Abstract: The sensitivity of the ABS shape of a suspension mounted slider to temperature variations can be greatly reduced if the backside of the slider is lapped to a smooth convex contour that is similar to the ABS shape, rather than to a planar shape, prior to mounting the slider on the suspension. When the backside surfaces of sliders are shaped in this manner, the size of changes in the crown height of the ABS shape due to temperature variations are greatly reduced and the ABS shapes are distributed more tightly, thereby increasing disk drive reliability.

Abstract: The sensitivity of the fly height of a HDD (hard disk drive) recording head to temperature variations can be greatly reduced, eliminated or controlled in a manner to enhance HDD performance under various temperature conditions by affixing a thermal element to the HGA (head gimbals assembly) flexure. The thermal element in this invention is a deposited, patterned layer of DLC (diamond-like carbon) that has a coefficient of thermal expansion that is less than that of the stainless steel flexure. As a result of the placement of this thermal element on the flexure, the temperature-induced angular variations of PSA (pitch static attitude) can be made to compensate for temperature-induced changes in the slider crown curvature, thereby reducing or eliminating fly height variations due to temperature.