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.

A slider-mounted read/write transducer for a hard disk drive (HDD) has a topology that mitigates attraction and accumulation of lubricant and hydrocarbons during the HDD operation. The slider topology may include a pattern of cavities and channels symmetrically disposed about a central longitudinal axis. The slider may also have a transverse channel extending perpendicularly inward from an opening in each side edge of the slider to intersect a channel that extends longitudinally along a middle axis towards a leading-edge pad in which a read/write transducer is embedded. The ends of the transverse channel open into an air-carrying groove extending vertically upward in the side of the slider in which a side flow blocker (SFB) restricts the air flow into the channel portion.

An apparatus includes a recording head for reading and writing data on a data storage medium. The recording head includes a reader having a first media-confronting surface. The recording head also includes a main write pole having a second media-confronting surface that protrudes in front of the first media-confronting surface.

A magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) structure is described. The MJT structure includes a stress modulating layer on a first electrode layer, where a material of the stress modulating layer is different from a material of the first electrode layer. The MJT structure further includes a MTJ material stack on the stress modulating layer. And the MJT structure further includes a second electrode layer on the MTJ material stack. The stress modulating layer reduces crystal growth defects and interfacial defects during annealing and improve the interface lattice epitaxy. This will improve device performance.

The present disclosure relates to kiss lapping sliders after patterning an air bearing surface pattern, followed by applying a protective overcoat to the air bearing surface. The present disclosure also involves related sliders.

Disclosed herein are sliders with segmented front bars, methods of manufacturing them, and data storage devices comprising them. In some embodiments, a slider comprises a segmented front bar, a leading pad, a shallow-edge surface, and a cavity. The segmented front bar includes a plurality of slots situated substantially perpendicular to the leading-edge surface of the slider. The leading pad is situated between the leading-edge surface of the slider and a trailing edge of the slider and is recessed from the segmented front bar. The cavity abuts the segmented front bar and is situated between the segmented front bar and the leading pad. The shallow-etch surface is situated between the cavity and the leading pad. A maximum depth of the plurality of slots relative to a non-recessed surface of the segmented front bar is less than a depth of the cavity relative to the non-recessed surface of the segmented front bar.

The present disclosure relates to a magnetic recording head having dual layer leading shield or leading edge shield (LES). The layer closest to the main pole of the magnetic recording head has a shallow flare to enhance shape anisotropy while the layer farthest away from the main pole has a steep flare to initiate reversal of the direction of magnetization for the layer during the initialization. The layer closest to the main pole will retain a direction of magnetization that matches the direction of magnetization of the initialization direction. Both layers are sufficiently thick to ensure a two domain state that is favorable from an energy balance point of view.

A magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) structure is described. The MJT structure includes a stress modulating layer on a first electrode layer, where a material of the stress modulating layer is different from a material of the first electrode layer. The MJT structure further includes a MTJ material stack on the stress modulating layer. And the MJT structure further includes a second electrode layer on the MTJ material stack. The stress modulating layer reduces crystal growth defects and interfacial defects during annealing and improve the interface lattice epitaxy. This will improve device performance.

A slider for use in a disk drive includes a substrate surface to be spaced from recording media surface within the disk drive, at least one read/write transducer having a transducer end surface adjacent and proximate to the substrate surface, a protrusion controller associated with the at least one read/write transducer. The transducer end surface includes a preformed protrusion extending generally in a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface, the protrusion is substantially centered along the transducer end surface, and the protrusion formed to passively provide a consistently-positioned close-point to the recording media surface when the protrusion controller is active.

A magnetic disk device includes a plurality of magnetic disks, a plurality of sliders each including one or more resistive elements, each of which is arranged to face a recording surface of one of the plurality of magnetic disks, and is provided corresponding to the plurality of magnetic disks, and a processor configured to detect a change in a resistance value of one or more of the plurality resistive elements.