Disclosed herein are methods of forming one or more transducer elements in a transducer region of a slider by electrodepositing one or more metal ions from an ionic liquid solvent, and related sliders.

A slider design for a hard disk drive (HDD) features an air-bearing surface (ABS) topography with arrays of micro-dots formed on bases of a multiplicity of cavities at different depths. The design eliminates the accumulation of hydrocarbons (e.g., spindle oil and disk lubricant) deposits in regions of air stagnation within the cavities where backflows and foreflows of air meet and cancel during HDD operation. The micro-dots are small raised regions of various shapes having sizes and spacings in the range between 2 and 100 microns and, in a preferred embodiment, heights of 0.15 microns above the cavity bases.

A magnetic device including: a magnetic reader; a magnetic writer; and a variable overcoat, the variable overcoat positioned over at least the magnetic reader and writer, the variable overcoat having an overcoat layer, the overcoat layer having a substantially constant thickness and material; and at least one disparate overcoat portion, the disparate overcoat portion having a different thickness, a different material, or both, than the overcoat layer.

According to one embodiment, a magnetic recording head includes an air bearing surface, a magnetic core including a main magnetic pole and a write shield arranged to face the main magnetic pole with a write gap, a coil, and a high-frequency oscillator provided between the main magnetic pole and the write shield in the write gap. The magnetic core includes an opposite surface facing a film surface of the high-frequency oscillator, a magnetic layer, and a nonmagnetic layer in which magnetic microparticles are dispersed. The nonmagnetic layer is provided outside the magnetic layer in at least a part of the opposite surface of the magnetic core.

An apparatus comprises a slider having an air bearing surface (ABS) and a near-field transducer (NFT) at or near the ABS. An optical waveguide is configured to couple light from a laser source to the NFT. A resistive sensor comprises an ABS section situated at or proximate the ABS and a distal section extending away from the ABS to a location at least lateral of or behind the NFT. The resistive sensor is configured to detect changes in output optical power of the laser source and contact between the slider and a magnetic recording medium.

A method of forming a PMR writer is disclosed wherein at least one of a recessed center section in the write pole trailing edge and a center recessed trailing shield is used to improve the field gradient at track edge. In all embodiments, there is a non-uniform write gap formed between the trailing edge and the trailing shield. The recessed portion of the write pole trailing edge and/or center recess of the trailing shield has a thickness from 10 to 40 nm in a down-track direction and a width in a cross-track direction of 20 to 200 nm. The distance between the center recess and a corner of the trailing edge is from 20 to 80 nm. A sequence of steps is provided to fabricate the two embodiments of the present invention.

Devices having air bearing surfaces (ABS), the devices include a near field transducer (NFT) that includes a disc; a peg, the peg including gold (Au), silver (Ag), copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), rhodium (Rh), iridium (Ir), or combinations thereof; and the peg having a front surface at the air bearing surface of the device, an opposing back surface, a top surface that extends from the front surface to the back surface, two side surfaces that extend from the front surface to the back surface and a bottom surface that extends from the front surface to the back surface; and a protective layer disposed on at least one surface of the peg, the protective layer comprising an oxide of a metal that has a higher oxidation tendency than that of the material of the peg.

A method for fabricating an improved magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) structure is described. A bottom electrode is provided on a substrate. A MTJ stack is deposited on the bottom electrode. A top electrode is deposited on the MTJ stack. A first stress modulating layer is deposited between the bottom electrode and the MTJ stack, or a second stress modulating layer is deposited between the MTJ stack and the top electrode, or both a first stress modulating layer is deposited between the bottom electrode and the MTJ stack and a second stress modulating layer is deposited between the MTJ stack and the top electrode. The top electrode and MTJ stack are patterned and etched to form a MTJ device. The stress modulating layers reduce crystal growth defects and interfacial defects during annealing and improve the interface lattice epitaxy. This will improve device performance.

A unidirectional and bi-directional tape head with sub-ambient pressure cavities. The tape head is adapted for reading and/or writing to a magnetic tape. The tape head includes: a tape-bearing surface; a transducer area, having at least one transducer designed for reading and/or writing to the magnetic tape; and a cavity open on the tape-bearing surface adjacent to the transducer area that extends parallel to the transducer area and transversally to the longitudinal direction of circulation of the tape such that an opening of the cavity faces the tape in operation. The cavity is further dimensioned and arranged with respect to the transducer area to create, upon circulation of the tape in operation, sub-ambient pressure therein. The present invention allows for a very close tape-head spacing.

A data writer can have at least a write pole separated from a return pole by a non-magnetic lamination. The non-magnetic lamination may consist of first, second, and third non-magnetic materials that are each different and configured to provide a physical protrusion on an air bearing surface of less than 4 Angstroms.