Read Rite Corporation

Western Digital (fremont), Inc.

Other

Western Digital Corporation

Pablo G Levi

Manuel Anaya-Dufresne

Ciuter Chang

Biao Sun

Yiao-Tee Hsia

Mark J Donovan

Christopher A Lee

Wuxing Gan

Jesse Jianxian Dong

Pravin P Prabhu

Eric Thomas Sladek

Forhad Hossain

Michael Sullivan

Vijay Prabhakaran

Manuel Anaya Dufresne

Bill Sun

Ashok Venkatesh Kulkarni

A slider is formed of an air bearing surface coated with a wear limiting coating that substantially limits surface wear of the air bearing surface encountered in proximity recording. The wear limiting coating is comprised of a wear inhibiting layer formed on the air bearing surface and a sacrificial layer formed on the wear inhibiting layer. The two coatings of the wear limiting coating have different mechanical properties so that the sacrificial layer is burnished, exposing the wear inhibiting layer. This design substantially limits the surface wear of the air bearing surface typically encountered in proximity recording, resulting in less debris accumulation, which could otherwise adversely affect the performance of the proximity recording head. This self-limiting burnishing action overcomes the flying height variation due to manufacturing tolerances and provides extremely small and uniform magnetic spacing, which greatly enhances the proximity recording. Moreover, the burnishing action also achieves an improved flying stability and a reduction in the altitude sensitivity.

Sandwich diamond-like carbon overcoat for use in slider designs of proximity recording heads

An air bearing surface for read/write head of a magnetic disk drive is disclosed. The air bearing surface includes a trailing edge pad and a leading edge pad with trailing portions. A cavity is defined between the trailing edge pad and the trailing portions of the leading edge pad. A cavity patch is disposed within the cavity. The cavity patch can be disposed within the cavity towards one side of the read/write head.

Air bearing having a cavity patch surface coplanar with a leading edge pad surface

A slider is disclosed for use with a magnetic data recording system such as that used in computer systems. The slider has an improved air bearing design which allows placement of the read and write elements at an edge of the slider, while maintaining stable fly height at the location of the read and write sensors. Placing the read and write elements allows more of the surface area of the disk to be used by allowing the head to perform correctly while reading and writing data right up to the edge of the disk. Stable fly height of the slider is achieved by using a single pad at a corner of the trailing edge, the pad having the read and write elements therein. A stable flight profile is maintained through use of asymmetrical rails disposed longitudinally along lateral sides of the slider.

Side rail slider having improved fly height control

A slider utilizes a triple-etch, high pitch-stiffness side rail ABS design. The slider is characterized by a relatively deep shallow recession at its leading edge, which maximizes the cavity area while at the same time increases the pitch angle to achieve DLC pad clearance as required by smooth media ABS designs. The slider ABS has a shallower recession at the trailing edge, which provides low gram-load sensitivity and low flying standard deviation. The slider ABS further presents a decreased sensitivity in response to altitude variations.

Slider with high pitch-stiffness air bearing design

Slider for load/unload operation with high stiffness and low unload force

An air bearing surface for use on a magnetic read/write head. The air bearing surface provides a stable flight profile while exhibiting exception load/unload characteristics through the use of a plurality of pads providing high pressure areas as well as a central cavity providing a sub-ambient pressure to counter the high pressure areas. The channel is set a predetermined distance from the leading edge of the air bearing, the predetermined distance being greater than with prior art designs. A channel extends from the leading edge to the cavity to allow airflow into the cavity. The channel and the set back of the cavity both act in conjunction to facilitate unloading of the air bearing by preventing excessive sub ambient pressures.

Air bearing facilitating load/unload of a magnetic read/write head

A slider includes an air bearing surface (ABS) including a plurality of separate coplanar pads, a cavity recessed to a certain depth beneath the level of the ABS, and a plurality of steps in which each step is disposed at a level between that of the ABS and that of the cavity. The plurality of steps include a trailing edge step and a leading edge step, and in some embodiments a first side step and a second side step. The leading edge step is provided at a level deeper than that of the trailing edge step. The first side step and the second side step may be provided at the same or different levels to tailor the flight characteristics of the slider. A process is also disclosed for the fabrication of a slider of the present invention. The process includes at least three cycles of masking, etching, and stripping in order to form at least three successively deeper levels, the deepest level being the cavity. Selective masking of the substrate allows portions of the substrate to be preserved through successive etching operations to become the ABS and the plurality of steps.

Air bearing slider

An air bearing slider for a magnetic head is defined by a leading edge and a trailing edge and has a central longitudinal axis extending from the leading edge to the trailing edge. A pair of side pads, and a center pad between the side pads that is disposed substantially on the center axis, are formed on the air bearing surface of the slider. A first central recess having a T-shaped configuration is etched to a first depth, preferably in the range of 5-30 micro-inches with reference to the air bearing surface. A second major recess portion is etched to a second depth in the range of 60-150 micro-inches. The air bearing surface is configured for high load applications and maintains a flat flying height profile. The configured slider is particularly useful with small size sliders, such as picosliders.

High gram load air bearing geometry for a tripad slider

The present invention is embodied in an air bearing slider. The slider contains a magnetic head for writing and reading data to and from the magnetic medium of a hard disk. The slider is attached to an actuator arm which reciprocates over the disk surface to position the slider over the surface of the disk. When placed in the airflow existing just above the surface of a rotating disk the slider flies above the disk. The slider which has a leading edge, a trailing edge and two sides defined between the leading and trailing edges comprises a pair of leading pads positioned near the leading edge, a channel defined between the leading pads, a side pad positioned adjacent to each of the sides respectively, a center pad positioned near the trailing edge and a cavity disposed between the pads. With the side pads being separate from the leading pads as well as the inclusion of the channel providing a reduction in stiction. Further, the present invention's configuration of elements provides a slider with a nearly constant flying height over the entire disk surface, even during changes in airflow velocity, skew angles and loading. Also, the slider possess high pitch and roll stiffness, which contributes to it ability to maintain a near constant flying height.

Air bearing slider with reduced stiction

An air bearing slider for use in a disk drive includes a leading edge, a trailing edge, and parallel sides defined between said edges. The slider has a plurality of pads that form discrete air bearing surfaces having a uniform height. The pads include two leading pads formed along the leading edge, a center pad defined along the trailing edge and two side pads. A platform surrounds the center pad and another platform is formed between the leading pads. The slider has a side bridge between each side pad and leading pad and a leading bridge between the leading pads. The side bridge has a height that is less than the height of the pads and which is configured to direct air towards the side pads. The directed air in cooperation with the slider geometry regulates lifting pressure under the center and side pads to limit pitch and maintain a constant slider flying height.

An air bearing slider is designed with two rails and a central pad that provide positive air bearing regions to the air bearing surface of the slider, and three recess regions that are etched to a constant depth. The rails are identical and are symmetrically disposed relative to a central longitudinal axis. Each rail includes three sections: a pitch adjustment pad, a leg, and a roll adjustment pad. The pitch adjustment pad provides a balanced pressure distribution at the leading edge and optimizes the overall pitch angle of the slider. The leg extends from the pitch adjustment pad and generates counter-pressure that partially opposes the load applied by the suspension. The roll adjustment pad extends from the leg and generates an air bearing force that compensates for roll generated during slider operation. This air bearing slider design achieves constant flying height and less vertical and pitch stiffness, which will result in low contact force for pseudo-contact applications.

Air bearing magnetic head slider

The air bearing surface (ABS) of an air bearing slider is formed with etched pads and a leading edge shaped shallow etch step taper region that extends continuously between first and second sides of the slider. A first pad is formed on the slider and extends from the trailing edge between the first side and a central axis and has a first extension at the step taper region. The first extension has a leading edge that is angled toward the first side of the slider. A second pad is formed on the slider and extends from the trailing edge between the second side and the central axis and has a second extension at the step taper region. The second extension has a leading edge that is angled inwardly toward the central axis. The first pad and the second pad provide an air bearing surface (ABS) for the slider. A deep central recess is bounded by the first pad, the second pad, and the step taper region. The design realizes constant flying attitudes, fast takeoff, less sensitivity to disk velocity and skew angle, and less sensitivity to altitude variation.

Air bearing slider having etched and shaped leading edge taper

The air bearing surface of an air bearing slider is configured with a taper formed at the slider leading end and a rail that is formed with a base and two legs. One leg extends from the base partially toward the trailing end. The other leg extends from the base to the trailing end and is integrally formed of a rectangularly shaped section and one or more polygon-shaped sections. Inner and outer recesses are defined and separated by the rail, such that the slider is effectively insensitive to changes in ambient pressure, particularly from variations in altitude, so that a substantially constant flying height can be maintained.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Pablo G Levi