Laser edge treatment of sliders
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsRichard Albert Strom, Mohamed-Salah Houceine Khlif
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for laser edge treating (LET) a slider and a slider with laser edge treatment, wherein the laser treatment is used to modify the curvature along the air-bearing surface, including altering a slider edge ridge that forms at the edges of the air bearing surface due to compressive stresses induced in the air bearing surface by a prior lapping step. The laser makes positive and negative adjustments to crown, cross curve, and twist as measured on the air bearing surface by selectively altering the treatment pattern or the treatment location on the slider's side edges.
Claims29
A method for controlling slider curvatures formed on an air-bearing surface (“ABS”) of a disc drive head slider, the slider having a back surface opposite the ABS, and four edge surfaces between the ABS and the back surface, the four edge surfaces comprising a leading edge, a trailing edge and two opposed dicing edge surfaces, the leading and trailing edges being formed when a plurality of bars are sliced from a wafer, and the two dicing edge surfaces being formed by dicing the sliced bars into a plurality of sliders, the dicing operation creating pair of dicing ridges along the intersection of the ABS with the two dicing edge surfaces, the method comprising:
- applying heat to a slider material on each of the dicing edges surfaces along a path following a dicing path used to fabricate the slider, wherein the heat is sufficient to alter stresses created by the dicing process.
A method for controlling a dicing ridge formed along a dicing edge of a disc head slider, the slider having a back surface opposite an air-bearing surface (“ABS”), and four edge surfaces between the ABS and the back surface, the four edge surfaces comprising a leading edge, a trailing edge and two opposed dicing edge surfaces, the leading and trailing edges being formed when a plurality of bars are sliced from a wafer, and the two dicing edge surfaces being formed by dicing the sliced bars into a plurality of sliders, the dicing operation creating a dicing ridge along the intersection of the ABS with a dicing edge surface, the method comprising:
- applying a means for altering stresses to the dicing edge surface along a dicing path used to fabricate the slider, wherein the means for altering stress is sufficient to alter stresses created by the dicing operation.
A method for controlling slider curvatures formed on an air-bearing surface of a disc drive head slider, the slider having leading and trailing surfaces, and a pair of dicing sides, the method comprising:
- scribing lines in a pattern on each of said dicing sides to alter stresses created by a dicing process.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.