Slider pad for contact mitigation

1. An apparatus comprising:

a slider presenting a transducer, wherein the slider has at least one air bearing surface (ABS) feature comprising a pair of sidewalls spaced apart and each having a width X; and

a pad deposited with the width X on the ABS feature, wherein the pad comprises a hemispherical cross-section and has a circumferential diameter greater than width X, the pad capable of mitigating contact between the pad and a media surface with elastic deformation.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the ABS feature is a leading edge comb.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pad mitigates contact between the slider and a media surface of a data storage disk drive by engaging in only elastic deformation.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a first plurality of pads are deposited on an ABS feature located at a leading edge of the slider.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein a second plurality of pads are deposited on an ABS feature located at a trailing edge of the slider.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pad has a continuously spherical and edgeless top surface.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the hemispherical cross-section of the pad comprises a pair of vertically extending annular sidewalls.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a secondary pad is deposited in a cavity region where the ABS feature emerges from the slider.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the secondary pad concurrently contacts a substantially vertical sidewall of the ABS feature and a substantially horizontal surface of the slider.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pad comprises a diamond-like coating (DLC) material.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the pad is deposited on a coating layer.

12. A data storage device comprising:

a slider presenting at least one transducer, wherein the slider has at least one air bearing surface (ABS) feature comprising a pair of sidewalls spaced apart and each having a width X; and

a plurality of pads each deposited with the width X on the ABS feature, wherein each pad comprises a hemispherical cross-section and has a circumferential diameter greater than width X, the plurality of pads capable of mitigating contact between one or more pads and a media surface with elastic deformation.

13. The data storage device of claim 12 , wherein each of the plurality of pads is equidistant from a center point of the slider.

14. The data storage device of claim 12 , wherein a ramp is configured to provide a unloaded slider position where no transducer resides over the media surface.

15. The data storage device of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of pads are positioned as parallel pairs along a longitudinal axis of the slider.

16. The data storage device of claim 12 , wherein at least one of the plurality of pads extend beyond the bounds of the ABS feature.

17. The data storage device of claim 12 , wherein at least two of the plurality of pads are respectively positioned on leading and trailing rails of the slider.

18. A data transducing assembly comprising:

a slider presenting at least one transducer, wherein the slider has at least one air bearing surface (ABS) feature comprising a pair of substantially vertical sidewalls spaced apart and each having a continuous width X; and

a pad deposited on a leading edge sidewall of the ABS feature, wherein the pad comprises a first and second substantially vertical pad sidewalls spaced the width X apart and a continuously curvilinear top surface configured with a circumferential diameter greater than width X to mitigate contact between the pad and a media surface with elastic deformation.

19. The data transducing assembly of claim 18 , wherein the pad sidewalls have a pad size and pad shape that matches a feature size and feature shape of a sidewall of the ABS feature.

20. The data transducing assembly of claim 19 , wherein the pad size and pad shape are dissimilar from the feature size and feature shape.