Thermally-assisted recording (TAR) head with conductive layer between the near-field transducer and the write pole

A thermally-assisted recording (TAR) head for writing to a magnetic recording layer on a magnetic recording disk comprising:

• an air-bearing slider having an air-bearing surface (ABS) for facing the magnetic recording layer on the disk, the ABS having an along-the-track axis and a cross-track axis orthogonal to the along-the-track axis;
• a write pole on the slider and having a tip at the ABS on the along-the-track axis;
• an optical waveguide on the slider having a thickness in the along-the-track axis direction and a surface oriented generally orthogonal to the along-the-track axis;
• a near-field transducer (NFT) on the slider between the optical waveguide and the write pole, the NFT having a surface parallel to and spaced from said waveguide surface and an output tip having an end at the ABS, the output tip end being located on the along-the-track axis between the waveguide and the write pole tip and having a generally triangular shape with an apex facing and spaced from the write pole tip;
• and
• an electrically conductive layer between the NFT and the write pole and contacting the NFT output tip and the write pole, the electrically conductive layer having a contact edge generally parallel with the ABS, said conductive layer contact edge having a cross-track width greater than the cross-track width of the apex of the NFT output tip end, said conductive layer contact edge being recessed from the NFT output tip end by a distance D1 and overlapping the NFT output tip to a depth D2 in the along-the-track direction, wherein D1 is greater than or equal to 30 nm and less than or equal to 110 nm and D2 is less than or equal to 60 nm.

A thermally-assisted recording (TAR) head for writing to a magnetic recording layer on a magnetic recording disk comprising:

• an air-bearing slider having an air-bearing surface (ABS) for facing the magnetic recording layer on the disk, the ABS having an along-the-track axis and a cross-track axis orthogonal to the along-the-track axis;
• a write pole on the slider and having a tip at the ABS on the along-the-track axis;
• an optical waveguide on the slider having a thickness in the along-the-track axis direction and a surface oriented generally orthogonal to the along-the-track axis;
• a near-field transducer (NFT) on the slider between the optical waveguide and the write pole, the NFT having a surface parallel to and spaced from said waveguide surface and an output tip having an end at the ABS, the output tip end being located on the along-the-track axis between the waveguide and the write pole tip and having a generally triangular shape with an apex facing and spaced from the write pole tip;
• and
• an electrically conductive layer between the NFT and the write pole and contacting the NFT output tip and the write pole, the electrically conductive layer having an edge generally parallel with the ABS, said conductive layer edge being recessed from the NFT output tip end and having a cross-track width greater than the cross-track width of the NFT output tip end, said conductive layer being in contact with the NFT output tip to a depth D2 of the NFT output tip in the along-the-track direction, wherein D2 is less than or equal to 60 nm.