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.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a head stack assembly and a manufacturing method thereof in which manufacturing costs as a multi-disc magnetic device are reduced by increasing the yield and reducing inventory of magnetic heads which can be assembled to the head stack assembly. According to one embodiment, a head stack assembly and a manufacturing method thereof includes plural actuator arms to which magnetic heads are assembled through suspensions. The tolerance of the core width or the write element width of the magnetic heads assembled to inside actuator arms of the plural actuator arms is set to be narrower than the tolerance of the core width or the write element width of the magnetic heads assembled to the outside actuator arms.

Abstract: The main magnetic pole piece of a magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording preferably has an inverted trapezoidal shape in order to maintain a sufficient recording magnetic field. Embodiments of the present invention enhance the covering power of the protective film around the main magnetic pole piece of the magnetic head and thereby ensure reliability even when the main magnetic pole piece has such a shape. In one embodiment, the protective film for protecting the main magnetic pole piece is formed by a sputtering apparatus while applying a bias, or it is formed by a carousel type sputtering apparatus or the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique.

Abstract: A thin-film magnetic recording head utilizing a timing based servo pattern is fabricated by sputtering a magnetically permeable thin film onto a substrate. A gap pattern, preferably a timing based pattern, is defined by the thin film. The gap pattern includes termination patterns or endpoints that are elliptical or diamond-shaped.