Did You Know...
...that Thomas Edison's patent application on his phonograph was approved by the Patent Office in just seven weeks? In contrast, it took Gordon Gould, the inventor of the laser, 30 years to obtain his patent -- finally awarded in 1988!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8098381 | Fly height and slider protrusion measurement An apparatus for measuring a distance such as, for example, a fly height distance. An apparatus includes a slider having an air bearing surface and an optical condenser assembly spaced apart from the air bearing surface of the slider. The optical condenser assembly ... | 01/17/2012 |
| 7817286 | Iteration method to improve the fly height measurement accuracy by optical interference method and theoretical pitch and roll effect In one embodiment and method of the present invention, an optical interference fly height (FH) test apparatus for measuring FH is disclosed, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, to include a slider, a transparent disk, means for directing a lig... | 10/19/2010 |
| 7751062 | Optical flying height measurement and calibration with dual sliders A method for optical flying height measurement, and a flying height tester. The method the method comprises the steps of aligning a first slider and a second slider adjacent a transparent disk; varying a rotational speed of the disk relative to the first slider wher... | 07/06/2010 |
| 7715017 | Dynamic fringe phase detection for measurement of very small spacing An apparatus and a method for measuring very small separations between a transparent or semi-transparent first body and a second body, wherein one or more light sources produce light that is split into two distinct paths. One path is directed through the first body ... | 05/11/2010 |
| 7652775 | Optical near-field generator and recording and reproduction apparatus Provided is an optical near-field recording and reproduction apparatus capable of adjusting the intensity of optical near-field and the amount of light bouncing off on the bottom of a slider around a scatterer and the surface of a medium and traveling back to a ligh... | 01/26/2010 |
| 7350400 | Test method to measure lubricant mobility on a hard drive disk A method for measuring the mobility of a lubricant located on the top surface of a disk used in hard disk drives. The method includes forming one or more scribe lines in a lubricant layer of the disk. The disk is then spun by a spin stand where lubricant moves in re... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7342717 | Wave field microscope with detection point spread function The present invention relates to two new wave field microscopes, type I and type II, which are distinguished by the fact that they each have an illumination and excitation system, which include at least one real and one virtual illumination source, and at least one ... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7282729 | Fabry-Perot resonator apparatus and method for observing low reflectivity surfaces A Fabry-Perot resonator apparatus and method for observing low reflectivity surfaces provides functional improvements for optical inspection and measurement systems, optical storage and retrieval systems as well as other optical systems when the a surface of interes... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7238927 | Detection of the phase and amplitude of electromagnetic waves The invention relates to a device for detecting electromagnetic waves, especially for also detecting the phase and amplitude of electromagnetic waves, using elements that react sensitively to incident electromagnetic waves. The aim of the invention is to provide a m... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7233459 | Integral wear-pad for slider-disk interference detection A slider-mounted transducer has an integral wear pad for determining interference between the transducer and a disk surface. The wear pad intensifies interference events during disk drive testing and enables the threshold for slider fly-height to be set at a lower l... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7206077 | Flying height tester and flying height test method A flying height tester includes a glass disc facing a magnetic head slider under test; an optical system for guiding light to the glass disc so that multiple reflections of light occur between the glass disc and the magnetic head slider; a light sensor receiving ref... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7199960 | Disk drive with AC exciter for head/disk interface A disk drive includes a disk for storing information, a head with a transducer that writes data to and reads data from the disk, and an AC power source. The head is suspended adjacent to the disk and a flying height gap exists at the head/disk interface. The AC powe... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7187514 | Magnetic head assembly and magnetic disc device The present invention implements a magnetic disk drive usable under a wide range of temperature environment conditions, and a magnetic head assembly. The flying height of a magnetic head slider (1) can be controlled against a change of temperature so that the... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7154699 | High bandwidth large stroke spin-stand A high bandwidth, large stroke spin-stand for testing components of a disc drive includes a coarse positioning stage and a rotary micropositioning stage. The spin-stand is capable of positioning a transducer head relative to the data storage disc based on one or bot... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7057740 | System and method for calibrating a hard disc drive magnetic head flying height tester by optical interference techniques A system and method are disclosed for calibrating a hard disc drive magnetic head flying height tester by a calibration standard, which includes a mock slider and mock disc, by optical interference techniques. ... | 06/06/2006 |
| 7057719 | System and method for hard disc drive magnetic head flying height tester calibration A system and method are disclosed for calibrating a hard disc drive magnetic head flying height tester by a calibration standard, which includes a mock slider and mock disc, by optical interference techniques. ... | 06/06/2006 |
| 7038875 | Dynamic measurement of head media spacing modulation The present invention is a novel method and apparatus for determining head media modulation in a magnetic data storage and retrieval system. The magnetic data storage and retrieval system includes a magnetic disc with a stored signal and a transducing head for readi... | 05/02/2006 |
| 7031508 | Reflectometry system with compensation for specimen holder topography and with lock-rejection of system noise A self-contained system uses light reflectivity to examine intensity of a dyed spot on a device membrane surrounded by background area to discern information about the specimen that produced the spot. In a preferred embodiment, a master clock alternatively drives on... | 04/18/2006 |
| 7019840 | Dual-beam interferometer for ultra-smooth surface topographical measurements A method and apparatus for using a dual-beam interferometer to test surface flatness is provided. The interferometer directs two beams focused at distinct points on a testing surface, such as the surface of a magnetic recording disc. An offset distance “d” betwe... | 03/28/2006 |
| 6914747 | Disk drive having electrostatic discharge path defined between disk assembly and base In a first aspect, a disk drive includes a base and a disk assembly, including at least one data storage disk, rotatably mounted on the base. The disk drive further includes structure for defining an electrostatic discharge gap between the base and the disk assembly... | 07/05/2005 |
| 6907769 | Apparatus and method for detecting air contamination in fluid dynamic bearings Embodiments of the invention generally provide a method for detecting air contamination within a fluid dynamic bearing used with a disc drive. In one embodiment, the invention provides a method to determine the amount of air contamination with hydrodynamic fluid by ... | 06/21/2005 |
| 6847459 | Method and apparatus for dynamically measuring the full flying state of a slider A method for dynamically measuring the spatial position and orientation of a slider used in a magnetic disk drive operates by directing one or more beams of light through a microscope to an interface between the slider and the magnetic disk. The light beam reflected... | 01/25/2005 |
| 6804010 | Optical coating thickness optimization for fly height test media A test media in the form of a disk for use in an apparatus for performing interferometric measurement/testing of fly heights of read-write head sliders, the disk having a central opening for use with a spindle for rotation about a central axis, comprising: ... | 10/12/2004 |
| 6710881 | Heterodyne interferometry for small spacing measurement A system and method for high speed and precision measurement of the distance between at least two near contact surfaces using heterodyne interferometry is disclosed. One of the surfaces is an optically transparent element and the other surface is a substantially non... | 03/23/2004 |
| 6665077 | Method and apparatus for enhanced sensitivity fly height testing and measurement A method and apparatus for performing interferometric measurement/testing of flying heights of read-write head sliders utilizing an improved rotating disk, the disk having a central opening for use with a spindle for rotation about a central axis, the dis... | 12/16/2003 |
| 6624892 | Method and apparatus for fly height testing using light emitting diodes A method and fly-height tester include a moving medium and a slider mount that holds a slider in proximity with the medium so that the slider flies relative to the medium. At least one light emitting diode generates a light that is directed by optics so t... | 09/23/2003 |
| 6590667 | Method and an apparatus for measuring the flying height with sub-nanometer resolution A method and apparatus is claimed for measuring the distance between a slider and a transparent disk with sub-nanometer resolution. The flying height is measured by applying ellipsometry. The measurement is done by: providing a sampling light beam with ad... | 07/08/2003 |
| 6404504 | Method and apparatus for measuring flying height of the slider and in-situ monitoring a slider-disk interface A method and apparatus for measuring the flying height of a slider above a disk surface and in-situ monitoring the slider disk interface comprising the steps of: providing a beam of light; providing a slider disk interface comprising a disk having a subst... | 06/11/2002 |
| 6369900 | Glide head with features on its air bearing surface for improved fly height measurement An improved glide head has optical marks on the air bearing surface. The glide heads can be used for detecting defects on disc surfaces following an evaluation of the fly height as a function of disc rotation. The optical marks provide a position for focu... | 04/09/2002 |
| 6295131 | Interference detecting system for use in interferometer Interference light occurring between a first laser light of a reference phase and a second laser light of a measuring phase is divided via a light divider into two interference light beams to be directed in two directions. One of the divided interference ... | 09/25/2001 |
| 6208425 | Endpoint detector and method for measuring a change in wafer thickness in chemical-mechanical polishing of semiconductor wafers The present invention is an endpoint detector and a method for quickly and accurately measuring the change in thickness of a wafer in chemical-mechanical polishing processes. The endpoint detector has a reference platform, a measuring face, and a distance... | 03/27/2001 |
| 6184992 | Apparatus and method for measuring flying height and a real index of refraction An apparatus that can measure a space between a first surface and a second surface. The apparatus may include a light source that can reflect a light beam from the first and second surfaces. A birefringent element may split the reflected light beam into a... | 02/06/2001 |
| 6184993 | Apparatus for measuring a small gap using a Savart plate An apparatus that can measure a space between a first surface and a second surface such as the air bearing between a slider and a disk. The apparatus may include a light source that can reflect a light beam from the slider and the disk. By way of example,... | 02/06/2001 |
| 5953125 | Optical gap measuring apparatus and method Polarization interferometric method and apparatus for high-speed measurement of the distance between two surfaces, the first of which is part of a substantially transparent element and the second of which is part of a test object. In a first step, a lens ... | 09/14/1999 |
| 5949546 | Interference apparatus for measuring absolute and differential motions of same or different testing surface An interference apparatus is disclosed wherein the high-visibility quadrature interference signals are obtained by making a pair of polarization beamsplitter, a 45-degree oriented quarter-waveplate and four light-beam detected photodiodes. A three-dimensi... | 09/07/1999 |
| 5880840 | Alumina recession determination using a flying height tester A method for measuring a surface recession of a magnetic recording head using a flying height tester. The recording head has a trailing edge portion that extends from an air bearing surface. The trailing edge portion contains the read/write elements of th... | 03/09/1999 |
| 5877857 | Eccentricity tester for head turnout zone of magnetic disk and testing method thereof The tester and the test method for testing an eccentricity of a head turnout zone of a magnetic disk determine a turnout zone as acceptable or unacceptable by spirally scanning a turnout zone of a magnetic disk with a laser spot by rotating the magnetic d... | 03/02/1999 |
| 5831733 | Apparatus and methods for measuring gaps while compensating for birefringence effects in the measurement path An apparatus and methods for measuring and compensating for birefringence in a rotating ground glass disk (20) such as are employed in polarization based optical flying height testers. The polarized light (1, 3) impinges on the top surface (24) of the dis... | 11/03/1998 |
| 5818592 | Non-contact optical glide tester A non-contact optical method and apparatus for use in inspecting and measuring defects on a disk. The apparatus generates an interference pattern from a reference beam reflected from a surface of a transparent slider with a second beam reflected from a su... | 10/06/1998 |
| 5808736 | Thin film flying height calibration disk for calibrating flying height testers A calibration medium that is used to calibrate a flying height tester which measures the gap of an air bearing formed between a magnetic recording head and a substrate. The medium contains a first ridge and a second ridge that extend from an underlying su... | 09/15/1998 |
