Patents Examined by Kevin Bernatz
  • Patent number: 9183857
    Abstract: A device including a magnetoresistive sensor; a top shield; and a bottom shield, wherein the magnetoresistive sensor is positioned between the top shield and the bottom shield, and wherein at least one of the bottom shield and the top shield include NiFeX, wherein X is chosen from Nb, Mo, Ta, or W.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2015
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Meng Zhu, Michael C. Kautzky
  • Patent number: 9178133
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a magnetoresistive element includes a recording layer having magnetic anisotropy perpendicular to a film surface and having a variable magnetization direction, a reference layer having magnetic anisotropy perpendicular to a film surface and having an invariable magnetization direction, an intermediate layer provided between the recording layer and the reference layer, and a underlayer containing AlTiN and provided on an opposite side of a surface of the recording layer on which the intermediate layer is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Eiji Kitagawa, Tadashi Kai, Hiroaki Yoda
  • Patent number: 9165585
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a magnetoresistive element includes a recording layer having a variable magnetization direction, a reference layer having an invariable magnetization direction, an intermediate layer provided between the recording layer and the reference layer, and a first buffer layer provided on a surface of the recording layer, which is opposite to a surface of the recording layer where the intermediate layer is provided. The recording layer comprises a first magnetic layer which is provided in a side of the intermediate layer and contains CoFe as a main component, and a second magnetic layer which is provided in a side of the first buffer layer and contains CoFe as a main component, a concentration of Fe in the first magnetic layer being higher than a concentration of Fe in the second magnetic layer. The first buffer layer comprises a nitrogen compound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Eiji Kitagawa, Tadaomi Daibou, Tadashi Kai, Toshihiko Nagase, Kenji Noma, Hiroaki Yoda
  • Patent number: 9165574
    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 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: February 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Mark William Covington, Qing He, Thomas Roy Boonstra
  • Patent number: 9147414
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a waveguide having a core layer and an end adjacent to an air bearing surface, first and second poles magnetically coupled to each other and positioned on opposite sides of the waveguide, wherein the first pole includes a first portion spaced from the waveguide and a second portion extending from the first portion toward the air bearing surface, with the second portion being structured such that an end of the second portion is closer to the core layer of the waveguide than the first portion, and a heat sink positioned adjacent to the second portion of the first pole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2015
    Assignee: SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC
    Inventors: Michael Allen Seigler, Mark William Covington, Michael Leigh Mallary, Hua Zhou, Amit Vasant Itagi
  • Patent number: 9142226
    Abstract: An apparatus and associated method provides a magnetic writing element that may have at least a write pole tuned to a predetermined first grain size with a cryogenic substrate temperature. A magnetic shield can be formed with a predetermined second grain size that is tuned with the cryogenic substrate temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Venkateswara Rao Inturi, Wei Tian, Huaqing Yin, Michael C. Kautzky, Mark Thomas Kief, Meng Zhu, Eliot Lewis Cuthbert Estrine
  • Patent number: 9139695
    Abstract: Compositions and methods for producing compositions comprising a monoamine-endcapped polyimide component. Based on a gas chromatography mass spectroscopy analysis of a surface rinse of the composition performed at room temperature, the composition can have at least one surface with less than or equal to 5 ppb releasable phosphorous residuals, and less than or equal to 5 ppb releasable volatile organic compound residuals. The composition can also comprise less than or equal to 10 ppb combined releasable residuals. Because of the very low levels of residual contamination, the compositions can be used to produce a variety of articles including a disk drive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: SABIC Global Technologies B.V.
    Inventors: Daniel Francis Lowery, Jamuna Chakravarti, Aaron Royer
  • Patent number: 9142239
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a patterned magnetic storage medium is disclosed herein. The magnetic storage medium includes a magnetic domain, a substantially non-magnetic region laterally adjacent to the magnetic domain, and an exchange spring structure disposed between the magnetic domain and the laterally adjacent non-magnetic region wherein the exchange spring structure comprises implanted ions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: HGST NETHERLANDS B.V.
    Inventors: Kurt A. Rubin, Manfred E. Schabes
  • Patent number: 9142240
    Abstract: An apparatus may include a first magnetic layer, a first exchange break layer formed on the first magnetic layer, a second magnetic layer formed on the first exchange break layer, a second exchange break layer formed on the second magnetic layer, and a third magnetic layer formed on the second exchange break layer. The first magnetic layer has a first magnetic anisotropy energy, Hk1, the second magnetic layer has a second magnetic anisotropy energy, Hk2, and the third magnetic layer has a third magnetic anisotropy energy, Hk3. In some embodiments, Hk1?Hk2 is less than Hk2?Hk3. In some embodiments, the apparatus may be a perpendicular magnetic recording medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Patrick Nolan, Hans Jürgen Richter
  • Patent number: 9129635
    Abstract: There are provided a magnetic recording medium and a magnetic memory device capable of implementing high recording density, in the case of using a microwave assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) scheme. In a magnetic memory device including a magnetic recording medium having a recording film with three or more layers, a recording magnetic pole generating a recording magnetic field, an opposed magnetic pole, a high frequency magnetic field generating element generating a microwave for recording assist, and a magnetic reproduction element, an anisotropic field of a first layer which is a top layer of the recording film is larger than 20 kOe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2015
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Fukuda, Yoshihiro Shiroishi
  • Patent number: 9127170
    Abstract: An object of the invention is to provide a plating pretreatment solution that can convert the surface of an aluminum substrate for hard disk devices into a surface suitable for electroless nickel plating, and a method for producing an aluminum substrate for hard disk devices using the same. The plating pretreatment solution of the present invention used for a plating pretreatment in production of an aluminum substrate for hard disk devices has an iron ion concentration of 0.1 g/l to 1.0 g/l and a nitric acid concentration of 2.0 wt % to 12.0 wt %. This plating pretreatment solution is used for a pretreatment of a plating step in which electroless nickel plating is applied to an aluminum substrate for hard disk devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2015
    Assignee: Toyo Kohan Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Nobuaki Mukai, Takahiro Yoshida
  • Patent number: 9123363
    Abstract: Various methods for attaching a crystalline write pole onto an amorphous substrate and the resulting structures are described in detail herein. Further, the resulting structure may have a magnetic moment exceeding 2.4 Tesla. Still further, methods for depositing an epitaxial crystalline write pole on a crystalline seed or template material to ensure that the phase of the write pole is consistent with the high moment phase of the template material are also described in detail herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC
    Inventors: Mark Anthony Gubbins, Marcus Benedict Mooney
  • Patent number: 9121886
    Abstract: Implementations disclosed herein allow a signal detected by a magnetoresistive (MR) sensor to be improved by providing for one or more alloyed layers that each include a ferromagnetic material and a refractory material. The alloyed layers are provided adjacent to a shield element or between soft magnetic layers of the sensor stack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC
    Inventors: Eric W. Singleton, Liwen Tan, Jae-Young Yi, Konstantin Nikolaev
  • Patent number: 9112076
    Abstract: A glass substrate manufacturing method of the present invention comprises forming a multi-porous structure layer which comprises nano-size pores at a surface of a glass substrate by etching the surface of the glass substrate with hydrofluoric (HF) acid or an etchant substituting for fluoride. Unlike related art methods, the glass substrate forms no additional coating layer, uses no harmful chemical material, and is given anti-reflection, anti-fogging, and super-hydrophilic characteristics through a simple process at a relatively low temperature. The glass substrate is effectively applied to various applications requiring high light transmission such as a protective filter for a display device, a solar cell, a mobile communication device, glass of a building structure, and an optical element lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2015
    Assignee: INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COOPERATION FOUNDATION YONSEI UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Jae Min Myoung, Jun Jie Xiong, Tae Il Lee
  • Patent number: 9105293
    Abstract: A glass substrate for a magnetic disk, wherein, in regions with respect to two places arbitrarily selected on a surface of the glass substrate on its central portion side relative to its outer peripheral end, a surface shape with a shape wavelength in a band of 60 to 500 ?m is extracted from surface shapes in each of the regions and, assuming that a root mean square roughness Rq of the surface shape is given as a microwaviness Rq, the difference between the microwavinesses Rq of the regions is 0.02 nm or less or the difference between standard deviations of the microwavinesses Rq of the regions is 0.04 nm or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kouji Kitsunai, Takashi Maeda
  • Patent number: 9093101
    Abstract: A stack including a crystallographic orientation interlayer, a magnetic zero layer disposed on the interlayer, and a magnetic recording layer disposed on the magnetic zero layer is disclosed. The magnetic zero layer is non-magnetic or has a saturation magnetic flux density (Bs) less than about 100 emu/cc. The magnetic zero layer and the magnetic layer include grains surrounded by a non-magnetic segregant. The magnetic zero layer provides a coherent interface between the interlayer and the magnetic layer with a lattice mismatch less than about 4%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC
    Inventors: Jai-Young Kim, Thomas P. Nolan, Kyongha Kang, Shoutao Wang, Vincent D. Nguyen, Abebe Hailu, Charles C. Chen
  • Patent number: 9093100
    Abstract: A magnetic recording medium enabling excellent magnetic recording reproduction characteristics to be exhibited with the spacing loss reduced. The magnetic recording medium has a magnetic recording layer of a granular structure having nonmagnetic boundary portions between pillar-shaped magnetic particles on a nonmagnetic substrate, and an exchange coupling layer provided on the magnetic recording layer to add an action of exchange coupling the magnetic particles. Ion irradiation on the entire surface of the exchange coupling layer after layering the exchange coupling layer on the magnetic recording layer is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: WD Media (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Junichi Yasumori, Yoshiaki Sonobe
  • Patent number: 9085486
    Abstract: Provided are a magnetic disk substrate and a method of manufacturing the same, wherein the magnetic disk substrate has very few defects present on its surface with an arithmetic mean roughness (Ra) at a level in the vicinity of 0.1 nm and thus is suitable as a substrate for a magnetic disk with high recording density. The magnetic disk glass substrate is such that the arithmetic mean roughness (Ra) of the main surface of the glass substrate measured using an atomic force microscope with a resolution of 256×256 pixels in a 2 ?m×2 ?m square is 0.12 nm or less and the number of defects detected to have a size of 0.1 ?m to 0.6 ?m in plan view and a depth of 0.5 nm to 2 nm is less than 10 per 24 cm2, wherein the defects are each detected using a shift in wavelength between incident light and reflected light upon irradiating and scanning helium neon laser light with a wavelength of 632 nm on the main surface of the glass substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinji Eda, Hideki Isono, Takashi Maeda, Hiroshi Tsuchiya, Yoshinori Marumo
  • Patent number: 9085479
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for efficiently manufacturing a glass substrate for magnetic disk having good accuracy of a surface irregularity and an impact resistance. The method includes the steps of: performing press forming to molten glass to prepare a sheet glass material, the sheet glass material having a roughness of the principal surface of 0.01 ?m or less and target flatness of a glass substrate for magnetic disk; chemically strengthening the sheet glass material by dipping the sheet glass material in a chemically strengthening salt, thereby preparing a disk substrate; polishing the principal surfaces of the disk substrate. A thickness of the sheet glass material prepared in the press forming step is larger than a target thickness of the glass substrate for magnetic disk by a polishing quantity of the principal surface polishing step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinji Eda, Hideki Isono
  • Patent number: 9082443
    Abstract: With regard to a glass substrate 1 according to the present invention, a value of an amendment concentricity AC that has taken into consideration Sk and/or Ku calculated from a shape profile over the whole circumference of an inside hole, or the skewness is within a predetermined range. The glass substrate for a magnetic recording medium can stably read servo information including track information stored on a magnetic disk when the glass substrate is used for an HDD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2015
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kenichi Nishimori