Patents Examined by A. Heinz
  • Patent number: 8339751
    Abstract: A method is disclosed for forming a magnetic shield in which all domain patterns and orientations are stable and which are consistently repeated each time said shield is exposed to an initialization field. The shield is given a shape which ensures that all closure domains can align themselves at a reduced angle relative to the initialization direction while still being roughly antiparallel to one another. Most, though not all, of these shapes are variations on trapezoids.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2012
    Assignee: Headway Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Glen Garfunkel, Moris Dovek, Kenichi Takano, Joseph Smyth, Yuchen Zhou
  • Patent number: 8339747
    Abstract: Removable actuator assemblies for testing head gimbal assemblies of a storage device are provided. One such removable test assembly for a head gimbal assembly (HGA) includes an actuator base including at least one guide pin, a shoe assembly including a body including a first end portion opposite to a second end portion, a first attachment means for releaseably coupling the shoe assembly with the actuator base, the first attachment means positioned along the first end portion and including at least one hole in the body configured to receive the at least one guide pin, and a locking cam configured to rotate such that a portion of the cam is positioned over a portion of the at least one hole, and a second attachment means for releaseably coupling the shoe assembly with the HGA, the second attachment means positioned along the second end portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2012
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Geoffrey A. Hales, Chunjer C. Cheng, Tao Lin
  • Patent number: 8325445
    Abstract: A head-slider. The head-slider includes a magnetic-recording head and an air-bearing surface. The air-bearing surface includes air-bearing portions, shallow-recessed surfaces, and a deep-recessed surface. Air-bearing portions are configured to fly nearest to a magnetic-recording disk; shallow-recessed surfaces have a first depth from the air-bearing portions; the deep-recessed surface has a second depth, larger than the first depth, from the air-bearing portions. Air-bearing portions and shallow-recessed surfaces are configured to generate positive pressure; and, the deep-recessed surface is configured to generate negative pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Netherlands B.V.
    Inventor: Yoshinori Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 8310789
    Abstract: An integrated conductor/suspension structure for supporting and electrically connecting a write/read head in a hard disk drive and methods of making the conductor/suspension structure are provided. The integrated conductor/suspension structure may allow for an increased characteristic-impedance range, greater interference shielding and a reduction of signal loss that is contributed by a lossy conductive substrate. The suspension structure includes apertures formed therein that result in a reduction in the lossy material and its effect on the electrical signals. In addition, the conductor/suspension structure of the present invention provides shielding to reduce the interference from external electric fields.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: John T. Contreras, Nobumasa Nishiyama, Xinzhi Xing
  • Patent number: 8305716
    Abstract: An example magneto-resistance effect element includes a magnetization layer and a free magnetization layer of which magnetization direction changes depending on an external magnetic field. A spacer layer is located between the magnetization layer and the free magnetization layer, and has an insulating layer and an electric conductor passing current therethrough in a layer direction of the insulating layer. A diffusive electron scattering layer is disposed on said free magnetization layer for scattering diffusive electrons. The scattering layer includes a first nonmagnetic layer and a second nonmagnetic layer containing a first element and a second element, respectively, and a mixing layer disposed at a boundary between the first and second nonmagnetic layers and containing the first and second elements. The mixing layer has a thickness of 0.5 nm or more and 1.5 nm or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hideaki Fukuzawa, Masahiro Takashita, Hiromi Yuasa, Yoshihiko Fuji, Hitoshi Iwasaki
  • Patent number: 8305714
    Abstract: A voice-coil motor (VCM) with voice coils configured to reduce vibrations of a head when data is accessed on a disk in a disk drive. The VCM includes at least one VCM magnet and a voice-coil assembly. The voice-coil assembly includes a first voice coil and at least a second voice coil. The first voice coil is disposed in proximity to a magnetic pole of the at least one voice-coil-motor magnet. The second voice coil is disposed in close proximity to the first voice coil such that the first voice coil substantially overlays the second voice coil. The first voice coil and the second voice coil are configured to reduce vibrations of the head when data is accessed on a disk in the disk drive. A rotary actuator including the voice coils and a disk drive including the VCM are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Kenji Suzuki, Hiromitsu Masuda, Eiji Soga, Mutsuro Ohta, Takaaki Deguchi
  • Patent number: 8305712
    Abstract: A disk pack, comprising at least one hard disk, is rotatably mounted to a housing. The disk pack defines an axis of rotation and a radial direction relative to the axis. At least one actuator mounted to the housing is coupled with a suspension and is movable relative to the disk pack. A slider, comprising a slider body and a head configured to read data from and write data to at least one hard disk, is coupled with the suspension. A first suspension electrical interconnect is configured to electrically couple a first signal conducting pathway with the slider and with a first non-terminated signal pathway. A second suspension electrical interconnect is configured to electrically couple a second signal conducting pathway with the slider and with a second non-terminated signal pathway. The length of the second non-terminated signal pathway is selected to achieve a desired impedance level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: John T. Contreras, Luiz Franca-Neto, Stephen Williams
  • Patent number: 8305706
    Abstract: Embodiments presented herein provide a removable disk library system. The removable disk library system, in embodiments, comprises an array of removable disk drive bays and a movable connector system. Each removable disk drive bay can hold a removable disk drive cartridge. The movable connector system can be positioned behind the array of removable disk drive bays where the movable connector system can access the connector of the removable disk drive cartridges. In embodiments, the movable connector system includes a movable connector assembly that can automatically connect to the connector at the rear of the removable disk drive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Imation Corp.
    Inventors: Randy Kerns, Michael H. Ulrich
  • Patent number: 8300364
    Abstract: A head suspension including a base plate, a load beam, an actuator element to be deformed to move the load beam relative to the base plate, and a jumper having a first end electrically connected to the actuator element, an intermediate part extending over a base plate edge of the base plate, and a second end electrically connected to a flexure, to supply power from the flexure to the actuator element. The jumper is composed of an insulating cover layer, a conductor layer, an insulating layer, and a metal layer that are laid one on another. The conductor layer is diverged in a direction in which the layers of the jumper are laid one on another, to form an escape recess to avoid an edge of the base plate edge to protect the insulating cover layer of the jumper from being abraded by an edge of the base plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: NHK Spring Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hidenori Ogawa
  • Patent number: 8300354
    Abstract: A magnetic disk drive having a layer of ZTMD raffinate coated within a housing of the disk drive to trap debris in order to prevent contamination related failure of the disk drive. The ZTMD raffinate can be applied to the inside of the housing of the disk drive, such as to side walls of the housing and or the cover of the housing. The ZTMD raffinate can also be applied to a filter structure within the housing in order improve the performance of the filter structure and prevent contamination collected thereon from becoming dislodged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventor: Xing-Cai Guo
  • Patent number: 8300355
    Abstract: A fluid dynamic bearing includes an auxiliary bearing portion, a first radial bearing portion and a second radial bearing portion arranged along an axial direction of the fluid dynamic bearing, wherein the auxiliary groove formed in the auxiliary bearing portion is shallower in depth than the radial dynamic pressure groove formed in the first radial bearing portion, and wherein a gap size in the auxiliary bearing portion is set to be equal to or larger than a gap size in the radial bearing portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: Minebea Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Weihong Yang
  • Patent number: 8295005
    Abstract: A method is provided to handle portable cassettes removeably disposed in a data storage library, wherein the method supplies a data storage library comprising a plurality of storage slots, and a plurality of portable cassettes removeably disposed a designated storage slot in a first alignment order, and a pass-through accessor comprising a moveable fixturing apparatus to store portable cassettes, wherein the pass-through accessor is moveably disposed in the data storage library. The method positions the pass-through accessor adjacent an open end of a designated storage slot, and sequentially removes and attaches to the fixturing apparatus a plurality of portable cassettes from the designated storage slot. The method then transports the plurality of portable cassettes to a designated location within the data storage library.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew Charles Compton, Louis Daniel Echevarria, Stefan Lehmann, Richard Albert Welp
  • Patent number: 8289651
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to control heat dissipation in hard-disk drives (HDDs) are disclosed. A disclosed example apparatus comprises a semiconductor die, a ground bump positioned on the die, and a hard-disk drive writer head positioned on the die relative to the ground bump based on a thermal impedance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2012
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: Ramlah Binte Abdul Razak
  • Patent number: 8289663
    Abstract: A high performance TMR sensor with a spacer including at least one metal layer such as Cu and one or more MgO layers is disclosed. In addition, there may be a metal dopant in the MgO layer. In an alternative embodiment, the MgO layer may be replaced by other low band gap insulating or semiconductor materials. An ultra-low RA of <0.4 ?ohm-cm2 in combination with a MR of 14%, low magnetostriction, and a low Hin value of about 20 Oe is achieved with a composite spacer of the present invention. The Cu layer thickness is from 0.1 to 10 Angstroms and the MgO thickness is from 5 to 20 Angstroms in spacer configurations including Cu/MgO/Cu, and MgO/Cu/MgO.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2012
    Assignee: Headway Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kunliang Zhang, Tong Zhao, Hui-Chuan Wang, Min Li
  • Patent number: 8284513
    Abstract: A bearing mechanism includes a shaft, a sleeve portion, a thrust portion, and a cover portion. Lubricating oil is arranged in a communicating channel in the sleeve portion, a thrust gap between the sleeve portion and the thrust portion, and a tapered gap between an outside surface of the thrust portion and the cover portion. A lower end opening of the communicating channel is defined in an outer circumferential portion of a lower surface of the sleeve portion radially outward of the thrust gap. A radially outermost portion of the thrust portion is arranged either tangent to a wall surface of the communicating channel or closer to a central axis than the wall surface. The tapered gap is arranged closer to the central axis than a radially outermost point of the wall surface. The outer circumferential portion and the cover portion define a guide gap therebetween.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2012
    Assignee: Nidec Corporation
    Inventors: Yoichi Sekii, Hironao Sasaki, Takuro Iguchi, Hironori Ando, Toshihiro Akiyama, Takunori Shinao, Yuichi Shigematsu
  • Patent number: 8284515
    Abstract: A fluid dynamic bearing mechanism includes a stationary shaft, a sleeve portion arranged to rotate with respect to the shaft, and a thrust portion including an upper end surface arranged oppose to a lower end surface of the sleeve portion. An inside surface of the thrust portion includes an inside surface contact portion arranged in contact with an outside surface of the shaft, and an inside surface lower non-contact portion spaced away from the outside surface of the shaft, and arranged to extend downward from a lower end of the inside surface contact portion. An outside surface of the thrust portion includes an outside surface inclined portion arranged in contact with an interface of a lubricating oil. The lower end of the inside surface contact portion is arranged at a level axially higher than that of a lower end of the outside surface inclined portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2012
    Assignee: Nidec Corporation
    Inventors: Yoichi Sekii, Hironao Sasaki, Takuro Iguchi, Hironori Ando, Toshihiro Akiyama, Takunori Shinao, Yuichi Shigematsu, Yasutaka Ino, Tatsuyoshi Nakatani
  • Patent number: 8279548
    Abstract: A microwave oscillation element of the present invention includes a lamination main part in which an oscillating layer that is a magnetization free layer and that generates a high frequency electromagnetic field by an excitation of a spin wave, a nonmagnetic intermediate layer, a polarizer layer, and a reference layer that is to be a base magnetic layer of a spin transfer due to application of current are layered in this order. The oscillating layer is made of CoIr, the polarizer layer is configured of CoCr or CoRu; and the nonmagnetic intermediate layer is configured of Cr or Ru. As a result, the efficiency of the spin injection is improved and the microwave oscillation element where the oscillation efficiency is excellent can be realized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: TDK Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Tsuchiya, Kiyoshi Noguchi, Migaku Takahashi, Masakiyo Tsunoda
  • Patent number: 8279559
    Abstract: One embodiment includes a track recording head for creating discrete tracks in a rotating magnetic storage medium. The track recording head includes a main body, at least one stylus, and a stylus actuator. The main body is configured to be attached to a head gimbal assembly. The main body has an air bearing surface configured to face a corresponding surface of the rotating magnetic storage medium. The stylus is formed on the air bearing surface and is configured to be actuated towards the surface of the rotating magnetic storage medium to contact and apply stress to the rotating magnetic storage medium to create isolation regions of non-directionally magnetizable material. The stylus actuator is formed in the main body and is configured to actuate the stylus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Inventor: Dallas W. Meyer
  • Patent number: 8274763
    Abstract: A Lorentz Magnetoresistive sensor having an ultrathin trapping layer disposed between a quantum well structure and a surface of the sensor. The trapping layer prevents charge carriers from the surface of the sensor from affecting the quantum well structure. This allows the quantum well structure to be formed much closer to the surface of the sensor, and therefore, much closer to the magnetic field source, greatly improving sensor performance. A Lorentz Magnetoresistive sensor having a top gate electrode to hinder surface charge carriers diffusing into the quantum well, said top gate electrode being either a highly conductive ultrathin patterned metal layer or a patterned monoatomic layer of graphene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Bruce Alvin Gurney, Ernesto E. Marinero
  • Patent number: 8270122
    Abstract: A magnetic recording read head is provided capable of achieving high reproduction output, resolution, and SNR, even at a high linear density. There is also provided a magnetic recording and reproducing device capable of achieving sufficient error bit rate. The magnetic recording read head includes a differential read head and a write head. The differential read head has a multilayer structure formed by laminating a first magnetoresistive sensor having a first free layer, a differential gap layer, and a second magnetoresistive sensor having a second free layer. Outside the multilayer structure, a pair of electrodes and a pair of magnetic shields are provided respectively. A ratio (Gl/bl) of an inside distance (Gl) between the first and second free layers to a bit length (bl) is set to 0.6 or more and 1.6 or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masato Shiimoto, Takeshi Nakagawa, Hiroyuki Katada, Naoto Ito, Kenichi Meguro