Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100007993 | INTEGRATED LEAD SUSPENSION WITH MULTIPLE CROSSOVER COPLANAR CONNECTION OF THE ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE TRACES - An integrated lead suspension (ILS) or flexure has a connection scheme that allows for coplanar and interleaved conductive traces between read/write circuitry and a read/write head in a magnetic recording disk drive. The flexure has an electrically conductive substrate and insulator layer with the traces formed on the insulator layer. At each end of the flexure there is an island of substrate material with vias in the insulator layer that permit electrical connection to the islands. The conductive traces are grouped into two sets and extend generally parallel along the length of the flexure, with the traces from one set being interleaved with traces from the other set and each set carrying one of the positive or negative signals. At one of the ends, all of the traces from one set are connected through the vias to the island at that end, and at the other end all of the traces from the other set are connected through the vias to the island at that end. Each signal is distributed among the multiple traces of a set by means of connection through the vias to the island. | 01-14-2010 |
20100061005 | High speed digital signaling apparatus and method using reflected signals to increase total delivered current - A signaling apparatus and method are described that use reflected signals to increase the total current delivered to a receiver. Dynamic source-side transmission line termination control is employed to generate reflected signals that constructively add to a nonreflected signal to enhance the signal at the receiver. Switching controls selectively connect and disconnect the transmission line source-side termination resistors to either provide signal termination or remove it. Driver designs using either voltage or current sources for use in signaling systems (including, for example, magnetic storage devices with inductive coil based write heads) are described. | 03-11-2010 |
20100157457 | Electrical Interconnect system with integrated transmission- line compensation components - Impedance compensation features are used along the transmission-line path between a transmitter/driver/source and the receiver/transducer to compensate for the impedance discontinuities or mismatches (for example, those caused by physical interconnection features) and/or to improve the frequency response of the signal transfer along the transmission line. The impedance compensation features are non-uniformities with impedance characteristics selected to compensate for the target impedance discontinuities. The compensation features can be non-uniformities (geometric structures designed to have specific impedance characteristics) in the electrically conductive traces that are integrated in the interconnect transmission line between the transmitter/driver/source and the receiver/transducer. The effective impedance level of the transmission line can be lowered or raised using the compensation features. | 06-24-2010 |
20100214693 | PERPENDICULAR MAGNETIC RECORDING SYSTEM WITH MAGNETIC PRECESSION FOR FAST SWITCHING OF PERPENDICULAR WRITE POLE MAGNETIZATION - A perpendicular magnetic recording system has a write head with a main perpendicular write pole connected to a yoke with first and second electrical coils. The first coil is wrapped around the yoke on one side of the main pole, and the second coil is wrapped around the yoke on the other side of the main pole. The first end of each coil is connected to a respective terminal. The second ends of the two coils are connected together and connected to a common terminal. A lead-time circuit is connected between the common terminal and the first end of one of the coils. Immediately after the direction of write current is switched by the write driver, the lead-time circuit causes the current in one of the coils to lead the current in the other coil. The current displacement between the two coils creates a precession of the magnetic flux reversal, thereby reducing the switching time of the write head. | 08-26-2010 |
20100254041 | PERPENDICULAR MAGNETIC RECORDING SYSTEM WITH HELICAL WRITE COIL AND AUXILIARY COIL FOR FAST SWITCHING OF WRITE POLE MAGNETIZATION - A perpendicular magnetic recording system has a write head having a main helical coil (the write coil) and main pole (the write pole) that directs write flux in a direction perpendicular to the recording layer in the magnetic recording medium, and an auxiliary coil and auxiliary pole that injects magnetic flux into the write pole at an angle to the primary or perpendicular axis of the write pole. The auxiliary coil is preferably a helical coil wrapped around the auxiliary pole. The additional flux from the auxiliary pole, which is injected non-parallel to the primary magnetization of the write pole, exerts a relatively large torque on the magnetization of the write pole, thereby facilitating magnetization reversal of the write pole. Electrical circuitry is connected to the main coil and the auxiliary coil to generate the auxiliary flux simultaneous with the switching of the magnetization of the write pole. | 10-07-2010 |
20100254042 | PERPENDICULAR MAGNETIC RECORDING SYSTEM WITH AUXILIARY COIL AND CIRCUITRY FOR FAST SWITCHING OF WRITE POLE MAGNETIZATION - A perpendicular magnetic recording system has a write head having a main coil (the write coil) and main pole (the write pole) that directs write flux in a direction perpendicular to the recording layer in the magnetic recording medium, and an auxiliary coil and auxiliary pole that injects magnetic flux into the write pole at an angle to the primary or perpendicular axis of the write pole. The additional flux from the auxiliary pole, which is injected non-parallel to the primary magnetization of the write pole, exerts a relatively large torque on the magnetization of the write pole, thereby facilitating magnetization reversal of the write pole. Electrical circuitry is connected to the main coil and the auxiliary coil to generate the auxiliary flux simultaneous with the switching of the magnetization of the write pole. | 10-07-2010 |
20110038080 | PERPENDICULAR MAGNETIC RECORDING WRITE HEAD WITH SPIN TORQUE OSCILLATOR FOR FAST SWITCHING OF WRITE POLE MAGNETIZATION - A perpendicular magnetic recording write head that a write pole, an electrically conductive coil coupled to the write pole for generating magnetic flux in the write pole in the presence of electrical write current, and a spin torque oscillator (STO) that injects auxiliary magnetic flux to the write pole in a direction generally orthogonal to the write pole to facilitate magnetization switching of the write pole. The STO comprises a stack of layers including electrodes, a pinned ferromagnetic layer having a fixed, a free ferromagnetic layer having a magnetization free to rotate, and a nonmagnetic spacer layer between the pinned and free layers. The free layer may be oriented either substantially orthogonal to the write pole or substantially parallel to the write pole, in which latter embodiment a flux guide may be located between the free layer and the write pole for directing the auxiliary magnetic flux from the free layer to the write pole. | 02-17-2011 |
20110038081 | PERPENDICULAR MAGNETIC RECORDING SYSTEM WITH SPIN TORQUE OSCILLATOR AND CONTROL CIRCUITRY FOR FAST SWITCHING OF WRITE POLE MAGNETIZATION - A perpendicular magnetic recording hard disk drive includes a write head with a write pole and an electrically conductive coil coupled to the write pole, a write driver for supplying electrical write current to the coil to generate magnetic flux in the write pole, a spin torque oscillator (STO) that injects auxiliary magnetic flux to the write pole to facilitate magnetization switching of the write pole, and STO control circuitry. Direct electrical current to the STO induces rotation of the magnetization of a free ferromagnetic layer in the STO, which generates the auxiliary magnetic flux. The STO control circuitry may be coupled to the STO via the electrical lines that connect the write driver to the write head, the lines that connect the read amplifier to the read head, or, if the disk drive is one with thermal fly-height control (TFC), the lines that connect the TFC circuitry with the heater. | 02-17-2011 |
20110051288 | PERPENDICULAR MAGNETIC RECORDING SYSTEM AND WRITE HEAD WITH TRANSVERSE AUXILIARY POLE FOR FAST SWITCHING OF WRITE POLE MAGNETIZATION - A perpendicular magnetic recording system has a write head having a main coil (the write coil) and main pole (the write pole) that directs write flux in a direction perpendicular to the recording layer in the magnetic recording medium, and a transverse auxiliary pole (TAP) that injects auxiliary magnetic flux into the write pole at an angle to the primary or perpendicular axis of the write pole. The additional flux from the TAP, which is injected non-parallel to the primary magnetization of the write pole, exerts a torque on the magnetization of the write pole, thereby facilitating magnetization reversal of the write pole. The TAP is coupled to the main coil but not electrically connected to it. A separate passive coil, not electrically connected to the main coil, may be wrapped as a loop around the main pole and the TAP. Alternatively, the TAP may be located near one of the electrically conductive turns of the main coil. | 03-03-2011 |
20110109993 | PERPENDICULAR MAGNETIC RECORDING WRITE HEAD WITH ENHANCEMENT CAPACITOR ON SLIDER BODY FOR WRITE CURRENT OVERSHOOT AT WRITE CURRENT SWITCHING - Write enhancement circuitry on the head carrier of a magnetic recording disk drive provides additional write current overshoot beyond that provided by the write driver circuitry. An enhancement capacitor is formed with a dielectric layer between two layers of electrically-conductive magnetically-permeable shield material that serve as the capacitor plates. The write enhancement circuitry may also include an enhancement resistor. The enhancement capacitor and resistor are connected between the two terminals on the head carrier that connect to the write head coil. The capacitor and resistor are fabricated on the head carrier at the same time and in the same process as the read head. The first and second capacitor plates are generally coplanar with and formed of the same electrically-conductive magnetically-permeable material that forms the first and second magnetic shields for the read head. The enhancement resistor is a stack of layers that is coplanar with and formed of the same materials as the stack of layers that form the sensor portion of the read head between the two magnetic shields. | 05-12-2011 |
20110141626 | MAGNETIC RECORDING DISK DRIVE WITH INTEGRATED LEAD SUSPENSION HAVING MULTIPLE SEGMENTS FOR OPTIMAL CHARACTERISTIC IMPEDANCE - An integrated lead suspension (ILS) in a magnetic recording disk drive has the transmission line portion of the ILS between the flex cable and the gimbal formed of multiple interconnected segments, each with its own characteristic impedance. At the interface between any two segments there is a change in the widths of the electrically conductive traces of the transmission line. The change in impedance of a fixed-length segment is a function of the change in its trace width. The number of segments and their characteristic impedance values are selected to produce the largest frequency bandwidth with a substantially flat group delay from the write driver to the write head. | 06-16-2011 |
20110149441 | MAGNETIC RECORDING DISK DRIVE WITH WRITE DRIVER TO WRITE HEAD TRANSMISSION LINE HAVING NON-UNIFORM SECTIONS FOR OPTIMAL WRITE CURRENT PULSE OVERSHOOT - An interconnect between the write driver and the write head in a magnetic recording disk drive enables an inherent write current overshoot. The interconnect includes an integrated lead suspension (ILS) and a short flex cable that connects the write driver circuitry to the ILS. The interconnect is a two-segment transmission line, with the first segment connected to the write driver having multiple sub-segments or sections with non-uniform impedance levels. The section of the first segment that connects to the write driver is the short flex cable and has an impedance substantially higher than the source impedance Z | 06-23-2011 |
20120008237 | WIDE-BANDWIDTH DIELECTRIC WINDOWING FOR CONDUCTOR SUSPENSION STRUCTURE - Approaches for a hard-disk drive suspension interconnect having a wide bandwidth. A suspension interconnect includes a substrate layer, a dielectric layer disposed on the substrate layer, and a plurality of transmission-line (TL) conductors disposed within the dielectric layer. Air gaps may be disposed around the TL conductors to minimize the tendency of the dielectric material to act as an electrical shunt, which impedes high bandwidth signal transmission. An air gap may exist in the dielectric layer between adjacent TL conductors. Additionally, the area adjacent to the plurality of TL conductors, along the direction of signal travel, may alternate between dielectric material and air gaps. Indeed, there need not be any solid material enclosing the TL conductors save for a plurality of dielectric cross ties that provide structural support thereto. The substrate layer may also comprise one or more air gaps underneath a portion of the plurality of TL conductors. | 01-12-2012 |
20130135765 | PERPENDICULAR MAGNETIC RECORDING WRITE HEAD WITH LADDER NETWORK COMPENSATION CIRCUITRY ON SLIDER BODY FOR WRITE CURRENT OVERSHOOT AT WRITE CURRENT SWITCHING - Write enhancement circuitry on the head carrier of a magnetic recording disk drive provides additional write current overshoot beyond that provided by the write driver circuitry. The write enhancement circuitry is formed on the head carrier as ladder network blocks. A first ladder network block is a first capacitor C | 05-30-2013 |
20130155538 | DISK DRIVE WITH MULTIPLEXED READ SIGNAL AND FLY-HEIGHT SIGNAL FOR FLY-HEIGHT MONITORING DURING WRITING - A magnetic recording disk drive has a fly-height sensor on the slider that supports the read/write head. The head-disk spacing signal from the fly-height sensor utilizes the existing read path between the arm electronics (AE) module and the channel electronics module. A variable gain amplifier (VGA) on the AE module receives as one input the head-disk spacing signal and as the other input an emulated read signal. The output of the VGA is thus an oscillatory signal that emulates the read signal but whose amplitude varies as the head-disk spacing varies. A multiplexer (MUX) on the AE module multiplexes the amplified read signal from the read amplifier with the VGA oscillatory output signal on the read path back to the channel electronics module. | 06-20-2013 |
20130163110 | BALANCED EMBEDDED CONTACT SENSOR WITH LOW NOISE ARCHITECTURE - Approaches for a hard-disk drive (HDD) having a balanced resistive temperature detector (RTD). A HDD includes a head slider comprising a single RTD. A read/write IC comprises a balance resistor having the same resistance as the single RTD when the head slider is not in physical contact with the disk. The same amount of current flows through the single RTD and the balance resistor except when the head slider is in physical contact with the disk. Detecting a voltage change across the single RTD enables physical contact between the head slider and the disk to be accurately detected using a circuit with low noise. Alternately, the head slider may include two RTDs connected in sequence, and the balance resistor may possess the same resistance as the two RTDs. The two RTDs may vary inversely with environmental changes to avoid the need to recalibrate the balance resistor after any environmental change. | 06-27-2013 |
20130176643 | DISTRIBUTED TEMPERATURE DETECTOR ARCHITECTURE FOR HEAD DISK INTERFACE SYSTEMS - Approaches for a distributed temperature detector architecture in a head disk interface system of a hard-disk drive (HDD). A HDD may include a read/write head comprising a read element and a write element and a read/write integrated circuit (IC). The read/write head may comprise (a) a first temperature sensor that is located relatively near an air bearing surface (ABS) of the read/write head and (b) a second temperature sensor that is offset from the ABS. The read/write IC is configured to detect when the read/write head makes physical contact with a disk based on a difference in temperature measured by the first and second temperature sensor. The first and second temperature sensors form a bridge circuit, such as a Wheatstone bridge, with a first IC resistor and a second IC resistor that both reside in the read/write IC, allowing the temperature of the read/write head to be accurately measured. | 07-11-2013 |
20140126077 | PROGRAMMABLE ANALOG FEED-FORWARD TIMER FOR DYNAMIC WAVE SHAPING - A Dynamic Wave-Shaping (DWS) write driver for use in a preamp in a disk drive is described. The DWS write driver includes a Dynamic Current Booster (DCB) that adds a current component (WDCB) to the standard write driver signal (including overshoot) that is a function of the bit spacing in the write data input waveform supplied to the write driver. The invention allows dynamic control of the bit-pattern dependent overshoot amplitude without requiring significant preamp overhead. Embodiments of the Dynamic Current Booster include a programmable analog feed-forward timer at the preamp level. The boost current amplitude is a function of the time between the transitions that represent bits. In embodiments, the polarity of the boost current WDCB can be programmed to be positive or negative. | 05-08-2014 |
20140240871 | INTERFACE VOLTAGE CONTROL OPERATING POINT DETERMINATION IN A HARD DISK DRIVE - Approaches for an interface voltage control (IVC) system in a hard-disk drive (HDD), whereby the IVC operating point determination scheme utilizes non-contact spacing signals for calibration of IVC. While applying a series of input voltages to a slider, head-disk spacing signals are monitored, such as spacing signals from an embedded contact sensor or Wallace spacing loss spacing signals. Based on the relation between the spacing signal values and the series of input voltages, the IVC operating point is identified and stored within the HDD. The IVC operating point corresponds to the IVC input voltage necessary to neutralize the natural slider-disk voltage potential that would otherwise cause an electrostatic force that pulls the slider closer to the disk and can cause lubrication transfer from disk to slider. | 08-28-2014 |