Rodney L Lee Deceased5 W Creek Ct, Lafayette, CA 94549

6156375, Dec 5, 2000

Feb 5, 1999

9/245232

Hung-Liang Hu - Los Altos Hills CA
Rodney Edgar Lee - Salinas CA
Hugo Alberto Emilio Santini - San Jose CA
Ching Hwa Tsang - Sunnyvale CA

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

B05D 512

427116

A combined sunken magnetoresistive (MR) read/write head is provided wherein first and second shield layers are eliminated or thinned down in an insulation stack region just behind a pole tip region. This provides a depression behind the pole tip region where head components, such as the write coil, insulation stack and pole pieces of a write head, are located. Leads for an MR sensor of the head extend parallel to an air bearing surface (ABS) where they connect to first and second conductors beyond the limits of the shield layers. The conductors extend back into the head normal to the air bearing surface without any danger of shorting to the shield layers.

6025977, Feb 15, 2000

Jan 24, 1997

8/789167

Hung-Liang Hu - Los Altos Hills CA
Rodney Edgar Lee - Salinas CA
Hugo Alberto Emilio Santini - San Jose CA
Ching Hwa Tsang - Sunnyvale CA

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G11B 5127

360113

A combined sunken magnetoresistive (MR) read/write head is provided wherein first and second shield layers are eliminated or thinned down in an insulation stack region just behind a pole tip region. This provides a depression behind the pole tip region where head components, such as the write coil, insulation stack and pole pieces of a write head, are located. Leads for an MR sensor of the head extend parallel to an air bearing surface (ABS) where they connect to first and second conductors beyond the limits of the shield layers. The conductors extend back into the head normal to the air bearing surface without any danger of shorting to the shield layers.

6024886, Feb 15, 2000

Dec 5, 1997

8/985648

Yongchang Feng - Livermore CA
Rodney E. Lee - San Jose CA
Hui-Chuan Wang - Pleasanton CA

Headway Technologies, Inc. - Milpitas CA

B44C 122

216 38

Within a method for forming a magnetic transducer head there is first provided a substrate having formed thereover a lower magnetic pole layer in turn having formed thereupon a gap filling layer which is substantially planar. There is then formed upon the gap filling layer a patterned upper magnetic pole tip layer which serves as an etch mask layer for forming from the gap filling layer and the lower magnetic pole layer a patterned gap filling layer and an etched lower magnetic pole layer having a lower magnetic pole tip integral thereto, while simultaneously forming an etched patterned upper magnetic pole tip layer from the patterned upper magnetic pole tip layer. There is then formed upon the etched patterned upper magnetic pole tip layer and the etched lower magnetic pole layer a backfilling insulator layer to a thickness greater than a thickness of the etched patterned upper magnetic pole tip layer plus a thickness of the patterned gap filling layer plus a thickness of the lower magnetic pole tip. There is then planarized the backfilling insulator layer to form a patterned planarized backfilling insulator layer an exposed upper surface of which is coplanar with an exposed upper surface of the etched patterned upper magnetic pole tip layer. Finally, there is then formed a patterned upper magnetic pole layer contacting the exposed upper surface of the etched patterned upper magnetic pole tip layer.