International Business Machines Corporation

Phase Metrics, Inc.

Blasius Brezoczky

Hajime Seki

Jerome J Cuomo

Gary Miles McClelland

C Richard Guarnieri

Dennis S Yee

Emil Hopner

Ian C Fry

Vladimir Pogrebinsky

David A Smith

Srinvasrao A Shivashankar

Kumbakonam V Ramanathan

A spindle motor assembly which utilizes a ionized air bearing to provide a conductive path through the assembly. The spindle motor assembly includes a spindle shaft that is located within a housing and rotated by an internal motor. The assembly also contains an air bearing which allows relative movement between the spindle shaft and the housing. The air bearing is supplied by a source of air that is ionized by an ionizer. The ionized air provides a conductive path between the spindle and the housing. The spindle may be coupled to a clamp that holds a magnetic disk within a disk certifier. The magnetic disk is electrically grounded to the housing through the chuck, the spindle and the ionized air bearing.

Pressurized air-ionization ground for an air bearing spindle

A spindle motor assembly which utilizes a reservoir of electrically conductive fluid to provide a conductive path through the assembly. The spindle motor assembly includes a spindle shaft that is located within a housing and rotated by an internal motor. The end of the spindle shaft is located within the reservoir. The reservoir also is electrically coupled to the housing. The electrically conductive fluid provides a conductive path between the spindle and the housing while minimizing the frictional forces on the spindle. The spindle may be coupled to a chuck that holds a magnetic disk within a disk certifier. The magnetic disk is electrically grounded to the housing through the chuck, the spindle and the electrically conductive fluid.

Conductive contact for an air bearing spindle

An optical inspection apparatus detects anomalies by reflecting a beam of coherent light off the surface of a sample. An anomaly present on the surface causes the reflected beam to be diffracted at an angle which corresponds to a scale of the anomaly. An optical detection array is positioned to receive the reflected diffraction pattern and produce an electrical signal which corresponds to the diffraction angle of the reflected pattern. The electrical signal may then be processed to determine the location and scale of the anomaly from the detected diffraction angle.

Surface inspection of a disk by diffraction pattern sampling

A contact magnetic storage system in which the slider, which supports the magnetic read/write head, is in physical contact with a rigid magnetic storage medium during system operation at a selected operating speed. The slider material has a load versus friction characteristic that is non-linear in the negative load region. This characteristic allows the slider to be suspended from an access arm with zero or negative external loading. In a conventional magnetic storage system, at operating speed the slider is lifted away from the surface of the storage medium by at least the thickness of the air film adjacent the moving storage medium surface. In the present invention, due to the non-linear load versus friction characteristics of the slider material, a restoring force is generated at system operating speed which overcomes the lift of the air bearing and maintaining the slider in contact with the storage medium surface without substantial wear or damage to either the slider or the storage medium. Various single crystal, polycrystalline and some amorphous materials have been shown to work in such a contact magnetic storage system.

Tribo-attractive contact data storage system

An automatic surface inspection apparatus comprises a light source that provides a coherent light beam that is spit and then recombined in a prism to generate an interference pattern. A cylindrical lens projects the interference pattern onto the surface of a disk as a line of light. A linear detection array converts the reflected line of light into an electrical signal that has a magnitude which varies dependent upon the reflected light intensity. Defects present on the surface of the disk cause variations in the reflected light intensity manifested as differences in the electrical signal output by the detection array.

Optical surface detection for magnetic disks

A burnish head comprising a slider body having a single crystal diamond attached to a rear portion flies above the disk surface at a relatively low flying height when the disk is rotated at a high angular velocity. The diamond produces acoustic waves that cut or crack disk asperities, resulting in a highly-smooth disk surface suitable for near-contact or in-contact magnetic recording.

Burnish head for magnetic media

A contact magnetic storage system in which the slider, which supports the magnetic read/write head, is in physical contact with a rigid magnetic storage medium during system operation at a selected operating speed. The slider material has a load versus friction characteristic that is non-linear in the negative load region. This characteristic allows the slider to be suspended from an access arm with zero or negative external loading. In a conventional magnetic storage system, at operating speed the slider is lifted away from the surface of the storage medium by at least the thickness of the air film adjacent the moving storage medium surface. In the present invention, due to the non-linear load versus friction characteristics of the slider material, a restoring force is generated at system operating speed which overcomes the lift of the air bearing and maintains the slider in contact with the storage medium surface without substantial wear or damage to either the slider or the storage medium. Various single crystal, polycrystalline and some amorphous materials have been shown to work in such a contact magnetic storage system.

An optical recording system in which the optical head is operated in physical contact with the surface of the optical recording medium during system operation at a selected operating speed. The optical head includes one or more optical elements mounted on a substrate which is in physical, sliding contact with the recording medium. The substrate is fabricated from a crystalline material which has a non-linear load versus friction characteristic in the negative load region. When the head is in sliding contact with the recording medium surface, a restoring force is generated which maintains the optical head in physical contact with the recording medium overcoming any lifting forces generated by the moving air layer adjacent the recording medium surface. This allows the head to be operated with a negative external load applied. Utilizing the optical head having the objective lens mounted on the substrate in close proximity to the recording medium surface allows high density recording to be achieved without the requirement of an electro-mechanical servo system to provide beam focusing for the system.

Tribo-attractive contact slider for an optical read/write system

A process for forming chromium dioxide thin films which are receptive to high density magnetic recording. The process comprises depositing both chromium and oxygen on a substrate by evaporative techniques and concurrently bombarding the substrate with high energy ions of at least one of the film constituents to form a latent CrO.sub.x film forming layer. The process is carried out at approximately room temperature. The as-grown latent film forming layer is subsequently heat treated by a rapid thermal anneal step which raises the temperature of the as-grown film to about 500.degree. C. The rapid thermal anneal step preferably comprises a series of at least five separte pulses over a 10-second time span. After the rapid thermal anneal, the sample is rapidly quenched to room temperature.

Process for fabricating high density disc storage device

A high speed magnetic disk recording system is described in which the recording medium comprises a substrate having a magnetic coating thereon, and a magnetic recording transducer is operated in physical contact with the recording medium. The magnetic transducer comprises a single crystal material on at least the surface which contacts the recording medium. The single crystal material has a high thermal conductivity, a low friction coefficient and a high surface energy so that, when relative motion is provided between the magnetic recording transucer and the recording medium, an attractive force is generated which maintains the magnetic recording transducer in contact with the recording medium so that high density recorded data can be reliably written and sensed without excessive wear to either the magnetic transducer or the recording medium.

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Blasius Brezoczky