Komag Corporation

Kyou H Lee

Tsutomu Tom Yamashita

Tu Chen

Rajiv Yadav Ranjan

Mark D Moravec

Yuri Trachuk

Yasuo Sakane

Tam Huu-Minh Nguyen

Tracy L Scott

Definition of the required geometry of the air bearing surface ('ABS') of a magnetic head slider is achieved while providing an ABS which exhibits low wear, low friction, and low stiction at its interface with a disk surface, by securely embedding monocrystalline diamond particles into a lapping plate, removing substantially all particles from the plate which are not firmly affixed thereto, and lapping the slider in a linear, X-Y direction at a relatively high lapping pressure. Material susceptible to being dislodged during CSS is removed during the lapping process. Thus, the incidence of material dislodging from the ABS and increasing wear-induced stiction is substantially reduced, resulting in improved CSS performance. A desired microtexture is also applied to the ABS. Reduced pole tip recession is also observed.

CSS magnetic recording head slider and method of making same

A hard disk drive utilizing a combination of thin film recording heads and media allows high density recording through virtual contact recording, while still providing excellent contact start stop performance and low stiction. The air bearing surface of the head has a microscopically fine texture which provides reliable mechanical performance with a constant and very low flying height. A skew insensitive constant flying height over the disk surface can be provided with the use of transverse pressure contour or cross-cut slider designs. The slider air bearing surface is textured by selective mechanical removal of subsurface damaged regions left behind during the diamond lapping of the slider air bearing surface, thereby leaving the slider less abrasive to the disk. A slider with this fine texture on the air bearing surface permits the use of a much smoother texture and thinner overcoat on the disk than currently possible using conventional sliders. This combination of slider and the disk allows the head to fly very close to the magnetic layer of the media without suffering from head crash or high stiction. This combination offers a low cost and simplified method of achieving a high recording density.

Hard disk drive system having virtual contact recording

A carbon film for protecting a magnetic disk is sputtered by a DC magnetron sputtering method, with the addition of superimposed AC power on the DC power applied to the carbon target. When the carbon film is sputtered for extended period in a production sputtering machine, nodular growth occurs over the sputtering surface of the carbon target. Such nodules are variously called 'warts' or 'mushrooms' in the industry and they are detrimental to the productivity of the sputtering machine. The size and quantity of the nodules over the target surface increase as the target is sputtered longer, and because these region do not contribute to sputtering, the efficiency of the target decreases. As sputter efficiency decreases, power input must be increased to the target to make up for the loss in the effective sputtering area of the target. Eventually, the power input must be increased to a point where arcing occurs continuously and sputtering cannot be continued. By superimposing AC power onto the DC power applied to the target, virtually all arcing on the carbon target is eliminated, thereby significantly reducing the nodular growth and extending the use of the target.

Method of sputtering a carbon protective film on a magnetic disk by

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Kyou H Lee