Method and system for providing enhanced thermal expansion for hard disk drives
View Patent ↗A method and system provide a magnetic read and/or write transducer for use in disk drive. A read transducer has an air-bearing surface (ABS) and includes a read sensor, a nonmagnetic gap, a heater, and an expander. The nonmagnetic gap is adjacent to a portion of the read sensor and has a first coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). The heater heats a portion of the magnetic read transducer. The expander is adjacent to a portion of the nonmagnetic gap and has a second CTE greater than the first CTE. The write transducer includes a pole, a coil, an insulator adjacent to and for insulating the coil, a heater and an expander. The expander has a CTE greater than the insulator's CTE.
1. A magnetic read transducer having an air-bearing surface (ABS) comprising:
a read sensor;
a nonmagnetic gap adjacent to a portion of the read sensor, the nonmagnetic gap having a first coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE);
a heater for heating a portion of the magnetic read transducer; and
an expander adjacent to a portion of the nonmagnetic gap, the expander having a second CTE greater than the first CTE.
2. The magnetic read transducer of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the expander is between the heater and the ABS.
3. The magnetic read transducer of claim 1 wherein the second CTE is at least twice the first CTE.
4. The magnetic read transducer of claim 1 wherein the CTE is at least three times the first CTE.
5. The magnetic read transducer of claim 1 wherein the expander has a length perpendicular to the ABS and a width in a track width direction, the length being at least twice the width.
6. The magnetic read transducer of claim 5 wherein the length is at least five times the width.
7. The magnetic read transducer of claim 5 wherein the heater has an active region having an active region width in the track width direction, the width being substantially equal to the active region width.
8. The magnetic read transducer of claim 1 wherein an additional portion of the expander overlaps the heater in a direction perpendicular to the ABS.
9. The magnetic read transducer of claim 1 wherein the expander includes a metal.