Methods for manufacturing glass pads, glass pads and hard drive devices

Abstract

The manufacturing process refers to a method for producing ring-shaped glass spacers arranged in contact with magnetic disks in a hard disk drive. This method involves a process to create a film on the surface of the glass spacer's main body, which forms the base of the glass spacer. In this process, the film is created by passing the glass spacer's main body through a position where the film components are in a sprayed state while the outer perimeter edge of the glass spacer's main body is rotated in its rotational direction. As a result, it is possible to obtain glass pads whose entire surface is coated with a conductive film containing tin oxide, zinc oxide, or titanium oxide. Furthermore, it is possible to obtain glass pads in which the film thickness on the edge surfaces of the glass pad is greater than the film thickness on the main surfaces of the glass pad.