Read Rite Corporation

Christopher A Lee

Ciuter Chang

Mark J Donovan

Pablo G Levi

Manuel Anaya-Dufresne

Yiao-Tee Hsia

Pravin P Prabhu

An air bearing slider used with a thin film magnetic head is formed with a corner recess and a taper at the leading edge. The taper is disposed between the corner recess and one side of the slider. A central polygon-shaped recess is bounded by pads which are joined by a connecting section. In an alternative embodiment, a recess at the leading edge separates the taper into sections. In another embodiment, a second corner recess is provided at the leading edge and the taper is disposed between the first and second corner recesses. The shaped recesses and tapers improve the flying characteristics of the slider and enhance air bearing stiffness. A single etch process is used to form the recesses and side reliefs of the slider.

Air bearing slider with shaped taper

An air bearing slider for a magnetic head is defined by a leading edge and a trailing edge and has a central longitudinal axis extending from the leading edge to the trailing edge. A pair of side pads, and a center pad between the side pads that is disposed substantially on the center axis, are formed on the air bearing surface of the slider. A first central recess having a T-shaped configuration is etched to a first depth, preferably in the range of 5-30 micro-inches with reference to the air bearing surface. A second major recess portion is etched to a second depth in the range of 60-150 micro-inches. The air bearing surface is configured for high load applications and maintains a flat flying height profile. The configured slider is particularly useful with small size sliders, such as picosliders.

High gram load air bearing geometry for a tripad slider

The air bearing surface of an air bearing slider is configured with a taper formed at the slider leading end and a rail that is formed with a base and two legs. One leg extends from the base partially toward the trailing end. The other leg extends from the base to the trailing end and is integrally formed of a rectangularly shaped section and one or more polygon-shaped sections. Inner and outer recesses are defined and separated by the rail, such that the slider is effectively insensitive to changes in ambient pressure, particularly from variations in altitude, so that a substantially constant flying height can be maintained.

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Pleasanton, CA, United States of America

Christopher A Lee