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:
Apr. 02, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 09, 1999
Lance Eugene Stover, Eden Prairie, MN (US);
Maher Abdullah Alodan, Bloomington, MN (US);
Daniel Paul Burbank, Minneapolis, MN (US);
Dale Eugene Egbert, Deephaven, MN (US);
Zine Eddine Boutaghou, Vadnais Heights, MN (US);
Seagate Technology LLC, Scotts Valley, CA (US);
Abstract
An information handling system, such as a disk drive, including a base, a disk stack rotatably attached to the base, and an actuator assembly movably attached to the base. The actuator assembly also includes a load spring and a slider attached to said load spring. The slider and load spring are attached to form a gimballing connection between the slider and the load spring. The slider includes an air-bearing surface which has a contact area. The slider also includes a transducer. The transducer is typically located near said contact area. The contact area includes a roughened surface portion and a smooth surface portion. The smooth surface portion is adjacent the transducer. The roughened surface portion is rougher than the smooth surface portion. The roughened surface portion is also rougher than the other surfaces associated with the air-bearing surface of the slider. The roughened surface portion of the contact area is formed by one of several techniques. One of the techniques uses a wet etch to remove at least one of the phases of a multi-phase material. Another technique defines the area to be roughened using photolithography. After exposing the photoresist using either a mask or a laser, a portion of photoresist is removed and the areas unprotected by photoresist are dry etched to form the roughened contact area.