Seagate Technology Incorporated

Stefan A Weissner

Razman Zambri

Sungkwon Choi

Zine-Eddine Boutaghou

Wayne Allen Bonin

Brett Robert Herdendorf

Dadi Setiadi

Narayanan Ramakrishnan

Moshe Olim

David Gordon Qualey

Peter R Goglia

James Ronald Krolnik

Sarah R Marotz

Rohit Deokar

Ling Ma

Clarence Matson

James Wagner

A clamp for removably holding a slider includes a stationary frame that includes a stationary rear frame member at a rear portion of the frame, extending in a width direction, at least one spring extending in a horizontal plane, and an open space extending in a length direction and the width direction. The open space is defined in the length direction in part by a front contact surface at a forward portion of the clamp adapted to engage one end of the slider, and a rear contact surface at a rear portion of the clamp, and adapted to engage an opposite end of the slider. The spring connects the stationary frame with the front contact surface such that with deflection of the spring the front contact surface is moveable relative to the frame in a direction of a lengthwise axis of the clamp.

Clamp for removably holding a slider, and related assemblies and methods of use

Described are clamps useful for temporarily holding a slider of a hard disk drive in a test socket for dynamic electrical testing of the slider, as well as related assemblies that include the test socket, a head-gimbal-assembly, a testing assembly, and related methods of use.

Slider test clamp, and related assemblies and methods of use

Slider test socket with clamp, and related assemblies and methods of use

An apparatus includes a slider test socket. The slider test socket includes a clamp, which includes a body, a handle having an opening, and a plurality of arms that extend between the body at a first end of the clamp and the handle at a second end of the clamp.

Slider test socket

Described are probe assemblies that include multiple layers, including at least one layer of probe bodies; suspension assemblies and components thereof, e.g., head gimbal assemblies, that include a probe assembly as described; and methods of using the probe assemblies and suspension assemblies.

Conductive probe interconnects and related devices and methods

In certain embodiments, an apparatus includes a first piezoelectric (PZT) element poled in the same direction as a second PZT element. The first and second PZT elements are configured to be driven while simultaneously sensing motion. The apparatus further includes a circuit configured to add outputs of the first and second PZT elements, extract the sensed motion, and detect off-track motion from the extracted sensed motion.

Methods and devices for extracting off-track motion using microactuators

Vibration of a transducer slider can be used during slider fly height calibration to detect contact of the transducer slider with a disc surface. Amplification of the vibration may cause the transducer slider to tap the disc surface rather than drag across the disc surface when detecting contact with the disc surface. Amplification may be achieved by applying an in-phase AC signal to the transducer slider at the same frequency as the vibration of the slider. Reduced contact between the slider and the disc surface reduces wear on and the possibility of damage to the transducer slider and/or the disc surface. Once the fly height of the transducer slider is calibrated, the AC signal may be shifted out-of-phase with the slider vibration to dampen the slider vibration.

Induced transducer head vibration

A method and apparatus are provided characterizing the shape of a surface such as a bearing surface on a slider and for processing the shape. The shape is characterized by fitting a curve having a desired shape to measurement data and then determining residual deviations from the desired shape within localized regions. The surface is processed by selecting a material stress pattern to be applied to a working surface of the slider based on measured and desired contour shape parameters in a plurality of localized areas on the bearing surface. The measured contour shape parameter within a first of the plurality of localized areas is weighted more heavily than those within the other localized areas.

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Bloomington, MN, United States of America

Stefan A Weissner