LANCE EUGENE STOVER
Pilots at Hilltop Rd, Edina, MN

6047224, Apr 4, 2000

Feb 26, 1998

9/031959

Lance E. Stover - Eden Prairie MN
Beat G. Keel - Prior Lake MN
Shanlin X. Hao - St. Paul MN

Seagate Techology, Inc. - Scotts Valley CA

G11B 5127, G11B 539

700119

An electrical lap guide (ELG) and a method of using the same to control the machining of a surface of a magnetic transducer to obtain a desired transducer height are disclosed. The transducer and ELG are fabricated in a deposition of layers on a substrate. The ELG includes a first resistor aligned with the transducer such that a machined height of the first resistor is indicative of a machined height of the transducer. Resistances of second and third resistors of the ELG are measured. A sheet resistance of the deposition of layers and a quantity of wafer processing edge movement are determined as functions of the measured resistances of the second and third resistors. An expected non-machined resistance of the first resistor is determined as a function of the determined sheet resistance and as a function of the determined quantity of edge movement. A non-machined resistance of the first resistor is measured. The expected non-machined resistance of the first resistor is compared to the measured non-machined resistance of the first resistor to determine an amount of error.

6366429, Apr 2, 2002

Feb 9, 1999

09/246920

Lance Eugene Stover - Eden Prairie MN
Maher Abdullah Alodan - Bloomington MN
Daniel Paul Burbank - Minneapolis MN
Dale Eugene Egbert - Deephaven MN
Zine Eddine Boutaghou - Vadnais Heights MN

Seagate Technology LLC - Scotts Valley CA

G11B 560

3602366

An information handling system, such as a disk drive, including a base, a disk stack rotatably attached to the base, and an actuator assembly movably attached to the base. The actuator assembly also includes a load spring and a slider attached to said load spring. The slider and load spring are attached to form a gimballing connection between the slider and the load spring. The slider includes an air-bearing surface which has a contact area. The slider also includes a transducer. The transducer is typically located near said contact area. The contact area includes a roughened surface portion and a smooth surface portion. The smooth surface portion is adjacent the transducer. The roughened surface portion is rougher than the smooth surface portion. The roughened surface portion is also rougher than the other surfaces associated with the air-bearing surface of the slider. The roughened surface portion of the contact area is formed by one of several techniques.

6529347, Mar 4, 2003

Aug 24, 2001

09/939174

Mary C. Hipwell - Minneapolis MN
Jason W. Riddering - Prior Lake MN
Jorge V. Hanchi - Minneapolis MN
Lance E. Stover - Eden Prairie MN
Timothy W. Stoebe - Minnetonka MN
Brian W. Karr - Savage MN
Jianxin Zhu - Eagan MN

Seagate Technology LLC - Scotts Valley CA

G11B 560

3602366, 3602369

A disc drive slider includes a slider body and a rail formed on the slider body. The rail includes a bearing surface which faces a surface of a disc. A textured portion is formed on the bearing surface of the rail. Pads are deposited on the textured portions. The pads operate to reduce stiction, dynamic friction, and the likelihood of damage to the slider or the surface of the disc due to contact therebetween.

6870707, Mar 22, 2005

Jan 9, 2001

09/757446

Lanshi Zheng - Eden Prairie MN, US
Lance E. Stover - Eden Prairie MN, US
Jianxin Zhu - Eagan MN, US
Weimin Qian - Bloomington MN, US
Lowell J. Berg - Eden Prairie MN, US
Moshe Olim - Eden Prairie MN, US

Seagate Technology LLC - Scotts Valley CA

G11B005/60, G11B017/32, G11B015/64

3602356

A method of contouring a surface of a slider for supporting a transducer relative to a data storage medium includes applying a lithographic resist layer to the slider surface. The resist layer is then exposed through a single mask having 3a mask pattern defined by variation in an optical density through the mask. The resist layer is exposed in an exposure pattern corresponding to the mask pattern. Portions of the resist layer are removed as a function of the exposure pattern to produce a vertically contoured resist layer. The slider surface is etched through the vertically contoured resist layer during a single etching step to form a vertically contoured surface feature within the slider surface.

7755867, Jul 13, 2010

Jul 16, 2002

10/195955

Youping Mei - Eden Prairie MN, US
Lance E. Stover - Eden Prairie MN, US

Seagate Technology LLC - Scotts Valley CA

G11B 5/56, G11B 21/24

3602947, 3602344, 3602356

The present invention relates to a controlled air bearing which allows adjustable control over the magnetic spacing between the pole tips of a slider and the surface of the disc. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a slider for use in a data storage system, the slider comprises a base portion having a leading edge end and a trailing edge end. The embodiment further comprises a movable air bearing surface element positioned at the leading edge end of the base portion. Finally, the embodiment further comprises an actuator positioned at the leading edge end of the base portion and coupling the base portion to the movable air bearing surface element, the actuator selectively controllable to move the movable air bearing surface element relative to the base portion to alter an air bearing surface provided by the base portion and the movable air bearing surface element to thereby control a fly height of the slider. The present invention includes a method for implementing the steps performed by the embodiment of the apparatus.

2008027, Nov 6, 2008

May 1, 2007

11/799204

Dongming Liu - Eden Prairie MN, US
Lin Zhou - Eagan MN, US
Lance E. Stover - Eden Prairie MN, US

Seagate Technology LLC - Scotts Valley CA

G11B 5/596, G11B 5/127, G11B 5/52

360 86

A method and apparatus are provided for positioning a transducer relative to a track of a data storage medium and inducing lateral modulation of transducer the relative to the track. An element of the transducer is actuated toward the storage medium during the lateral modulation, and atomic interaction is detected between the element and the storage medium because of a change in a response to the lateral modulation of the transducer due to the atomic interaction.

6975472, Dec 13, 2005

Sep 12, 2003

10/662068

Lance E. Stover - Eden Prairie MN, US
Jane Katherine Gates - Minneapolis MN, US
Ladislav Rudolf Pust - Savage MN, US
John L. Brand - Burnsville MN, US

Seagate Technology LLC - Scotts Valley CA

G11B005/02

360 59, 360 55, 360 25, 360 9701, 360 9702, 3602947, 360128

A head with a heating element and control regime therefor is disclosed. In embodiments described, the control regime or controller energizes the heater or heating element to provide intermittent heating between read or write operations to optimize transducer temperature and operating characteristics or parameters of a data storage device. In particular, in one embodiment described, the controller provides a low amplitude signal or current to provide low grade thermal heating. In another embodiment, the controller provides a high amplitude signal or current to preheat the transducer portion for write operations.

7898266, Mar 1, 2011

Jun 4, 2008

12/132665

Wayne Allen Bonin - North Oaks MN, US
Dadi Setiadi - Edina MN, US
Lance Eugene Stover - Eden Prairie MN, US

Seagate Technology LLC - Scotts Valley CA

G01R 27/26, G01B 5/28

324662, 32475507, 73105

A supported probe device that has a probe tip and probe body, the probe body having a sample facing surface and an opposing surface. The probe tip and a first electrode are on the sample facing surface. A second electrode is present on the probe body opposing surface. A third electrode is spaced from the second electrode, so that the second electrode is between the third electrode and the probe body. A first DC voltage source is electrically coupled to the first electrode, as is a first sensing circuit. A second DC voltage source is electrically coupled to the second electrode, and an AC voltage source electrically coupled to the third electrode. The probe body may be cantilevered.

2007019, Aug 23, 2007

Feb 17, 2006

11/357754

Mehmet Hancer - Eagan MN, US
John Brand - Burnsville MN, US
Lance Stover - Eden Prairie MN, US

Seagate Technology LLC - Scotts Valley CA

B32B 9/04

428447000, 428446000, 428689000, 428698000, 428702000

The present invention is a lubricative and protective thin film often used within micro electromechanical systems. The film comprises an adhesion layer and a self-assembled monolayer, the self-assembled monolayer having a head group bonded to the adhesion layer and a tail group attached to the head group.

2008025, Oct 16, 2008

Apr 12, 2007

11/700474

Ladislav R. Pust - Savage MN, US
Lars H. Ahlen - Bloomington MN, US
Edwin F. Rejda - Bloomington MN, US
David C. Seets - Shorewood MN, US
Lance E. Stover - Eden Prairie MN, US
Dian Song - Eden Prairie MN, US
Feng Y. Wang - Eden Prairie MN, US

Seagate Technology LLC - Scotts Valley CA

G11B 5/187, G11B 5/127, G11B 5/33

360122, 428814

A transducer having an external contact surface includes a writer and a contact member. The writer has a portion extendable beyond the external contact surface. The contact member surrounds at least a portion of the extendable writer portion.