| abstract |
An aspect of the present invention relates to a magnetic head employed in a linear tape drive in the form of a sliding-contact linear tape drive. The magnetic head comprises multiple indentations that are observed in a surface topographic image viewed by a scanning probe microscope on a surface (sliding contact surface) of sliding contact with a magnetic tape, and the multiple indentations satisfy (1) to (4) below:n (1) an average area of the indentations in the sliding contact surface ranges from about 0.2 μm 2 to about 1.0 μm 2 ; (2) a standard deviation of an area of the indentations ranges from about 0.5 μm 2 to about 2.0 μm 2 ; (3) an area ratio of the indentations in the sliding contact surface ranges from about 20 percent to about 50 percent; and (4) an average depth of the indentations is equal to or greater than about 15 nm. |