Coated slider to inhibit contamination accumulation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10522192-B1
Application number	US-201815988282-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	May 24, 2018
Priority date	May 24, 2017
Publication date	Dec 31, 2019
Grant date	Dec 31, 2019

Abstract

A slider is provided with a conformal coating (e.g., an oxide) on the air-bearing surface (ABS) to provide a consistent surface energy to the ABS. The conformal coating may be formed by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. A consistent surface energy inhibits accumulation of contaminants on the slider ABS, such as at topographical transition areas.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A slider having a body with an air-bearing surface (ABS) having a topography including at least one recessed area and at least one raised area, with a transition region between a recessed area and a raised area, the slider comprising:
a working surface comprising a first material in the at least one recessed area and having a first surface energy and a second material in the at least one raised area and having a second surface energy different than the first surface energy;
a constant-thickness oxide coating on the working surface across the at least one recessed area and the at least one raised area; and
a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) coating on the oxide coating.

2. The slider of claim 1 , wherein the oxide coating is SiO 2 .

3. The slider of claim 1 , wherein the oxide coating has a thickness no greater than 200 nm.

4. The slider of claim 1 , wherein the first material is AITiC and the second material is DLC.

5. The slider of claim 1 , wherein the oxide coating surface across the at least one recessed area and the at least one raised area has a consistent and continuous surface energy.

6. The slider of claim 5 , wherein the surface energy differs by no more than 0.1 V across the at least one recessed area and the at least one raised area.

7. A slider having a body with an air-bearing surface (ABS) having a topography including at least one recessed area and at least one raised area, the slider comprising:
the ABS comprising a first material and a second material different than the first material;
a dielectric coating over the ABS, the coating providing a consistent and continuous surface energy across the ABS.

8. The slider of claim 7 , wherein the surface energy differs by no more than 0.1 V across the ABS.

9. The slider of claim 7 , wherein the first material is in the at least one recessed area and the second material is in the at least one raised area.

10. The slider of claim 9 , wherein the first material is AITiC.

11. The slider of claim 9 , wherein the second material is a layer of DLC forming the at least one raised area.

12. The slider of claim 7 , wherein the coating is an oxide coating having a constant thickness.

13. The slider of claim 7 , wherein the dielectric coating is over the entire ABS.

14. A method of making a slider, the slider having a body with an air-bearing surface (ABS) having a topography including recessed areas comprising a first material and raised areas comprising a second material, the method comprising:
applying an oxide coating via a conformational coating technique on the ABS recessed areas comprising the first material and on the raised areas comprising the second material; and
applying a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) coating on the oxide coating.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the conformational coating technique is an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the oxide coating has a thickness no greater than 200 nm.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the oxide coating has a thickness that varies no more than 2 nm.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first material is AITiC and the second material is DLC.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the oxide coating is applied on all the recessed areas and all the raised areas.

Assignees

• Seagate Technology Llc

Inventors

• Kwon byung seok
• Ellison David

Classifications

• C23C16/45525

  Atomic layer deposition [ALD] · CPC title

• C23C16/403

  of aluminium, magnesium or beryllium · CPC title

• C23C16/401

  containing silicon · CPC title

• G11B5/6082

  Design of the air bearing surface · CPC title

• G11B5/3106 Primary

  where the integrated or assembled structure comprises means for conditioning against physical detrimental influence, e.g. wear, contamination (G11B5/3133 takes precedence) · CPC title