International Business Machines Corporation

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

Jorge Daniel Colonia

Shanlin Duan

James Hammond Brannon

Yu Lo

Hang Fai Ngo

Michael Ming Hsiang Yang

Bradley Frederick Baumgartner

Yvette Chung Nga Winton

Connie H Moy

Huyen D Do

Douglas Kei Tak Tsang

During fabrication of a write head via holes are first opened in a gap layer, followed by formation of seed layers instead of the other way around. Moreover a first seed layer is formed, and without the first seed layer being used a second seed layer is formed. The second seed layer (which is the topmost layer) is used in plating to form coils (e.g. of copper) for the write head. After coil formation, the first seed layer is used for plating to form vias (e.g. of NiFe). The two seed layers may be formed in a single operation by using two different targets in a vacuum deposition chamber. Moreover, a single insulation layer is sufficient to insulate and protect all plated elements, regardless of whether they are formed by use of the first seed layer or the second seed layer.

Write head fabrication by inverting order of process steps

A disk for calibrating glide heads utilizes a dual-zone configuration of multiple laser melt bumps having selected heights. Averaging the PZT response over many bumps significantly narrows the response distribution, resulting in greater certainty and correlation of the PZT amplitude to bump height. The multiple calibration bumps are circumferentially arranged on a disk surface at a selected radius in a ring-like manner. A second head cleaning zone is provided near the inner diameter of the disk to provide for increased reproducibility of the PZT calibration response. The second zone is densely textured and serves to clean the glide head prior to its use in the calibration zone.

Apparatus and method for glide height calibration of disk surfaces by use of dual-zone laser texture

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Jorge Daniel Colonia