Abstract: The present invention provides a thermally assisted magnetic head with improved recording performance. The thermally assisted magnetic head includes a recording element and a near-field light generating element. The recording element includes a main pole appearing on a medium-facing surface, and a bit inversion starting region intended to be a maximum recording magnetic field generating position is formed at a leading edge of the main pole. The near-field light generating element is located on a leading side of the main pole and capable of creating a heating spot due to a near-field light on a near-field light generating end face appearing on the medium-facing surface. The bit inversion starting region is located within one-half of a diameter of the heating spot from a center of the heating spot.

Abstract: A current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) or giant magnetoresistance (GMR) read sensor with ferromagnetic buffer and seed layers is proposed for high-resolution magnetic recording. The ferromagnetic buffer layer is preferably formed of an amorphous Co—X (where X is Hf, Y, Zr, etc.) film. It provides the CPP read sensor with microstructural discontinuity from a ferromagnetic lower shield, thus facilitating the CPP read sensor to grow freely with preferred crystalline textures, and with ferromagnetic continuity to the ferromagnetic lower shield, thus acting as a portion of the ferromagnetic lower shield. The ferromagnetic seed layer is preferably formed of a polycrystalline Ni—X (where X is Pt, Pd, Rh, Ru, etc.) film. It exhibits a face-centered-cubic (fcc) structure and does not exchange-couple with the antiferromagnetic pinning layer.

Abstract: An apparatus that includes a write element including a write element tip having a leading edge, a trailing edge, and first and second side edges connecting the leading edge to the trailing edge, wherein the trailing edge is non-planar; a trailing shield proximate the trailing edge of the write element; a first side shield proximate the first side edge; and a second edge proximate the second side edge.

Abstract: Embodiments provide a slanted bump magnetic shield in a perpendicular write head and a method of making the shield. The slanted bump magnetic shield provides a small throat height to maximize magnetic flux for writing to a magnetic media such as a magnetic storage disk in a hard disk drive, while avoiding saturation. An etch process is used to form a taper in non-magnetic gap material. The magnetic shield is then deposited on the taper, forming the slanted bump of the shield. The etch process may be a multiple etch process to provide better edge and thickness control when forming the taper.