Patents Examined by Kevin Bernatz
  • Patent number: 8435652
    Abstract: A magnetic stack structure is disclosed. The magnetic stack structure includes two metal layers and a free layer sandwiched by the two metal layers. The thickness of the free layer is 1-30 nm. The thickness of the metal layers are 0.1-20 nm respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2013
    Assignee: National Yunlin University of Science and Technology
    Inventors: Te-Ho Wu, Lin-Hsiu Ye, Ching-Ming Lee
  • Patent number: 8435653
    Abstract: A spin transport element 1 has a first ferromagnet 12A, a second ferromagnet 12B, a channel 7 extending from the first ferromagnet 12A to the second ferromagnet 12B, a magnetic shield S1 covering the channel 7, and an insulating film provided between the channel 7 and the magnetic shield S1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2013
    Assignee: TDK Corporation
    Inventor: Tomoyuki Sasaki
  • Patent number: 8431257
    Abstract: A perpendicular magnetic recording medium is used for information recording of a perpendicular magnetic recording type. The perpendicular magnetic recording medium includes a substrate, a soft magnetic layer, an underlayer, and a magnetic layer having a multilayered structure including a plurality of magnetic layers. The soft magnetic layer, the underlayer, and the magnetic layer are formed on the substrate. At least one of the magnetic layers includes CoPt magnetic grains containing oxide. The oxide includes at least one material selected from the group consisting of SiO2, TiO2, Cr2O3, Ta2O5, WO3, CoO, and Co3O4.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: WD Media (Singapore) PTE. Ltd.
    Inventors: Kong Kim, Hi Shin, Tomoko Seki, Satoshi Ishii
  • Patent number: 8431255
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention relate to a galvanomagnetic device for use as a magnetic sensor or magnetic memory device. In a particular embodiment, the galvanomagnetic device comprises a non-conductive substrate, a first magnetic layer having a magnetic anisotropy perpendicular to the surface thereof, and a ferromagnetic second magnetic layer formed on the first magnetic layer. On the second magnetic layer, current electrodes are disposed to pass a current between two points, and voltage electrodes are disposed to detect a Hall voltage between two points perpendicularly to the current flow direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: HGST Netherlands BV
    Inventors: Das Sarbanoo, Hiroyuki Suzuki, Takayoshi Ohtsu
  • Patent number: 8422159
    Abstract: Methods and devices are provided for microwave-assisted magnetic recording with collocated microwave and write fields. An illustrative device includes a magnetic write pole and one or more alternating-field components. The magnetic write pole is configured for providing a magnetic write field. The one or more alternating-field components are disposed to at least partially coincide with the magnetic write pole. The one or more alternating-field components are configured to provide an alternating magnetic field having a microwave frequency and an orientation that is at least partially transverse to the magnetic write field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2013
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Kaizhong Gao, Alexandru Cazacu, Robert William Lamberton, Michael Leigh Mallary
  • Patent number: 8404368
    Abstract: In some embodiments, an article comprising a first magnetic recording layer, the first magnetic recording layer including a granular layer having a first magnetic anisotropy and a multi-layer stack adjacent the granular layer, the multi-layer stack comprising one or more substantially magnetic film layers alternating with one or more polarization conductor layers, wherein the multi-layer stack has a second magnetic anisotropy that is greater than the first magnetic anisotropy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2013
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Zhong Wu, Shanghsien Rou
  • Patent number: 8406040
    Abstract: A magnetic tunnel junction stack including a pinned magnetic layer, a tunnel barrier layer formed of magnesium oxide (MgO), a free magnetic layer adjacent to the tunnel barrier layer, and a layer of vanadium (V) adjacent to the free magnetic layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel C. Worledge, Guohan Hu, Jonathan Z. Sun
  • Patent number: 8400731
    Abstract: A magnetic recording head comprises a write pole including a throat region with a leading edge, a trailing edge opposite the leading edge, and first and second side edges opposite one another. The magnetic recording head further comprises a first side wall gap layer disposed alongside the first side edge of the throat region, and a second side wall gap layer disposed alongside the second side edge of the throat region. Each of the first and second side wall gap layers has a first width at the leading edge of the throat region smaller than a second width at the trailing edge of the throat region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2013
    Assignee: Western Digital (Fremont), LLC
    Inventors: Shaoping Li, Ge Yi, Feng Liu
  • Patent number: 8400738
    Abstract: An apparatus and associated method may be used to provide a data sensing element capable of detecting changes in magnetic states. Various embodiments of the present invention are generally directed to a magnetically responsive lamination of layers and [a] means for generating a high magnetic moment region proximal to an air bearing surface (ABS) and a low magnetic moment region proximal to a hard magnet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2013
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Mark William Covington, Qing He, Thomas Roy Boonstra
  • Patent number: 8395867
    Abstract: A magnetic sensor has at least a free sub-stack, a reference sub-stack and a front shield. The free sub-stack has a magnetization direction substantially perpendicular to the planar orientation of the layer and extends to an air bearing surface. The reference sub-stack has a magnetization direction substantially perpendicular to the magnetization direction of the free sub-stack. The reference sub-stack is recessed from the air bearing surface and a front shield is positioned between the reference sub-stack and the air bearing surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2013
    Inventors: Dimitar Velikov Dimitrov, Zheng Gao, Wonjoon Jung, Sharat Batra, Olle Gunnar Heinonen
  • Patent number: 8383253
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention produce discrete track media and bit patterned media having both excellent read/write performance and reliability. According to one embodiment, the medium comprises a magnetic layers formed by at least two ferromagnetic alloy layers with different compositions on a substrate. The ferromagnetic alloy layer located closest to the medium surface has more concentrated parts and less concentrated parts of nonmagnetic element in the in-plane direction. The more concentrated parts of the nonmagnetic element contain more nonmagnetic elements than the other parts except for an intermediate layer in the magnetic recording layer. The more concentrated parts and the less concentrated parts of the nonmagnetic element in the ferromagnetic alloy layer located closest to the medium surface are formed substantially concentric. The more concentrated parts of the nonmagnetic element is formed by being doped with ions of nonmagnetic element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: HGST Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Tatsuya Hinoue, Hiroshi Kanai, Toshinori Ono, Hiroyuki Suzuki, Hiroshi Inaba
  • Patent number: 8385184
    Abstract: A device for mass storage of information, the device comprising: a substrate (30); an electrically-conductive tip (10) for atomic force microscopy located above the surface (31) of said substrate (30) in electrical contact therewith; and a voltage generator (41) for applying a potential difference between said tip (10) and said substrate (30); the device being characterized in that: said substrate (30) has a surface (31) of a material presenting electrical conductivity that is both electronic and ionic in nature; and in that said generator (41) is adapted to apply a potential difference that is sufficient to induce a redox reaction of said material that modifies the surface electrical conductivity of the substrate (30). The use of such a device (1) for mass storage of information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignees: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Universite Paris Sud Xi
    Inventors: Alexandre Moradpour, Olivier Schneegans, Oana Georgiana Dragos, Sylvain Franger, Nita Dragoe, Loreynne Pinsard-Gaudart, Alexandre Revcolevschi
  • Patent number: 8383254
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a substrate, a magnetically soft underlayer on the substrate, and a plurality of generally cubic FePt nanoparticles on the magnetically soft underlayer, wherein the nanoparticles have a magnetization in a direction substantially normal to a surface of the magnetically soft underlayer. The FePt nanoparticles can have magnetically easy axes perpendicular to the surface of the soft underlayer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Nisha Shukla, Timothy John Klemmer, Dieter Klaus Weller, Chao Liu
  • Patent number: 8377580
    Abstract: A magnetic recording medium 1 includes a substrate 11; and a metallic glassy layer 12 that is arranged on the substrate 11 and has a plurality of convex portions 12A and concave portions 12B. The metallic glassy layer 12 has a chemical composition represented by any one of the formulae (1) to (3): FemPtnSixByPz (wherein, 20<m?60 at %, 20<n?55 at %, 11?x<19 at %, 0?y<8 at %, and 0<z<8 at %) (1); Fe55Pt25(SixByPz)20 (wherein, 11?x<19 at %, 0?y<8 at %, and 0<z<8 at %) (2); and (Fe0.55Pt0.25Si0.16B0.02P0.02)100-xMx (wherein 0<X?6 at %; and M represents an element or a combination of an two or more of the elements selected from Zr, Nb, Ta, Hf, Ti, Mo, W, V, Cr, Mn, Al, Y, Ag, and rare earth elements.) (3).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: Japan Science and Technology Agency
    Inventors: Akihiro Makino, Akihisa Inoue, Wei Zhang, Hisamichi Kimura
  • Patent number: 8379429
    Abstract: A domain wall motion element has a magnetic recording layer 10 that is formed of a ferromagnetic film and has a domain wall DW. The magnetic recording layer 10 has: a pair of end regions 11-1 and 11-2 whose magnetization directions are fixed; and a center region 12 sandwiched between the pair of end regions 11-1 and 11-2, in which the domain wall. DW moves. A first trapping site TS1 by which the domain wall DW is trapped is formed at a boundary between the end region 11-1, 11-2 and the center region 12. Furthermore, at least one second trapping site TS2 by which the domain wall DW is trapped is formed within the center region 12.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Nobuyuki Ishiwata, Tetsuhiro Suzuki, Norikazu Ohshima, Kiyokazu Nagahara, Shunsuke Fukami
  • Patent number: 8367228
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a magnetic recording medium for perpendicular magnetic recording includes the steps of forming a first magnetic layer which has magnetic crystal grains exhibiting perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and nonmagnetic substances for magnetically separating the magnetic crystal grains from each other at grain boundaries of the magnetic crystal grains, forming a second magnetic layer which has magnetic grains exchange-coupled to the magnetic crystal grains, a grain boundary width of the magnetic grains being smaller than a grain boundary width of the magnetic crystal grains, and forming separation regions which magnetically separate tracks from each other in regions between the tracks of the magnetic recording medium in at least the second magnetic layer. The separation regions are disposed substantially only in the second magnetic layer of the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: WD Media (Singapore) PTE. Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Sonobe, Teiichiro Umezawa, Koichi Wago
  • Patent number: 8367229
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a perpendicular magnetic recording medium including a nonmagnetic substrate, and at least a soft magnetic layer (SUL), an alignment control layer, a magnetic recording layer and a protective layer formed on the nonmagnetic substrate, wherein the magnetic recording layer is constituted of two or more layers and includes a first magnetic recording layer and a second magnetic recording layer from the nonmagnetic substrate side and, regarding magnetocrystalline anisotropic energy Ku of each magnetic recording layer, the first magnetic recording layer has 4×106 erg/cc or higher and the second magnetic recording layer has 2×106 erg/cc or lower, wherein the first magnetic recording layer is constituted of CoCrPtRu magnetic alloy crystal grains and grain boundaries made of an oxide and the area of grain boundaries is 30% or more based on the entire area in a planar TEM observation of the first magnetic recording layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: Showa Denko K.K.
    Inventor: Yuzo Sasaki
  • Patent number: 8361640
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide recording area separated magnetic recording media (DTMs, BPMs) allowing magnetic heads to fly lower. According to one embodiment, the recording area separated magnetic recording media are configured so that magnetic recording layers have parts with the relatively higher element ratio of a ferromagnetic material, and parts with the lower element ratio of the ferromagnetic material, occurring periodically in the in-plane direction, and the average height from the substrate surface of the parts with the relatively higher element ratio of a ferromagnetic material is higher than the average height from the substrate surface of the parts with the lower element ratio of the ferromagnetic material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: HGST Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Toshinori Ono, Hiroshi Kanai, Tatsuysa Hinoue, Hiroyuki Suzuki, Hiroshi Inaba
  • Patent number: 8345390
    Abstract: An MR element according to the present invention has the superior effects that further improve an MR ratio because a structure of a spacer layer 40 is configured of a certain three-layer structure with certain materials, and at least one of a first ferromagnetic layer 30 and a second ferromagnetic layer 50 contains a certain amount of an element selected from the group of nitrogen (N), carbon (C), and oxygen (O).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: TDK Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Tsuchiya, Shinji Hara, Tsutomu Chou, Hironobu Matsuzawa
  • Patent number: 8338004
    Abstract: The present invention provides a magnetic tunnel junction structure, including a first magnetic layer having a fixed magnetization direction and a second magnetic layer having a reversible magnetization direction. A non-magnetic layer is formed between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer and a third magnetic layer allows the magnetization direction of the second magnetic layer to be inclined with respect to a plane of the second magnetic layer by a magnetic coupling to the second magnetic layer with a vertical magnetic anisotropic energy thereof larger than a horizontal magnetic anisotropic energy thereof. A crystal-structure separation layer is formed between the second magnetic layer and the third magnetic layer for separating a crystal orientation between the second and the third magnetic layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2012
    Assignee: Korea Institute of Science and Technology
    Inventors: Kyung Ho Shin, Byoung Chul Min