Thin-film crystalline structure with surfaces having selected plane orientations
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsTong Zhao, Li Wan, Michael Christopher Kautzky
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A thin film structure (e.g., a near-field transducer), includes a first surface parallel to a substrate on which the thin film structure is deposited and two other surfaces orthogonal to the first surface. The first surface and the two other surfaces have respective first, second, and third selected plane orientations with respective first, second, and third atomic packing factors. The first, second, and third selected plane orientations are selected to maximize an average of the first, second, and third atomic packing factors.
Claims19
A thin film near-field transducer, comprising:
- a plurality of crystalline grains of a metal;
- a first surface parallel to a substrate on which the near-field transducer is deposited, a first majority of the crystalline grains at the first surface being oriented at a first plane orientation to have a first atomic packing factor at the first surface;
- and
- a second surface orthogonal to the first surface and parallel to an air bearing surface, a second majority of the crystalline grains at the second surface oriented at a second plane orientation to have a second atomic packing factor, wherein an average of the first and second atomic packing factors is greater than or equal to 0.70.
A thin film near-field transducer, comprising:
- a plurality of crystalline grains of Rh or Ir;
- a first surface parallel to a substrate on which the thin film structure is deposited, a first majority of crystalline grains at the first surface having a first plane orientation such that the first surface has a first surface energy;
- and
- a second surface orthogonal to the first surface and parallel to an air bearing surface, a second majority of crystalline grains at the second surface second having a second plane orientation such that the second surface has a second surface energy, an average of the first and second surface energies being less than or equal to 3.5×10−4 ergs for Rh or less than or equal to 3.7×10−4 ergs for Ir.
A thin film near-field transducer, comprising:
- a plurality of crystalline grains of an fcc metal;
- a first surface parallel to a substrate on which the near-field transducer is deposited, a first majority of the crystalline grains at a first plane orientation;
- and
- a second surface orthogonal to the first surface and parallel to an air bearing surface, a second majority of the crystalline grains at a second plane orientation, wherein the respective first and second plane orientations are one of:
- {100},{100};
- {100},{210}, {211}, {111};
- {110},{111};
- {111},{211};
- {111},{100};
- {110},{211};
- or {211},{110}.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.