Ralph A Cross

US Patent:

7729092, Jun 1, 2010

Filed:

Nov 5, 2003

Appl. No.:

10/701994

Inventors:

Michael Mallary - Sterling MA, US
Ralph W. Cross - Lyons CO, US

Assignee:

Seagate Technology LLC - Scotts Valley CA

International Classification:

G11B 5/39

US Classification:

360317

Abstract:

A read/write head for a disk drive having a magnetoresistive (MR) read element and an inductive write element suitable for perpendicular recording of data onto a disk having a media layer in which the data is stored perpendicularly to the planar surface of the disk and a soft underlayer (SUL) underneath the media layer to provide a low reluctance return path for the magnetic recording field. The write element is formed on top of a substrate, with the read element on top of the write element on the other side of the write element from the substrate. A pancake write coil coils around a magnetic via that either connects to a write shield adjacent to the read element in one embodiment or directly to one of the read shields in a second embodiment.