Air-bearing surface (ABS) design to reduce particle scratch risk
AssigneesSAE Magnetics (H.K.) Ltd., Headway Technologies, Inc.
InventorsBen Ng Kwun Pan, Ellis Cha
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A slider design for a hard disk drive (HDD) features a shallow cavity adjacent to a leading edge that has patterns of sub-cavities of various shapes etched into its base to reduce its original surface area. The presence of these patterns of sub-cavities significantly reduces the probability that the slider will capture particles on the surface of a rotating disk and thereby reduces the corresponding probability of surface scratches that such captured particles inevitably produce.
Claims6
A slider for a hard-disk drive (HDD) comprising:
- a slider body of substantially rectangular horizontal cross-section having a leading edge (LE), a trailing edge (TE) parallel to said leading edge and parallel sides extending from said leading edge to said trailing edge to define a rectangular periphery of said horizontal cross-section and an upper surface defining an air-bearing surface (ABS);
- a multiplicity of cavities formed in said slider body, wherein said cavities are formed with substantially planar bases at different depths relative to said ABS and wherein said cavities include a cavity of uniform minimal depth and approximately rectangular horizontal cross-section formed immediately adjacent to and parallel to said leading edge and extending transversely across said slider ABS;
- wherein
- said cavity of uniform minimal depth contains a pattern of sub-cavities formed through the planar base thereof, said sub-cavities being of equal circular cross-section and separation, arranged in parallel rows and etched, with various depths, into said planar base;
- wherein
- the presence of said pattern of sub-cavities reduces the total remaining base area of said cavity of uniform minimal depth.
A method to reduce surface scratching of a disk during hard disk drive (HDD) operation comprising:
- providing said HDD with an operational slider having a body of substantially rectangular horizontal cross-section, wherein said slider has a leading edge (LE), a trailing edge (TE) parallel to said leading edge and parallel sides extending from said leading edge to said trailing edge to define a rectangular periphery of said horizontal cross-section and an upper surface defining an air-bearing surface (ABS);
- wherein said slider further includes
- a multiplicity of cavities formed in said slider body, wherein said cavities are formed with substantially planar bases at different depths relative to said ABS and wherein said cavities include a cavity of minimal depth and approximately rectangular horizontal cross-section formed immediately adjacent to and parallel to said leading edge and extending transversely across said slider ABS;
- wherein
- said cavity of minimal depth includes a pattern of sub-cavities formed therein, wherein said pattern of sub-cavities is a uniform array of sub-cavities of equal circular cross-section arranged in parallel rows whereby
- the presence of said pattern of sub-cavities reduces the total base area of said cavity of minimal depth and thereby reduces the probability of trapping particles within said cavity, said particles being on the surface of a rotating disk operationally positioned adjacent to said slider and thereby eliminates the problem of said particles scratching a surface of said disk.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.