Slider with an air-bearing surface including four pressure generating pockets for countering disruptive movement
View Patent ↗A slider with an air-bearing surface includes an ID-side leading pad, an OD-side leading pad, an ID-side trailing pad, and an OD-side trailing pad. Each leading and trailing pad includes a respective pocket extending from the respective pad toward the air-bearing surface. The pockets each include a respective step surface surrounded by a trailing-side wall, an ID-side wall, and an OD-side wall. Each step surface has a respective depth, and each pocket is open to a leading side of the pocket. The slider further includes at least one cavity between the leading and trailing pads. The cavity includes a bottom surface of the slider having a cavity depth greater than all of the respective depths of the step surfaces of the pockets.
1. A slider having an air-bearing surface, comprising:
an ID-side leading pad proximate to an ID-side leading corner of the slider;
an OD-side leading pad proximate to an OD-side leading corner of the slider;
an ID-side trailing pad proximate to an ID-side trailing corner of the slider;
an OD-side trailing pad proximate to an OD-side trailing corner of the slider;
an ID-side leading pocket extending from the air-bearing surface toward the ID-side leading pad, the ID-side leading pocket comprising a first step surface surrounded by a first trailing-side wall, a first ID-side wall, a first OD-side wall, and an open leading side, the first step surface having a first depth;
an OD-side leading pocket extending from the air-bearing surface toward the OD-side leading pad, the OD-side leading pocket comprising a second step surface surrounded by a second trailing-side wall, a second ID-side wall, a second OD-side wall, and an open leading side, the second step surface having a second depth;
an ID-side trailing pocket extending from the air-bearing surface toward the ID-side trailing pad, the ID-side trailing pocket comprising a third step surface surrounded by a third trailing-side wall, a third ID-side wall, a third OD-side wall, and an open leading side, the third step surface having a third depth;
an OD-side trailing pocket extending from the air-bearing surface toward the OD-side trailing pad, the OD-side trailing pocket comprising a fourth step surface surrounded by a fourth trailing-side wall, a fourth ID-side wall, and a fourth OD-side wall, and an open leading side, the fourth step surface having a fourth depth; and
at least one cavity between the ID-side leading pad, the OD-side leading pad, the ID-side trailing pad, and the OD-side trailing pad, the at least one cavity including a bottom surface of the slider having a cavity depth greater than the first depth, the second depth, the third depth, and the fourth depth.
2. The slider of claim 1 , further comprising a trailing center pad between the ID-side trailing pad and the OD-side trailing pad, the trailing center pad comprising an aft region and three projections extending from the aft region toward the at least one cavity, the three projections including a central projection, an ID-side projection, and an OD-side projection.
3. The slider of claim 2 , wherein the ID-side projection is contiguous with the third OD-side wall of the ID-side trailing pocket.
4. The slider of claim 2 , wherein the ID-side projection is contiguous with the fourth ID-side wall of the OD-side trailing pocket.
5. The slider of claim 2 , further comprising two inter-projection step surfaces respectively between the ID-side projection and the central projection and the OD-side projection and the central projection, each inter-projection step surface having a respective inter-projection step depth.
6. The slider of claim 5 , wherein the inter-projection depth is equal to at least one of the third depth and the fourth depth.
7. The slider of claim 1 , wherein the ID-side leading pad comprises an ID-side leading step having a first leading step depth and the OD-side leading pad comprises an OD-side leading step having a second leading step depth.
8. The slider of claim 7 , wherein the first leading step depth equals the first depth and the second leading step depth equals the second depth.
9. The slider of claim 1 , wherein the first depth, the second depth, the third depth, and the fourth depth are equal.
10. The slider of claim 1 , further comprising a leading dam connecting the ID-side leading pad and the OD-side leading pad.
11. The slider of claim 1 , wherein all of the first depth, the second depth, the third depth and the fourth depth are between 0.05 microns and 0.6 microns.
12. The slider of claim 1 , wherein the cavity depth is between 0.8 microns and 1.6 microns.
13. The slider of claim 1 , wherein the cavity depth is less than 3 microns.
14. The slider of claim 1 , wherein the slider is a component of a disk drive configured to store information using the slider and a magnetic disk media.