Recording head for heat assisted magnetic recording with diffusion barrier surrounding a near field transducer

1. An apparatus comprising:

a near field transducer positioned adjacent to an air bearing surface;

a first magnetic pole; and

a heat sink positioned between the first magnetic pole and the near field transducer, wherein the heat sink comprises one of Rh, Ru, Ti, Ta, W; an alloy of Rh, Ru, Ti, Ta or W; a boride; a nitride; or a transition metal oxide.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the heat sink provides a diffusion barrier between the near field transducer and the first magnetic pole.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the heat sink comprises Rh, W, or TiN.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first magnetic pole comprises one of: Co, Fe, Ni, or alloys containing Co, Fe, and/or Ni.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the near field transducer comprises an antenna.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the heat sink has a bilayer structure.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein a portion of the heat sink in contact with the NFT acts as a diffusion barrier.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a near field transducer positioned adjacent to an air bearing surface of the apparatus;

a first magnetic pole;

a heat sink positioned between the first magnetic pole and the near field transducer; and

a diffusion barrier positioned between the near field transducer and the heat sink.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the near field transducer comprises a disk and a peg, wherein the peg extends from the disk portion to the air bearing surface of the apparatus.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the diffusion barrier is positioned between the disk portion of the NFT and the heat sink.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the diffusion barrier comprises one of Rh, Ru, Ti, Ta, W; an alloy of Rh, Ru, Ti, Ta or W; a boride; a nitride; or a transition metal oxide.

12. An apparatus comprising:

a near field transducer positioned adjacent to an air bearing surface, the near field transducer comprising gold, silver, copper or alloys of gold, silver, or copper;

a first magnetic pole;

a heat sink positioned between the first magnetic pole and the near field transducer; and

a diffusion barrier positioned between the near field transducer and the first magnetic pole, the diffusion barrier comprising Rh, Ru, Ti, Ta, W; an alloy of Rh, Ru, Ti, Ta or W; a boride, a nitride; or a transition metal oxide.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the near field transducer comprises an antenna.

14. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the diffusion barrier is spaced from the air bearing surface.

15. The apparatus according to 12 , wherein the diffusion barrier comprises a multilayer structure.

16. The apparatus according to claim 12 further comprising: a waveguide having a core layer, wherein the diffusion barrier is positioned between the near field transducer and the core layer of the waveguide.

17. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the diffusion barrier comprises Rh, W, or TiN.

18. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the diffusion barrier comprises a nitride.

19. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the near field transducer comprises a disk and a peg, wherein the peg extends from the disk portion to the air bearing surface of the apparatus.

20. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the first magnetic pole comprises one of: Co, Fe, Ni, or alloys containing Co, Fe and/or Ni.