International Business Machines Corporation

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

Hgst Netherlands, B.v.

Vedantham Raman

Cherngye Hwang

Donald Ray Gillis

Pei C Chen

Randall George Simmons

Grace Lim Gorman

Mike Suk

Norbert A Feliss

Remmelt Pit

Charles Allan Brown

Thomas A Gregory

Kris Victor Schouterden

Sylvia Lui Lee

Fu-Ying Huang

Andrew M Homola

Qinghua Zeng

Lee K Dorius

Xing-Cai Guo

Thomas Edward Karis

John Martin Burns

Reinhard Ferdinand Wolter

Robert Waltman

Walton Fong

David H Jen

Jila Tabib

Hong Deng

Richard Lindsay Stover

George William Tyndall, Iii

Jorge F Escobar

Owen R Melroy

Thomas Nguyen

Charles E Hignite

Mark Stephen Crowder

Scott McCoy

Annamica Bhan

Sahba Ghaderi

John Walter Raniseski

Yu-Chen Wu

Cleaning a recording head slider in-drive during operation is accomplished by periodically performing a series of full stroke seek operations, whereby liquid contaminants that may have migrated to the head slider are flung from the slider and liquid from the disk surface may be adsorbed onto the slider for removal by way of flinging. Consequently, head-disk spacing may be stabilized and data write operations improved. Furthermore, the series of full stroke seek operations may be performed at predetermined intervals, and for a predetermined period of time. However, the series may be interrupted by a client request, and continued thereafter, so as not to affect the operational status of the recording system.

Self-cleaning recording heads based on actuator seek profile

A surface agent includes two end portions and a middle portion disposed between the end portions. The end portions include an anchor group or a truncation group. The anchor group includes at least one surface active functional group. The midsection includes at least one perfluoroalkyl-branched perfluorinated ether unit.

Perfluorinated polyethers (PFPE) as magnetic lubricants

An information storage system including an enclosure, a rotating data storage medium including a surface, a slider including an ABS and an airborne oxidizable contaminant disposed in the enclosure. The system also includes an antioxidant absorbed onto the surface of the data storage medium. The antioxidant inhibits oxidation of the oxidizable contaminants at an interface between the ABS and the rotating data storage medium.

Inhibiting oxidation of organic contaminants in a hard disk drive (HDD)

A method for controlling a burnish cycle to minimize cycle time is disclosed. MR sensor resistance measurements are used to monitor interference with the recording surface and when clearance is not detected, steps are taken to fine tune the interference signal.

Method for controlling a burnish cycle to minimize cycle time

An apparatus and method for damping slider-gimbal coupled vibration of a hard disk drive is disclosed. The method provides a suspension for reaching over a disk. A slider having a read/write head element on a trailing edge (TE) portion is also provided, the slider coupled with the suspension at a gimbal structure. In addition, a damping zone is provided at a stress point on the gimbal structure, the damping zone having a damping material thereon, wherein the damping material reduces vibration of the slider and the gimbal structure.

Apparatus and method for damping slider-gimbal coupled vibration of a hard disk drive

A magnetic disk having a low surface microwaviness at a scale of about 200 microns and higher, and a high surface roughness at a scale of less than about a length of a pad of a slider for writing to the disk.

Engineered interface for low fly height

A method for detecting leakage from a disk drive enclosure includes providing a lubricating composition having a lubricating material and a tag material therein. The tag material has a volatility characteristic that is amenable to analysis. The method includes measuring a concentration of the tag material in the vapor phase. By measuring a concentration of the tag material, a leak rate of the lubricating material can be determined. The lubricating composition may include a perfluoropolyether lubricating material and a halogenated sulfur tag material such as SFand/or SF.

Leak detection system of hard disk drives with lubricant reservoir

The present invention is a magnetic disk drive for reading or writing magnetically, comprising: (i) a base plate; (ii) one or more of magnetic disks; (iii) a hub fixedly attached to the disks for supporting the disks; (iv) a motor operable to rotate the hub; (v) one or more of magnetic read/write heads, each associated with the surface of a disk; (vi) an actuator for supporting the heads and moving the heads across the disks; (vii) a support shaft attached to the base plate; and (viii) a load/unload structure for displacing the heads from the disk comprising an elongated body, a base portion fixedly attached to the base plate and a plurality of ramps extending outwardly from the body. The body of the structure is mounted through one or more holes in the body onto the support shaft so that the support shaft extends along the length of the body to support the structure.

Magnetic disk drive with load/unload structure having lubricant reservoir

A silicon coating on an air bearing surface for magnetic thin film heads. A thick silicon layer is provided to replace metallic layers such as TiW as an overcoat for thin film heads. The silicon layer will provide a durable head-disk interface and act as a reflective surface for fly height measurement. The silicon layer can be planarized with the pole tips to avoid any magnetic spacing loss. The thickness of the silicon coating is preferably between 125 and 6500 angstroms thick. The slider body may be fabricated from silicon such that the silicon coating is substantially identical to the silicon slider body, thereby preventing thermal mismatch therebetween. The silicon coating is preferably applied using a magnetron sputtering technique which provides a high rate of deposition of silicon to form a dense, low stress silicon layer.

Silicon coating on air bearing surface for magnetic thin film heads

A slider used in a disk drive apparatus is described which has an air bearing surface and a trailing surface and a plurality of recessed steps at the trailing edge. These steps at the trailing edge greatly reduce stictional forces.

Recessed slider trailing edge for reducing stiction

A silicon coating on an air bearing surface for magnetic thin film heads. A thick silicon layer is provided to replace metallic layers such as TiW as an overcoat for thin film heads. The silicon layer will provide a durable head-disk interface and act as a reflective surface for fly height measurement. The silicon layer can be planarized with the pole tips to avoid any magnetic spacing loss. The thickness of the silicon coating is preferably between 125 and 6500 Angstroms thick. The slider body may be fabricated from silicon such that the silicon coating is substantially identical to the silicon slider body, thereby preventing thermal mismatch therebetween. The silicon coating is preferably applied using a magnetron sputtering technique which provides a high rate of deposition of silicon to form a dense, low stress silicon layer.

A single layer wear coating is provided for a magnetic head assembly. The single layer is silicon or silicon-based material with a thickness in the range of 30-75 .ANG.. The single layer may be formed by a single step of deposition employing a DC magnetron. The single layer wear coating improves the wear performance of the magnetic head assembly and protects one or more sensitive elements of a magnetic head without significant reduction of spacing loss.

Method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head having an ultrathin

We disclose a bi-layer wear pad, for use in a slider/magnetic media interface, comprising a wear layer and an adhesion layer. The wear material is either carbon or a carbonaceous material. Typical carbonaceous materials useful for wear layers include elements such as hydrogen, fluorine, nitrogen, boron, and silicon dioxide. The adhesion layer is a thin cermet such as nichrome oxide (NiCrOx) or chromium silicon oxide (CrSiOx). Use of the cermet adhesion layer allows a relatively thick wear layer to be deposited with good adhesion and superior durability.

Cermet adhesion layer with carbonaceous wear layer for head/disk

A method is provided for applying an overcoat to a slider and sensitive elements of a magnetic head which has improved coverage, reduced spacing loss and improved corrosion resistance. After lapping, an overcoat material is sputter deposited on the air bearing surface (ABS) of the slider, followed by a step of sputter etching the overcoat. The sputter etching redeposits material from high points on the slider and fills in trenches formed during the lapping process. The redeposition of the overcoat from the high places to the low places of the slider decreases the overall thickness of the overcoat, thereby decreasing spacing loss. The filling of the trenches implements increased coverage which increases wear resistance of the slider and more adequately protects the sensitive elements of the magnetic head from corrosion. In a preferred embodiment, a portion of the overcoat is left on the high places to ensure that the sputter etching does not damage the sensitive elements of the magnetic head. If the overcoat is completely etched from the high places an optional second overcoat may be applied which is thinner than the first overcoat. This method may also be applied to other articles such as a magnetic disk.

Growing community of inventors

Morgan Hill, CA, United States of America

Vedantham Raman