International Business Machines Corporation

Conner Peripherals, Inc.

Kenneth Lee

Ching Hwa Tsang

John Stewart Best

Dennis R Hollars

Robert B Zubeck

Delbert F Waltrip

David B Pearce

Gary L Payne

Josef Bonigut

Robert M Smith

An apparatus in accordance with the present invention provides a single or multi-layer coating to the surface of a plurality of substrates. The apparatus may include a plurality of buffer and sputtering chambers, and an input end and an output end, wherein said substrates are transported through said chambers of said apparatus at varying rates of speed such that the rate of speed of a pallet from said input end to said output end is a constant for each of said plurality of pallets. A high throughput sputtering apparatus having a plurality of integrally matched components in accordance with the present invention may further include means for transporting a plurality of substrates through said sputtering chambers at variable velocities; means for reducing the ambient pressure within said sputtering chambers to a vacuum level within a pressure range sufficient to enable sputtering operation; means for heating said plurality of substrates to a temperature conducive to sputtering said coatings thereon, said means for heating providing a substantially uniform temperature profile over the surface of said substrates; and control means for providing control signals to and for receiving feedback input from, said sputtering chambers, means for transporting, means for reducing, and means for heating, said control means being programmable for allowing control over said means for sputtering, means for transporting, means for reducing and means for heating.

Apparatus and method for high throughput sputtering

A dual element magnetic transducer in which the thin film MR read element is transversely biased by flux in the air gap of the inductive write core generated by a bias current supplied to the write winding. Flux in the air gap biases the MR element because different integral portions of the MR element have a different spatial relationship to parallel opposing portions of the inductive core. The flux which would normally pass through the gap substantially normal to the sides of the core defining the gap now tends to follow the MR element along a direction normal or transverse to the media to a point where the distance between the MR element and the core is smaller than where it entered. By appropriate control of the bias current and the spatial relationships, a relatively efficient, simple to manufacture dual element magnetic transducer is provided.

Dual biasing for integrated inductive MR head

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Saratoga, CA, United States of America

Kenneth Lee