Western Digital (fremont), Inc.

Lanshi Zheng

David E Fowler

Shuyu Zhang

Yong Hu

Wuxing Gan

Vijay Prabhakaran

Ladislav R Pust

A disk drive is provided having one or more structural air bearing surface (ABS) features that can block particulate matter, such as lube droplets that may enter the air bearing from the trailing edge or rearward portion of the slider. Moreover, such structural ABS features can influence air flow within or about the air bearing to prevent or at least reduce the accumulation of particles and/or droplets in one or more areas of the air bearing to reduce the reliability problems induced by particle contamination and lube pick-up.

Multi step lube blocking air bearing area configuration

A method and system for determining a shape of a portion of an air-bearing surface (ABS) of a head residing on a slider are described. The ABS is configured to fly at a fly height from and with a velocity with respect to a disk during normal operating conditions. The method and system include driving at least one heater residing in the head while the slider is substantially at the normal operating conditions with respect to the disk and the fly height. The shape of the portion of the ABS changes in response to the heater(s) being driven. The method and system also include performing Doppler measurements on the slider while the heater is driven. The shape may then be determined based on the Doppler measurements.

Method and system for mapping the shape of a head under operating conditions

A head has a slider with an air bearing surface having a left trailing air flow dam extending from a trailing pad along a lateral axis, and a right trailing air flow dam extending from the trailing pad along the lateral axis in an opposing direction. A sub-ambient pressure cavity is disposed adjacent to and upstream of at least one of the trailing air flow dams. The trailing pad and the left and right trailing air flow dams together laterally span at least 75% of the width of the slider. Each of the left and right trailing air flow dams is recessed from the primary plane by a step depth in the range 0.05 to 0.5 microns, and the sub-ambient pressure cavity is recessed from the primary plane by a cavity depth in the range 0.8 to 2 microns.

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San Ramon, CA, United States of America

Lanshi Zheng