An air bearing slider of a thin film magnetic head assembly is configured with tapered portions at its leading edge and with two side rails extending from the tapers to the trailing edge of the slider. Recesses that are formed in the rails are spaced from the tapered portions. Each rail may be configured with one or more recesses. In one embodiment, the two recesses of each rail are asymmetrically disposed relative to the tapered portion of the rail and to the trailing edge of the slider. In such embodiment, the recesses do not extend to the slider trailing edge. In alternative embodiments, the recesses are spaced from the tapered portions but extend to the trailing edge of the slider. The recesses may be arcuately shaped or have angled portions or other geometries.

An improved transverse pressurization contour (TPC) slider and method for manufacturing the same in which the TPC surfaces occupy more than 50% of the slider rail surfaces. The rail widths may be defined by a shallow etching step in conjunction with a deeper central saw cut defining an ambient pressure slot. Alternatively, the rail widths may be defined by multiple saw cuts. The air bearing surfaces (ABS) may be defined in a single photolithographic step. Utilizing TPC surfaces of greater than 50% of the rail surfaces allows the use of saw cuts to define the rail dimensions and ambient pressure slot with decreased sensitivity to lateral mispositioning of the cuts. The improved TPC slider and method for manufacturing the same provides a simplified, reproducible device and process which is much more rapidly effectuated than processes relying on conventional chemical etching, reactive ion etching or ion milling operations. Also in accordance with a process of the present invention, leading edge ramps of the rails may be advantageously formed prior to definition of the air bearing surfaces and transverse pressurization contours.

A head slider for a magnetic disk drive device includes at least a pair of side rails having a surface mating with a magnetic disk, which surface is substantially flat or slightly curved. The side rails define a shallow recess having a width which is gradually increased from an air inlet side to an air outlet side, and a suction force or floating force is generated within the recess. As a result, a taperless slider having a high durability and flying stability and free from an accumulation and deposition of organic vapor is realized.

An air bearing slider for a disc drive includes an air bearing surface defined on the disc opposing face at least in part by a first step or cavity. An additional corner step is defined in bar processing, deeper than the first cavity. With the corner step, the first cavity does not extend quite all the way to the corner of the slider. The corner of the slider, formed on one face by dicing of the bar into individual sliders, is at an additional depth due to the corner step. The corner steps are preferably narrow, such as nominally one to two times the tolerance value on the dice cut. If a shock event occurs which causes the air bearing slider to contact the disc at certain roll and pitch angles, the corner step edge will contact the disc rather than the dice cut corner. The corner step thus lessens the probability of contact between the disc and the corners of the air bearing slider, and contact with a dice cut edge of the slider is avoided. This reduces the amount of damage to the disc drive caused by the shock event.

An improved bearing design for a slider supporting transducer elements for operation of a data storage system, the bearing comprising a multi-tier structure including a primary bearing surface and secondary bearing surface spaced below the primary bearing surface. The primary bearing surface is being formed by a deposit layer on the secondary bearing surface. The primary bearing surface is being arranged on the secondary bearing surface for desired operation of the slider.