The XE-HDM makes it possible for the substrate & media manufacturers to monitor the flattest substrates being developed for the HDD industry.

By delivering the industry lowest noise floor (less than 0.5 A) and combining it with True Non-Contact Mode, the XE-HDM makes it possible to acquire consistent, repeatable, and reproducible sub-nanoscale roughness measurements.

Suppliers to the HDD industry are developing ultra-flat substrates to address the ever-increasing need for reduced slider flying height. However, there has never been a metrology tool capable of providing accurate and reliable measurements for the sub-nanoscale roughness of these substrates.

The new XE-HDM significantly increases throughput for the defect review process; test runs with real defects demonstrate a 10x increase in throughput for defect review in an automated process when compared with more traditional methods of defect review.

Park Systems XE-HDM is an automatic defect review AFM that speeds and improves the way defects in HDD substrates and media are identified, scanned, and analyzed.

For researchers working with in hard disk media and other flat substrates, the process of identifying nanoscale defects is time consuming with conventional tools, hindering throughput.