Hewlett-Packard Company

Stephan P Howe

Richard H Henze

Paul W Poorman

Patricia A Beck

George M Clifford, Jr

Arun K Agarwal

Darrel R Bloomquist

A head design that reduces wear at the leading and trailing edges where the tape contacts the head while minimizing any adverse effects on the performance of the head. In one embodiment of the invention, a localized layer of wear resistant material is formed on the leading edge where the tape contacts the head before passing over the head recording surface. In a second embodiment, the leading edge is formed as wear resistant material embedded in the head structure adjacent to the recording surface. And, in a third embodiment, the leading edge is formed as a wear resistant material strip affixed to the side of the head structure. For each embodiment, the wear resistant material may also be applied in the manner described to the trailing edge where the tape may also contact the head after passing over the recording surface.

Wear resistant magnetic write head

A magnetic recording disk has a layered structure comprising a metal substrate, a layer of NiP atop the metal substrate, the NiP layer having a surface roughness of less than 2.0 nanometers RMS, a metal layer over the polished NiP layer, the metal layer having a desired textured outer surface as a result of the sputter deposition, the textured outer surface being characterized by a cobblestone-like metallic grain structure with between 10 and 100 grains per square micron, an RMS surface roughness of between 1.0 and 8.0 nanometers, and with peak heights as measured from the mean plane of the surface over a 10 micron square area of between 2.0 and 20.0 nanometers, a magnetic layer atop the metal layer.

Method of preparing recording media for a disk drive and disk drive

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Boise, ID, United States of America

Stephan P Howe