Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

International Business Machines Corporation

Hgst Netherlands, B.v.

Jila Tabib

Cherngye Hwang

David John Seagle

Robert Beach

Yiping Hsiao

Ciaran Avram Fox

Eric Wayne Flint

Yongjian Sun

James L Hedrick

Hardayal Singh Gill

Robert Dennis Miller

Daniele Mauri

Kim Yang Lee

Richard Hsiao

Craig Jon Hawker

Willi Volksen

Brian Rodrick York

Phillip Joe Brock

Teddie Peregrino Magbitang

Jyh-Shuey Jerry Lo

Dennis R McKean

David Patrick Druist

Daniel Wayne Bedell

Vedantham Raman

Christian Rene Bonhote

Pei C Chen

Richard I Palmisano

Wesley LeRoy Hillman

Michael William Chaw

Daryl J Pocker

Nobuto Yasui

Peter Beverley Powell Phipps

Dan Dawson

Yu-En Percy Chang

Daniel Gerard Abels

Mark Clinton Thurber

Peter Dang

Eduardo Torres Mireles

Richard Thomas Campbell

Charanjit S Bhatia

Heiu Lam

Virgil Simon Speriosu

Dennis Richard Mckean

Benjamin Lu-Chen Wang

One preferred method for use in making a device structure with use of the resist channel shrinking solution includes the steps of forming a first pedestal portion within a channel of a patterned resist; applying a resist channel shrinking solution comprising a resist channel shrinking film and corrosion inhibitors within the channel of the patterned resist; baking the resist channel shrinking solution over the patterned resist to thereby reduce a width of the channel of the patterned resist; removing the resist channel shrinking solution; and forming a second pedestal portion within the reduced-width channel of the patterned resist. Advantageously, the oxide layer and the corrosion inhibitors of the resist channel shrinking solution reduce corrosion in the pedestal during the act of baking the resist channel shrinking solution.

Methods of making magnetic write heads with use of a resist channel shrinking solution having corrosion inhibitors

A disk drive head slider for a magnetic disk drive is provided. The head slider includes a tunnel magnetic resistance device for reading data on a magnetic disk and a dedicated noncorrosive smear detector for measuring resistance wherein the resistance corresponds to a level of smear associated with the head slider.

Dedicated noncorrosive smear detector

A hard disk drive slider comprises an overcoat layer, which covers an air-bearing surface of the slider. The overcoat covers an exposed surface of a tunneling magnetoresistance transducer. An adhesion layer is coupled with the overcoat layer and the air-bearing surface. The adhesion layer comprises a compound of nitrogen. The compound of nitrogen reduces noise in read data from the tunneling magnetoresistance transducer.

Slider overcoat for noise reduction of TMR magnetic transducer

Insulator barrier for noise reduction of a TMR magnetic transducer

Tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) electrical lapping guides (ELG) are disclosed for use in wafer fabrication of magnetic sensing devices, such as magnetic recording heads using TMR read elements. A TMR ELG includes a TMR stack comprising a first conductive layer, a barrier layer, and a second conductive layer of TMR material. The TMR ELG also includes a first lead and a second lead that connect to conductive pads used for applying a sense current to the TMR ELG in a current in plane (CIP) fashion. The first lead contacts one side of the TMR stack so that the first lead contacts both the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer of the TMR stack. The second lead contacts the other side of the TMR stack so that the second lead contacts both the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer of the TMR stack.

Electrical lapping guides made from tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) material

A method of temporarily protecting an electrically sensitive component from damage due to electrostatic discharge is disclosed. The method includes the steps of defining a first shield that forms a first lead for both a component and a shunt; depositing a conductive material on the first shield to form the component and the shunt; defining an edge of the component and an edge of the shunt together in a single masking step; refilling with insulation adjacent the component and the shunt to their respective edges on the first shield; defining a second shield on both the component and the shunt that forms a second lead for both the component and the shunt to form a shunted assembly that electrically protects the component; lapping the shunted assembly; and removing a portion of the shunted assembly to remove the shunt and form an electrical open for an unshunted assembly.

Method for providing a temporary, deep shunt on wafer structures for electrostatic discharge protection during processing

A process is described for fabricating magnetic transducers with metallic thin films with a corrosion resistant surface produced by exposing the thin films to a nitrogen in a plasma chamber. The exposure to the nitrogen is believed to increase the corrosion resistance of the metallic thin films by causing nitrides to form in a thin surface region. In the preferred embodiment the thin film metals of a magnetic transducer are treated with the nitrogen after being cut from the wafer and lapped. Typical metals used in magnetic transducers are NiMn, FeMn, NiFe, cobalt, CoFe, copper, IrMn and PtMn. The films may be further protected by the addition of prior art protective layers such as carbon.

Method for fabricating a magnetic transducer with a corrosion resistant layer on metallic thin films by nitrogen exposure

A process for fabricating sliders where the sliders are held in place during processing by a solid matrix material is described. A thin coating of a release-layer material is applied on the sliders before encapsulation in the matrix material. The release-layer material is polyvinyl alcohol and more preferably high molecular weight polyvinyl alcohol which is highly hydrolyzed. Use of the release-layer of the invention maintains the process resistance while providing the advantage of allowing easier removal of the matrix material after it is no longer needed. The release-layer can be applied to encapsulant materials including epoxies, acrylates, polyimides, silsesquioxanes and others. After the selected fabrication process such as the formation of air-bearing features an appropriate solvent is applied to soften the polyvinyl alcohol film and allow clean debonding of the sliders.

Slider processing system utilizing polyvinyl alcohol release layer

Provided is a reactive ion etching (RIE) method for use in altering the flatness of a slider, whereby a slider or row of sliders is placed within a RIE apparatus. The apparatus comprises essentially an electrode within a chamber having an inlet and an outlet. The electrode is controlled by a bias power source. A source power is provided to the chamber to generate the plasma, wherein a gas or gas mixture is first introduced to the chamber and the source power is adjusted to maximize the plasma composition of ions and reactive neutral species. The ions and reactive neutral species are generated from reactive chemical species such as CHF and other F-containing species. An inert gas such as Argon may also be present. Typically, TiC within the Al O matrix of the slider substrate surface is etched at a faster rate than other substrate species.

Method of adjusting the flatness of a slider using selective plasma etching

A method for producing sliders without alumina overcoat protrusion on the air bearing surface. The method comprises a method for removing alumina protrusion on the air bearing surface of a slider comprising contacting the air bearing surface of the slider with an aqueous base having a pH of about 9 to about 11.

Method for producing sliders

A method is provided for resetting the magnetization of the pinned and hard biasing layers of a spin valve read head at the row level. In a first embodiment of the invention a first magnetic field is applied substantially perpendicular to the air bearing surface (ABS) at room temperature for setting the magnetic moment of the pinned layer substantially perpendicular to the ABS followed by applying a second magnetic field substantially parallel to the ABS for setting the magnetic moments of the hard biasing layers substantially parallel to the ABS. In a second embodiment of the invention the antiferromagnetic pinning layer is also reset. This is done by heating the pinning layer with a current pulse conducted through the leads to the conductive layers of the spin valve head so that localized heating takes place adjacent the pinning layer as contrasted to ambient heating of the spin valve head. Simultaneous with the localized heating the first magnetic field is applied for orienting the magnetic spins of the pinning layer perpendicular to the ABS and resetting the magnetic moment of the pinned layer perpendicular to the ABS in a single domain state. Subsequently, a second magnetic field is applied for resetting the magnetic moment of the hard biasing layer parallel to the ABS in a single domain state.

Two step resetting of magnetization of spin valve read head at the row

A method is provided for applying an overcoat to a slider and sensitive elements of a magnetic head which has improved coverage, reduced spacing loss and improved corrosion resistance. After lapping, an overcoat material is sputter deposited on the air bearing surface (ABS) of the slider, followed by a step of sputter etching the overcoat. The sputter etching redeposits material from high points on the slider and fills in trenches formed during the lapping process. The redeposition of the overcoat from the high places to the low places of the slider decreases the overall thickness of the overcoat, thereby decreasing spacing loss. The filling of the trenches implements increased coverage which increases wear resistance of the slider and more adequately protects the sensitive elements of the magnetic head from corrosion. In a preferred embodiment, a portion of the overcoat is left on the high places to ensure that the sputter etching does not damage the sensitive elements of the magnetic head. If the overcoat is completely etched from the high places an optional second overcoat may be applied which is thinner than the first overcoat. This method may also be applied to other articles such as a magnetic disk.

Carbon overcoat for a slider with improved step coverage

Growing community of inventors

Los Gatos, CA, United States of America

Jila Tabib