Patent · US Expired

Method of improving the reliability of magnetic head sensors by ion milling smoothing

US6804878B1 · kind B1 · utility

5Cited by
30References
13Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 21, 1999
Grant dateOct 19, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 21, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10T29/49052
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method is provided of smoothing the perturbations on a surface, in particular the surface of a magnetic head slider, the method comprising several steps. At least one air-bearing surface to be smoothed is exposed to an ion species generated from a defined source to form a beam of incident radiation. The beam has a linear axis emanating from the source and thus forms an angle of incident radiation with respect to the surface to be smoothed. The at least one surface is smoothed by exposing the surface(s) to be smoothed to the beam of incident radiation, where the angle of incident radiation is less than 90° relative to a vertical axis drawn perpendicular to the surface to be smoothed. To make a corrosion resistant magnetic head slider, the method further comprises coating the smoothed surface with a layer of amorphous carbon.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.