A chromium oxide film is formed at room temperature. The chromium oxide film has at least one partially polycrystalline portion and/or at least one amorphous portion depending upon the substrate(s) over which the chromium oxide film is formed. Partially polycrystalline portion(s) of the chromium oxide film are exposed, at room temperature, to an electron beam that has an accelerating voltage of at least 100 kilovolts to further crystallize the partially polycrystalline portion(s). Amorphous portion(s) of the chromium oxide film are exposed, at room temperature, to an electron beam that has an accelerating voltage of more than 100 kilovolts to crystallize the amorphous portion(s).

An apparatus according to one embodiment includes a magnetic sensor structure, a magnetic shield having at least one laminate pair comprising a magnetic layer and an electrically nonconductive nonmagnetic layer, and a nonmagnetic spacer layer between the sensor structure and the magnetic shield. In one embodiment, a deposition thickness of the nonconductive nonmagnetic layer in each laminate pair is about 10% or less of a total deposition thickness of the laminate pair. In another embodiment, a deposition thickness of the nonconductive nonmagnetic layer in each laminate pair is between about 1 and about 12 nanometers. In yet another embodiment, the magnetic shield has at least one second laminate pair, and a nonlaminated magnetic portion sandwiched between the at least one laminate pair and the at least one second laminate pair.

Described are magnetic recording heads that include an overcoat that includes a titanium oxynitride (TiON) layer.

A Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) head is configured for use in Thermally Assisted Magnetic Recording (TAMR). Two or three contiguous write shields, of various widths and thicknesses, formed on a leading edge side of the write gap (WG), main pole (MP) and near-field transducer (NFT), protect the head during write touchdowns (TD) and signal the approach of such a touchdown. Moreover during a write touchdown the contact with the head is restricted to the large write shields, producing a large touchdown area (TDA) and insuring the lifetime of the head.

A recording head includes a near-field transducer proximate a media-facing surface of the recording head and a waveguide that overlaps and delivers light to the near-field transducer. The recording head includes subwavelength-sized focusing mirror comprising first and second reflectors disposed on cross track sides of the near-field transducer. Each of the first and second reflectors is spaced apart from the media-facing surface by a distance, D, measured along an axis normal to the media-facing surface.

A thermally assisted magnetic head includes a slider, the slider includes a slider substrate and a magnetic head part. The magnetic head part includes a recording head, a reading head, a near field transducer and a medium-opposing surface. The medium-opposing surface includes a recording area and a reading area. The magnetic head part includes a record/read separately protective structure which a stabilized protective film is formed on the recording area and a reading head protective film is formed on the reading area. The stabilized protective film includes a three-layers structure which a seed layer and a double protective layer are laminated. The double protective layer includes a YSZ protective layer and a hard protective layer. The reading head protective film includes a thickness which is thinner than the stabilized protective film.

Described are magnetic recording heads that include an overcoat that includes a titanium oxynitride (TiON) layer.

A recording head comprises a write pole extending to an air-bearing surface. A near-field transducer is positioned proximate a first side of the write pole in a down-track direction. A heatsink structure is proximate the near-field transducer and positioned between the near-field transducer and the write pole. The heatsink structure extends beyond the near-field transducer in a cross-track direction and extends in a direction normal to the air-bearing surface.

A heat-assisted magnetic recording head comprises a near-field transducer (NFT). The NFT comprises a thermally-stabilized plasmonic alloy, wherein the thermally-stabilized plasmonic alloy comprises a plasmonic metal and at least one alloying metal.

A heat-assisted magnetic recording head comprises a near-field transducer (NFT). The NFT comprises a thermally-stabilized plasmonic alloy, wherein the thermally-stabilized plasmonic alloy comprises a plasmonic metal and at least one alloying metal.