The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 21, 2026
Filed:
Jun. 19, 2024
Western Digital Technologies, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Yuankai Zheng, Fremont, CA (US);
Chih-Ching Hu, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Yung-Hung Wang, San Jose, CA (US);
Anup Ghosh Roy, Fremont, CA (US);
Guanxiong Li, Fremont, CA (US);
James Mac Freitag, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Western Digital Technologies, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
The present disclosure generally relates to magnetic recording heads of magnetic recording devices. To protect and lubricate magnetic elements of the magnetic recording heads (e.g., reader sensors), a coating of carbon is applied to the magnetic element. When there are defects in the carbon coating, the sensor is exposed to air and may corrode causing reader sensor failure. Protrusions and/or recesses may form on the MFS of the sensor when materials that are too hard (e.g., CoHf or Ru) or too soft (e.g., IrMn) are used in the spacer or capping layer of the sensor. By laminating, co-sputtering, or using an alloy with hard materials (e.g., Ta, Ru, and/or Hf) and/or soft materials (e.g., Al, Ti, Cr, and/or Ni) in the spacer and capping layer of the sensor, the formation of protrusion and recesses in the reader sensor may be mitigated.