HGST Assigned Eleven Patents

Laminated film-packed hard disk drive for hermetic sealing
HGST Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (9,570,114) developed by Sudo, Kimihiko, Yokohama, Japan, Takeichi, Kazuki, Yamato, Japan, Hayakawa, Takako, Hiratsuka, Japan, and Onobu, Yuta, Yokohama, Japan, for a “laminated film-packed hard disk drive for hermetic sealing.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A hermetically-sealed hard disk drive, (HDD) utilizes a laminated film enclosure to hermetically seal an HDD within. The laminated film enclosure may be constructed of a heat sealant layer hermetically-sealed around the HDD, a barrier layer which inhibits gas from escaping from inside the laminated film enclosure, and a film surface protective layer which protects the heat sealant and barrier layers. Embodiments may include a heat sealant layer comprising a thermoplastic polymer such as polypropylene, a barrier layer comprising a metal such as aluminum, and a film surface protective layer comprising a thermoplastic polymer such as polyethylene terephthalate.“

The patent application was filed on January 15, 2016 (14/997,464).

Read path compensation for SNR and signal transfer
HGST Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (9,570,096) developed by Contreras, John, Palo Alto, CA, Ido, Tatemi, Hachioji, Japan, Nishiyama, Nobumasa, Yokohama, Japan, and Xing, Xinzhi, San Jose, CA, for a “read path compensation for SNR and signal transfer.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method and apparatus is provided for extending a read bandwidth and increasing a high-frequency signal-to-noise ratio, (SNR) of a front-end of a read path of  HDD by introducing a high impedance section at the front-end of the read path. The high impedance section may mitigate capacitive effects found at the front-end of the read path, thereby improving signal transfer by extending the read bandwidth.“

The patent application was filed on August 6, 2010 (12/851,827).

Hermetic sealing with high-speed transmission for hard disk drive
HGST Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (9,558,790) developed by Onobu, Yuta, Yokohama, Japan, Hayakawa, Takako, Hiratsuka, Japan, Sudo, Kimihiko, Yokohama, Japan, Choe, Seong-Hun, Nagata, Takehito, Fujisawa, Japan, Soga, Yuji, Ashigarakamigun Oimachi, Japan, Nishiyama, Nobumasa, Yokohama, Japan, and Nagaoka, Kazuhiro, Fujisawa, Japan, for a “hermetic sealing with high-speed transmission for hard disk drive.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to hermetic electrical connectors used in hard disk drives. The hermetic electrical connector includes a barrier structure having a first plurality of connecting pads disposed on a first surface of the barrier structure and a second plurality of connecting pads disposed on a second surface of the barrier structure opposite the first surface. A plurality of conductors is disposed within the barrier structure, and each conductor is coupled to a connecting pad of the first plurality of connecting pads and a corresponding connecting pad of the second plurality of connecting pads. The barrier structure further includes a dielectric material between the first and second surfaces, and one or more layers embedded in the dielectric material. The addition of the layers helps choke the helium gas flow, thus improving sealing of the electrical connector while maintaining high-speed electrical transmission.“

The patent application was filed on March 24, 2016 (15/080,487).

HAMR media having highly ordered crystalline structure
HGST Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (9,558,777) developed by Hellwig, Olav, Jain, Shikha, Mosendz, Oleksandr, San Jose, CA, Richter, Hans J., Palo Alto, CA, and Weller, Dieter K., San Jose, CA, for a “HAMR media having a highly ordered crystalline structure.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to one embodiment, a magnetic recording medium includes: a substrate, a seed layer positioned above the substrate, and a magnetic recording layer structure positioned above the seed layer. The magnetic recording layer structure includes: a first magnetic recording layer having a plurality of FePtCu magnetic grains and a first segregant, and a second magnetic recording layer positioned above the first magnetic recording layer, the second magnetic recording layer having a plurality of FePt magnetic grains and a second segregant, where a Curie temperature of the first magnetic recording layer is lower than a Curie temperature of the second magnetic recording layer.“

The patent application was filed on November 26, 2014 (14/555,496).

Anti-reflection waveguide for HAMR
HGST Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (9,558,769) developed by Kim, Seheon, San Jose, CA, Matsumoto, Takuya, Sunnyvale, CA, Ren, Shen, Union City, CA, and Stipe, Barry C., San Jose, CA, for a “anti-reflection waveguide for HAMR.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system, according to one embodiment, includes a magnetic head having: a near field transducer, an optical waveguide for illumination of the near field transducer, and an anti-reflection block positioned along the optical waveguide farther from a media facing side of the magnetic head than the near field transducer. The anti-reflection block is positioned a distance from the near field transducer to destructively interfere with light reflected away from the near field transducer. Other systems, methods, and computer program products are described in additional embodiments.“

The patent application was filed on September 30, 2015 (14/871,648).

Suspension standoff geometry for slider crown change reduction
HGST Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (9,558,768) developed by Tsuchiya, Tatsumi, Ayase, Japan, Tsuchida, Hiroyasu, Fujisawa, Japan, Imai, Hideto, Suzuki, Naoki, Yokohama, Japan, and Nakamura, Yukihiro, Fujisawa, Japan, for a “suspension standoff geometry for slider crown change reduction.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A head gimbal assembly for a hard disk drive comprises a flexure having a planar surface and a standoff structure extending from the planar surface, where the standoff structure includes a monolithic element. A head slider in which a read-write head is housed is adhered to the flexure with an adhesive, such that the adhesive surrounds the monolithic element so that the monolithic element may absorb strain energy caused by curing of the adhesive.“

The patent application was filed on September 10, 2015 (14/850,615).

Vertically and horizontally weakly coupled perpendicular small grain media
HGST Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (9,552,837) developed by Do, Hoa V., Fremont, CA, Florez, Sylvia H., Ikeda, Yoshihiro, Takano, Kentaro, San Jose, CA, Terris, Bruce D., Sunnyvale, CA, and Zhu, Qing, San Jose, CA, for a “vertically and horizontally weakly coupled perpendicular small grain media.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In one general embodiment, a magnetic medium includes a recording layer having at least three exchange control layers each having a magnetic moment less than 100 emu/cc, and four magnetic layers separated from one another by the exchange control layers. An uppermost of the magnetic layers is doped with oxygen. In another general embodiment, a magnetic medium includes a recording layer having at least three exchange control layers and four magnetic layers separated from one another by the exchange control layers. An uppermost of the magnetic layers has an oxygen content of greater than 0.5 vol %. An average pitch of magnetic grains in a lowermost of the magnetic layers is 9 nm or less. A lowermost of the magnetic layers has an oxide content of at least 20 vol %.“

The patent application was filed on November 1, 2013 (14/070,408).

Actuator limiters for multiple disk-stack, shared actuator HDD
HGST Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (9,552,835) developed by Tamayo, Thomas, Santa Clara, CA, and Shah, Anant, Fremont, CA, for a “actuator limiters for multiple disk-stack, shared actuator HDD.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An actuator rotational limiter mechanism for a multiple disk-stack, shared actuator hard disk drive includes an actuator comb with a cam-lock feature and an actuator limiter with a rotatable cam-roller that is engagable with the cam-lock feature to temporarily hold in place the actuator comb. The cam-lock feature may be positioned at or near a middle location of a back arm of the actuator armature, where the actuator comb being held in place by the cam-roller corresponds to the head slider being positioned on a load/unload ramp between adjacent disk stacks.“

The patent application was filed on June 30, 2016 (15/199,920).

Producing smooth Ru side gap of damascene writer pole
HGST Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (9,548,069) developed by Shi, Ning, Xu, Xiaoyu, San Jose, CA, and Zhang, Sue S., Saratoga, CA, for a “method for producing a smooth Ru side gap of a damascene writer pole.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention generally relates to a method for forming a smooth gap of a damascene write pole. An opening having a side wall with a first angle with respect to vertical is formed in a fill layer, and a first non-magnetic layer is deposited into the opening by ion beam deposition. The ion beam is delivered to the side wall at a second angle with respect to vertical. The ratio of the first angle to the second angle ranges from about 250 to about 3.5.“

The patent application was filed on March 14, 2013 (13/830,144).

Multi-sensor reader structure having current path with increased size to reduce noise
HGST Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (9,542,962) developed by Mashima, Hideki, Odawara, Japan, Meguro, Kenichi, Kanagawa, Japan, Yoshida, Nobuo, Hiratsuka, Japan, Noridomi, Toyoshige, Odawara, Japan, Saito, Tomohiro, Tachikawa, Japan, and Suzuki, Kaori, Fujisawa, Japan, for a “multi-sensor reader structure having a current path with increased size to reduce noise.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In one embodiment, a magnetic head includes a lower magnetic shield layer positioned at a media-facing surface, a pinned layer positioned above the lower magnetic shield layer at the media-facing surface, at least two MR elements extending in an element height direction by a first length positioned above the pinned layer and separated in a cross-track direction by an inner layer, bias layers extending in the element height direction by a second length positioned on outside edges of the MR elements and the pinned layer, and current paths positioned above and in electrical communication with the bias layers on either side of the inner layer, each current path extending in the element height direction away from the media-facing surface by a third length.“

The patent application was filed on January 23, 2015 (14/604,617).

Perpendicular HAMR medium with perovskite oxide intermediate layer
HGST Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (9,530,445) developed by Grobis, Michael Konrad, Hellwig, Olav, San Jose, CA, Terris, Bruce David, Sunnyvale, CA, and Wee, Sung Hun, San Jose, CA, for a “perpendicular (HAMR) medium with a perovskite oxide intermediate layer.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A HAMR medium has a heat-sink layer, a chemically-ordered FePt alloy magnetic layer and a perovskite oxide intermediate layer between the heat-sink layer and the magnetic layer. The perovskite oxide intermediate layer may function as both a seed layer for the magnetic layer and a thermal barrier layer, as just a seed layer for the magnetic layer, or as just a thermal barrier layer. The intermediate layer is formed of a material selected from a ABO.sub.3 perovskite oxide, (where A is selected from one or more of Ba, Sr and Ca and B is selected from one or more of Zr, Ce, Hf, Sn, Ir, and Nb), and a A.sub.2REBO.sub.6 rare earth double perovskite oxide, (where RE is a rare earth element, A is selected from Ba, Sr and Ca, and B is selected from Nb and Ta).“

The patent application was filed on January 21, 2016 (15/002,543).