Seagate Technology Incorporated

Read Rite Corporation

Billy Wayne Crue

Sakhrat Khizroev

Dmitri Litvinov

William D Jensen

Zhupei Shi

Robert Earl Rottmayer

Mark David Thomas

Hugh Craig Hiner

Durga P Ravipati

Petrus Antonius Van Der Heijden

Yiming Huai

Michael Allen Seigler

Yong Shen

Lien-Chang Wang

Kenneth E Knapp

Gregory John Parker

Michael Kevin Minor

Thomas McLendon Crawford

Eric R Katz

Erik Bjorn Svedberg

Richard Joseph Bojko

Lein-Chang Wang

A write pole for a magnetic recording head, such as a perpendicular magnetic recording head, includes a first magnetic layer comprising a material having a first saturation magnetic moment and a second magnetic layer adjacent the first magnetic layer wherein the second magnetic layer comprises a material having a second saturation magnetic moment that is greater than the first saturation magnetic moment. The write pole also comprises a non-magnetic layer between a portion of the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer. The non-magnetic layer may be formed between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer adjacent an air-bearing surface of the recording head. A disc drive storage system having a recording head with means for reducing skew sensitivity of the recording head is also disclosed.

Low moment-high moment write pole with non-magnetic layer for establishing a magnetic path discontinuity between layers of the write pole

A recording head for use with magnetic recording media has an improved structure, made by a simplified manufacturing process. The electrically insulating materials within the recording head are inorganic. The insulating materials are vacuum deposited, with no need to use a hard bake process that would be required for use of organic insulators. In one embodiment, the write gap is first masked, and then the coil is deposited on the write gap. A slightly larger area is then exposed within the mask, permitting insulation to be deposited over the coil. In a second embodiment, the coil and associated insulation are deposited and then milled to have a tapered configuration. This recording head also places the writing pole on a very flat surface, thereby allowing plated or deposited films to be easily manufactured to correspond to narrow track widths.

Method of making a recording head

A perpendicular magnetic recording head having an air bearing surface and comprising a substantially planar top pole and a shared pole is disclosed. The top pole and shared pole are connected distally from the air bearing surface by a yoke. A conductive coil wraps around the top pole and is positioned adjacent to the air bearing surface, with a lower portion of the coils extending between the top pole and the shared pole.

Perpendicular magnetic recording head

A perpendicular magnetic recording head includes a main write pole and multiple return poles. The size of each return pole is controlled in order to provide substantially the same magnetic reluctance through each return pole. The return poles effectively reduce or eliminate the flux antenna effect caused by stray magnetic fields.

Perpendicular recording head with return poles which reduce flux antenna effect

A main write pole for a perpendicular recording head for use with magnetic recording media includes a main body portion of a material with a low magnetic moments, a trailing edge of a material having a high magnetic moment and a non-magnetic de-coupling layer therebetween. The strong magnetic recording field generated by the high moment magnetic material permits the use of a magnetic recording media having high anisotropy, thereby reducing super paramagnetic instabilities at high recording densities. Additionally, the high magnetic moment of the trailing edge, combined with the low magnetic moments of the remainder of the write pole, results in a highly localized magnetic recording field, thereby reducing the sensitivity of the recording process to the skew angle. Further, the de-coupling between the low and high magnetic moment portions of the write pole minimize the problem of magnetic remanence.

Composite write pole for a magnetic recording head

A perpendicular recording head for use with magnetic storage media includes a flux focusing main pole. The main pole includes a layer of material having a high magnetic moment, and a second layer of material having a low magnetic moment. The low moment material is tapered towards the main pole's tip, so that all magnetic flux is channeled into the high moment material before writing to the magnetic storage medium.

Perpendicular magnetic recording head having a flux focusing main pole

A magnetic recording head includes a current perpendicular to the plane read head having a read sensor and a low resistance lead structure. The lead structure includes a layer of conductive material that forms at least a portion of the lead structure such that the layer of conductive material has a lower resistivity than a resistivity of the remainder of the lead structure. The layer of conductive material with lower resistivity decreases the overall resistance of the lead structure.

Low resistance lead structure for a low resistance magnetic read head

A perpendicular magnetic recording head includes a write pole designed to reduce or eliminate problems caused by stray magnetic fields. By positioning a write coil close to the air bearing surface of the recording head, and controlling the geometry of the write pole, the necessity of a return pole to provide a closed magnetic flux path through the write pole and the magnetic recording media is eliminated. The use of an open magnetic path produced by a single write pole reduces or eliminates problems caused by stray magnetic fields which, in conventional perpendicular magnetic recording head designs, travel through the soft magnetic underlayer of the recording media and enter the recording head through the return pole.

Perpendicular magnetic recording head with write pole which reduces flux antenna effect

A recording head for use with magnetic recording media includes a structure having a precisely defined throat height. The throat height of a typical recording head is defined by a photoresist structure formed through a hard bake process. It is difficult to control the thickness of the photoresist during the spinning and hard bake process, resulting in magnetically inefficient structure at the tip of the recording head's main write pole. The use of an NiPd plating results in a more accurately defined throat height, and resulting magnetically efficient structure. A method of manufacturing the recording head of the present invention is also provided.

Magnetic recording head with a precision throatheight-defining structure

A recording head for use with magnetic recording media includes a current perpendicular to plane (CPP) type giant magnetoresistive (GMR) read element, with the alternating magnetic and nonmagnetic layers within the GMR read element either perpendicular or angled to the read head's shields. This structure maximizes the number of alternating layers within the GMR read element, and minimizes the area available for flow of the test current. Both total resistance of the GMR element, and the change in resistance as a function of changes in magnetic flux, relative to total resistance, are thereby increased. The sensitivity of the GMR read element is thereby increased, permitting storage of information within magnetic recording media at greater densities. The invention also includes a method of manufacturing a read head using such a GMR element.

Structure for current perrpendicular to plane giant magnetoresistive read heads

A method for forming a perpendicular magnetic read/write head having an air bearing surface and comprising a substantially planar top pole and a shared pole is disclosed. The steps include forming a top pole, a shared pole, and a yoke wherein the top pole and shared pole are connected distally from the air bearing surface by a yoke. A conductive coil is formed that wraps around the top pole and is positioned adjacent to the air bearing surface, with a lower portion of the coils extending between the top pole and the shared pole.

Method for forming a perpendicular recording read/write head

A magnetic head includes pole tips with aligned sidewalls and a low head profile. The aligned sidewalls are formed by depositing a stack of pole tip layers on a substrate. The stack of layers are etched through a common overlying mask. The stack of layers is covered over and around with a protective layer which is then planarized such that the stack of layers is exposed. The protective layer is etched to a predetermined thickness above the substrate, which is thinner than the thickness of the stack of layers. An inductive coil layer is deposited on the etched protective layer and covered with an overlying magnetic yoke layer which is dielectrically separated from the coil layer. The yoke layer thus formed assumes a low profile curvature due to the thin structure of the protective layer on the substrate. As a consequence, the overall stack height of the magnetic head is reduced, thereby reducing the inductance of the overlying yoke layer and further alleviating the step coverage problem of the magnetic head during fabrication.

Magnetic head with low stack height and self-aligned pole tips

A magnetic head includes first and second magnetic yoke layers which contact each other at a back closure region at one end and delineate a transducer gap at another end. A toroidal coil encompasses one of the yoke layers. The coil axis of the toroidal coil passes through the encompassed yoke layer. During data writing, electrical current passes through the toroidal coil inducing magnetic flux along the coil axis, which flux is efficiently and directly delivered to the transducer gap for writing on a recording medium. During data reading, magnetic flux intercepted by the transducer gap flows along the encompassed yoke layer and efficiently induces electrical current in the toroidal coil for amplification. In alternative embodiments, separate read transducers are disposed adjacent to the toroidal coils to form merged heads.

Magnetic head with a toroidal coil encompassing only one yoke layer

A system and method for providing a write head is disclosed. The write head includes a first pole and a write gap. At least a portion of the write gap is on a portion of the first pole. The method and system include providing a coil layer including a plurality of turns on the write gap. Each of the plurality of turns is separated by a pitch. The method and system further include depositing an insulator to provide an insulating layer and providing a second pole above the insulating layer. The insulating layer has a first profile substantially conforming to the plurality of turns.

Method and system for providing a write head having a conforming pole structure

A magnetic head includes aligned pole tips and a coil proximally disposed between a pair of first and second magnetic yoke layers which define a closed magnetic path with a transducing gap. The second magnetic yoke layer includes a flat geometry with a substantially level cross-sectional profile. The second yoke layer with less curvature results in less mutual inductance with the coil. Furthermore, the coil can be closely positioned between the first and second yoke layer, thereby allowing the coil to be more efficient in inducing magnetic flux in the yoke layers during data writing, and allowing the intercepted flux to induce current into the coil during data reading if the magnetic head is used as an inductive head.

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Pittsburgh, PA, United States of America

Billy Wayne Crue