DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE OF A RECESSED THIN-FILM INDUCTIVE TRANSDUCER

An improved inductive transducer is achieved by placing the coil and t he majority of the transducer body into a recessed alumina basecoat. P rocess advantages of a recessed over planar structure includes lower t op pole topography, improved pole trim capability, and improved top po le composition uniformity. Coil and photoresist processing in a recess ed cavity allows for multiple layers with lower resistance without inc reasing transducer Permalloy path length. Recessed trimmed design perf ormance has increased efficiency with higher amplitude and a narrower pulse width along with improved overwrite compared to planar untrimmed transducers. The recessed basecoat design is explained, and compared to planar transducers using modeling and performance results.