manufacturers. And the increased performance expected of computers, together with the ever smaller recording sections of hard disk platters, are placing higher quality demands on disk drives.

Sources of contaminants to hard disk drives

Total contamination control in the cleanroom is crucial to keep contamination of disk surfaces to a minimum. Particle/dust contaminants and chemical contaminants are adsorbed by disk surfaces and recording heads. Surface dust will scratch the surfaces of the recording head and disk. This, along with the tiniest defect, can lead to poor product quality and – in the worst case – data loss.

The contaminants come from many sources, including:

• Workers
• Equipment
• Construction materials
• Cassette materials
• Process chemicals
• The packing process
• Static electricity
• Indoor air and outdoor air

The known effects of molecular contamination include:

• Increased stiction due to contaminant build up on the head or disk
• Corrosion caused by organic or inorganic acids
• Accumulation of contaminant on head or disk affecting flying height

Protect your disk drives from their environment

Your hard disks need to breathe, too. Luckily, high-efficiency filters like HEPA and ULPA filters have made it possible to control particle and chemical contaminants that cannot be removed with normal coarse dust removal filters.

All hard disk factories use advanced particle cleanroom environments with airborne molecular contamination (AMC) control for specific contaminants. Over the years, Camfil has built up a database of applications that can help you achieve the most stringent requirements for different process environments such as manufacturing, head stack assembly, post-sputtering and curing processes. Thanks to a comprehensive analytical programme, Camfil can analyse and quantify contamination (particle and AMC), and propose the best solutions to hard disk manufacturers.