Patents Examined by Louis Falasco
  • Patent number: 8238064
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide an accumulation element with high resolving power and high output suitable for magnetic recording and reproducing at high recording density. According to one embodiment, a plurality of spin injection parts and are provided to increase the total amount of spin electrons. The spin accumulation element is composed of a non-magnetic conductor, a first magnetic conductor, a second magnetic conductor, and a third magnetic conductor, each of which are in contact with the non-magnetic conductor through the tunneling junction. An output voltage due to the spin accumulation effect is detected as a potential difference between the non-magnetic conductor and the third magnetic conductor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Masaki Yamada, Hiromasa Takahashi
  • Patent number: 8216704
    Abstract: A biaxially oriented laminated polyester film which has excellent dimensional stability to environmental changes such as temperature and humidity variations and excellent flatness and windability. A biaxially oriented laminated polyester film comprising a film layer B on one side of a film layer A and having a surface roughness (RaB) on the film layer B side which is 1.0 nm or more larger than the surface roughness (RaA) on the film layer A side, wherein at least one of the film layers comprises an aromatic polyester (I) composed of a glycol component and a dicarboxylic acid component containing 5 mol % or more and less than 80 mol % of a recurring unit represented by the following formula (A): wherein RA is an alkylene group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2012
    Assignee: Teijin Limited
    Inventors: Eiji Kinoshita, Ieyasu Kobayashi, Mitsuo Tojo, Tomoyuki Kishino, Kazuteru Kohno
  • Patent number: 8206789
    Abstract: A method for forming a glass substrate comprises the steps of forming a glass blank with opposing substantially planar surfaces and at least one edge, coating the glass blank in silica-alumina nanoparticles, the silica-alumina nanoparticles comprising an inner core of silica with an outer shell of alumina, annealing the coated glass blank to form a conformal coating of silica-alumina around the glass blank, and polishing the coated glass blank to remove the conformal coating of silica-alumina from the opposing substantially planar surfaces thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2012
    Assignee: WD Media, Inc.
    Inventor: Shoji Suzuki
  • Patent number: 8206778
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium includes the steps of forming an intermediate layer that is electrically conductive over a non-magnetic substrate; forming an aluminum-containing layer on the intermediate layer; forming a plurality of micro pits in the aluminum-containing layer; generating an alumina-containing layer by anode oxidation of the aluminum-containing layer and simultaneously forming a plurality of nano holes in the alumina-containing layer originating from the plurality of micro pits respectively to expose the intermediate layer; cleaning and drying the plurality of nano holes using a fluid selected from the group consisting of a sub- and super-critical carbon dioxide fluid; and depositing a magnetic metal selectively through the plurality of nano holes on the intermediate layer to form a plurality of magnetic recording elements that collectively form a magnetic recording layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2012
    Assignee: Fuji Electric Device Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kouichi Tsuda
  • Patent number: 8173283
    Abstract: A ceramic substrate according to one aspect of the invention comprises a main surface wherein a diameter of a first imaginary circle inscribed in a circumference of the main surface is represented by C (m), a thickness of the ceramic substrate is represented by h (m), a Poisson ratio of the ceramic substrate is represented by ?, a density of the ceramic substrate is represented by ?(kg/m3), a Young's modulus of the ceramic substrate is represented by E(Pa), a deflection of the ceramic substrate is represented by X (m), the deflection being measured in a condition that the ceramic substrate is supported in a region between the first imaginary circle and a second imaginary circle which is a concentric circle of the first imaginary circle and has a diameter of C-0.01 (m), wherein X?1.5×(C4/h2)×A and A={3×9.807×?×(1??2)×(5+?)}/{28×(1+?)×E} are satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2012
    Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
    Inventor: Shigenobu Furukawa
  • Patent number: 8167685
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a perpendicular magnetic recording medium and a substrate for the medium are disclosed, in which abnormal protrusions on an underlayer made of a Ni—P alloy are automatically eliminated while maintaining a flat surface with high accuracy on the underlayer, and appropriate texture traces remain to promote magnetization alignment in the vertical direction in a perpendicular magnetic recording medium without adversely affecting the magnetization alignment. In the method, texture processing is carried out on an underlayer made of a Ni—P alloy on a nonmagnetic base plate using a polishing tape while supplying mixed slurry of a surfactant and abrasive grains of polycrystalline diamond, and then, texture polishing is carried out on the underlayer processed by the texture processing, using a polishing tape while supplying slurry containing an abrasive material and an organic acid until the surface of the underlayer is polished to an arithmetic mean roughness Ra of at most 0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shoji Sakaguchi, Hiroyuki Nakamura, Hideki Matsuo
  • Patent number: 8168313
    Abstract: A glass for an information recording medium substrate, which comprises, as represented by mol % based on the following oxides, from 61 to 72% of SiO2, from 3 to 11% of Al2O3, from 0 to 14.3% of Li2O, from 0 to 22% of Na2O, from 0 to 22% of K2O, from 4 to 13% of MgO, from 0 to 6% of TiO2 and from 0 to 5% of ZrO2, provided that the total content of Li2O, Na2O and K2O (R2O) is from 10 to 22%, and (a) the ratio of the content of Li2O to R2O (Li2O/R2O) is at most 0.52, (b) the ratio of the content of Na2O to R2O (Na2O/R2O) is at least 0.35, or (c) the ratio of the content of K2O to R2O (K2O/R2O) is at least 0.45.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Asahi Glass Company, Limited
    Inventors: Jun Endo, Tatsuo Nagashima, Tetsuya Nakashima, Manuel Diaz Reyes
  • Patent number: 8153284
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a glass substrate which has a uniform and minute pattern of stripes formed on the surface thereof by ultraprecision polishing, and which allows the recording capacity of a magnetic disk to be increased, includes an inspecting step before the glass substrate is subjected to ultraprecision polishing, whether the Young's modulus Es in topmost part as determined by the nanoindentation method and the Young's modulus Eg as determined by ultrasonic resonance fulfill the inequality 0.8 Eg<Es<1.2 Eg; or the hardness Hs in topmost part as determined by the nanoindentation method and the Vickers hardness Hv fulfill the inequality 0.8 Hv<Hs<1.2 Hv.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2012
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Opto, Inc.
    Inventor: Hideki Kawai
  • Patent number: 8141386
    Abstract: A method for fabricating a glass substrate containing SiO2 as a main ingredient thereof for an information recording medium which ensures removal of abrasive or foreign mater adhered to the glass substrate without complicating a cleaning step, involves, after a polishing step, keeping the surface of the glass substrate in contact with a liquid having a Si element elution in a range from 100 to 10 000 ppb/mm2 before a scrub-cleaning step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Opto, Inc.
    Inventors: Hideki Kawai, Yukitoshi Nakatsuji, Hiroaki Sawada, Shinichi Saeki
  • Patent number: 8124258
    Abstract: There is provided a glass substrate for a magnetic disk in which a maximum height of bumps forming a roughness pattern at a period of smaller than 2 ?m is 6 nm or lower in an annular area having a width of 30 ?m on a main surface on which a magnetic recording area is formed, a number of bumps having a height of 3 nm or higher in a unit area having a circular arc length of 30 ?m within the annular area is one or less, and a difference in arithmetic average roughness between unit areas within the annular area is 0.2 nm or smaller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2012
    Assignee: The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinpei Todo, Yasuhiro Naka
  • Patent number: 8124257
    Abstract: A substrate for a recording medium suited for thermally assisted recording methods has a disc shape with a center hole and includes a silicon single-crystal supporting member; an SiO2 film formed on the silicon single-crystal supporting member; a main face having a film thickness of the SiO2 film thereon which is less than 10 nm; a substrate inner periphery end face adjacent to the center hole; a substrate inner periphery chamfer portion adjacent to the main face and to the substrate inner periphery end face; a substrate outer periphery end face positioned on the side of the main face opposite the substrate inner periphery end face; and a substrate outer periphery chamfer portion adjacent to the main face and to the substrate outer periphery end face. A magnetic recording medium includes at least the above substrate and a magnetic recording layer formed on the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2012
    Assignee: Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kouichi Tsuda
  • Patent number: 8119266
    Abstract: Provided are a magnetic recording medium substrate whereupon a magnetic layer can be regularly formed in a recording area, a magnetic recording medium and a method for manufacturing the magnetic recording medium substrate. A plurality of recording areas wherein the magnetic layer is to be formed are formed on the surface of the disk-shaped magnetic recording medium substrate. The size of the recording area is an integral multiple of a lattice constant of a unit lattice of a single crystal structure constituting the magnetic layer. For instance, the width of a protruding section (3) to be used as the recording area is an integral multiple of the lattice constant of the unit lattice of the single crystal structure configuring the magnetic layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2012
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Opto, Inc.
    Inventor: Hideki Kawai
  • Patent number: 8119267
    Abstract: A glass substrate for a magnetic disk of the invention is a disk-shaped glass substrate for a magnetic disk where the substrate has a main surface and end face and is subjected to chemical reinforcement treatment, and is characterized in that the penetration length in the uppermost-portion stress layer on the main surface is 49.1 ?m or less, and that assuming that an angle between the main surface and compressive stress in the stress profile by a Babinet compensator method is ?, a value y of {12·t·ln(tan ?)+(49.1/t)} is the penetration length in the uppermost-portion stress layer or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2012
    Assignee: Hoya Corporation
    Inventors: Kinobu Osakabe, Hideki Isono, Katsuyuki Iwata, Shinji Eda, Kenichiro Terada
  • Patent number: 8119268
    Abstract: To provide a glass for an information recording media substrate, which is excellent in weather resistance. A glass for an information recording media substrate, which comprises, as represented by mol % based on oxide, from 61 to 66% of SiO2, from 11.5 to 17% of Al2O3, from 8 to 16% of Li2O, from 2 to 8% of Na2O, from 2.5 to 8% of K2O, from 0 to 6% of MgO, from 0 to 4% of TiO2 and from 0 to 3% of ZrO2, provided that Al2O3+MgO+TiO2 is at least 12%, and Li2O+Na2O+K2O is from 16 to 23%, wherein in a case of where B2O3 is contained, its content is less than 1%. The above glass for an information recording media substrate, wherein when the glass is left under steam atmosphere at 120° C. at 0.2 MPa for 20 hours, and the amount of Li, the amount of Na and the amount of K, which precipitate on a surface of the glass are represented as CLi, CNa and CK respectively, CNa is at most 0.7 nmol/cm2, and CLi+CNa+CK is at most 3.5 nmol/cm2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2012
    Assignee: Asahi Glass Company, Limited
    Inventors: Tetsuya Nakashima, Kei Maeda, Noriaki Shimodaira, Atsuyoshi Takenaka
  • Patent number: 8113017
    Abstract: A method for cleaning a glass substrate which ensures removal of abrasive and other foreign matter without making a cleaning step complicated involves cleaning the glass substrate by scrubbing using two or more types of cleaning liquid having different Si element elution abilities. The cleaning liquid having the highest Si element elution is used first, and the cleaning liquid having the lowest Si element elution is used last.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2012
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Opto, Inc.
    Inventors: Hideki Kawai, Yukitoshi Nakatsuji, Hiroaki Sawada, Shinichi Saeki
  • Patent number: 8113014
    Abstract: Provided is a method of manufacturing a glass substrate efficiently via prevention of foreign matter adhesion to a glass substrate as to chemical strengthening. Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a glass substrate for a recording medium possessing the step of conducting a chemical strengthening process by which a glass substrate held by a holding jig and the holding jig are immersed in a chemical strengthening solution, and 1st alkali metal ion on a surface of the glass substrate is substituted by 2nd alkali metal ion having a larger ion diameter than that of 1st alkali metal ion contained in the chemical strengthening solution, wherein the holding jig possesses a member of material made of a metal comprising an alkali metal element, or a metal film comprising an alkali metal element to cover a surface of the holding jig from the very beginning of the chemical strengthening process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2012
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Opto, Inc.
    Inventors: Toru Watanabe, Kenichi Sasaki
  • Patent number: 8109808
    Abstract: An inner peripheral edge of a toroidal glass substrate for a magnetic disk is subjected to mechanical polishing in such a manner that the surface roughness is no greater than 9 nm in terms of Rmax. Then, the inner peripheral edge is subjected to chemical polishing to remove at least 2 ?m of a surface layer. The inner peripheral edge has a non-conventional mirror-finished surface obtained by mechanical polishing. Thus, sufficient ring strength is obtained even when the chemical polishing depth is smaller than in the past. A polishing depth of less than 5 ?m is sufficient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Toyo Kohan Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshio Uchiyama, Hiroshi Doi, Gen Ishida
  • Patent number: 8096148
    Abstract: A method for fabricating a glass substrate containing SiO2 as a main ingredient thereof and having a uniform and minute pattern of stripes formed on the surface thereof by ultraprecision polishing includes a step of inspecting whether or not, at the topmost surface portion of the glass substrate after polishing, a given property of a bound energy of the Si atom with respect to the electrons occupying a 2P orbit as determined by XPS is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and the given property is a shift amount of the bound energy or a half-value width of the bound energy distribution, the predetermined value is 0.10 eV or 2.15 eV, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Opto, Inc.
    Inventor: Hideki Kawai
  • Patent number: 8092931
    Abstract: A protection layer containing carbon as a major component is deposited by plasma CVD. The protection layer has film quality such that, when a spectrum is obtained by excluding photoluminescence from a Raman spectrum in a wavenumber band from 900 cm?1 to 1800 cm?1 obtained by exciting the protection layer with an argon ion laser beam having a wavelength of 514.5 nm and the spectrum is subjected to waveform separation by the Gaussian function to split a D peak appearing around 1350 cm?1 and a G peak appearing around 1520 cm?1, the ratio Dw/Gw between a half width Dw of the D peak and a half width Gw of the G peak exceeds 0 and is not greater than 2.7.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: WD Media (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Masafumi Ishiyama, Kenji Ayama
  • Patent number: 8092280
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for producing a glass substrate for a magnetic disk, the method including a step of polishing a main surface of a circular glass plate while supplying a polishing slurry containing a polishing material, in which polishing is performed, after a polishing surface is subjected to dressing treatment, by using a polishing pad having: a first resin foam layer which forms the polishing surface, includes a resin foam having pores with a pore diameter of more than 20 ?m and has a thickness of 400 ?m or less; and a second resin foam layer which is provided between a platen for fixing the polishing pad and the first resin foam layer, includes a resin foam having pores with a pore diameter of 20 ?m or less and has a thickness of 50 to 250 ?m, and in which a total thickness of the first resin foam layer and the second resin foam layer is 550 ?m or less, and a international rubber hardness degree of the polishing pad measured by the M method according to JIS K6253 is 40 IRHD or mor
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: Asahi Glass Company, Limited
    Inventors: Mizuho Ishida, Norihito Shida, Katsuhiro Matsumoto, Kazuo Mannami