Air bearing slider with a side pad having a shallow recess depth
View Patent ↗A head for use in a magnetic hard disk drive or other information storage device includes a novel air bearing surface. The novel air bearing surface includes two leading pads separated by a longitudinal channel, and a trailing pad. The leading pads and trailing pad each include a major surface that lies in a first plane. A side pad, laterally spaced from the trailing pad, includes a major surface that lies in a second plane that is parallel to the first plane but that is offset from the first plane by a shallow recess depth in the range of 0.5 microinches to two microinches. The side pad also includes a major surface that lies in a third plane that is parallel to the second plane but that is offset from the first plane by standard recess depth in the range of three to five microinches.
1. A head comprising:
a slider having an air bearing surface, a trailing face, and a leading face, the air bearing surface including
two leading pads separated by a longitudinal channel, each leading pad including a major surface that lies in a first plane,
a trailing pad, the trailing pad also including a major surface that lies in the first plane, and
a side pad laterally spaced from the trailing pad,
the side pad including a major surface that lies in a second plane that is parallel to the first plane but that is offset from the first plane by a shallow recess depth in the range of 0.5 microinches to two microinches,
the side pad also including a major surface that lies in a third plane that is parallel to the second plane but that is offset from the first plane by standard recess depth in the range of three to five microinches.
2. The head of claim 1 wherein the shallow recess depth is in the range of 1 microinch to 1.5 microinches.
3. The head of claim 1 wherein the major surface of the side pad that lies in the second plane extends to less than 125 microns from an edge of the trailing face.
4. The head of claim 1 wherein the longitudinal channel has a maximum width that is in the range of 50 microns to 200 microns.
5. The head of claim 1 wherein the longitudinal channel has a depth, measured below the first plane, that is in the range of 15 microinches to 50 microinches.
6. The head of claim 1 wherein the longitudinal channel has a depth, measured below the first plane, that is in the range of 25 microinches to 70 microinches.
7. The head of claim 1 wherein the longitudinal channel includes a recessed plug that includes a plug top surface in the third plane.
8. The head of claim 7 wherein the recessed plug extends to less than 450 microns from an edge of the leading face.
9. The head of claim 7 wherein the recessed plug extends to less than 200 microns from an edge of the leading face.
10. The head of claim 7 wherein the recessed plug extends to less than 40 microns from an edge of the leading face.
11. The head of claim 7 wherein the recessed plug has a maximum length that is less than 400 microns.