Patent ID: 7916426

Claim:
A head comprising: a slider having a leading face, a trailing face opposite the leading face, a left lateral face, a right lateral face opposite the left lateral face, and an air bearing surface (ABS) adjacent the left lateral face, the right lateral face; the leading face, and the trailing face; and a transducer disposed on the trailing face; wherein the ABS includes: a trailing pad adjacent the transducer and defining a primary ABS plane, the primary ABS plane defining a longitudinal axis that lies in the primary ABS plane and that is parallel to the left and right lateral faces and that lies midway between the left and right lateral faces; a sub-ambient pressure cavity being recessed from the primary plane by a cavity depth in the range 0.8 to 2 microns; left and right leading pads each lying in the primary ABS plane, the left leading pad being disposed next to the left lateral face, and the right leading pad being disposed next to the right lateral face; left and right leading pressurizing steps each being recessed from the primary plane by a pressurizing step depth in the range 0.05 to 0.5 microns, the left leading pressurizing step being partially surrounded by the left leading pad and being disposed between the left leading pad and the leading face; and the right leading pressurizing step being partially surrounded by the right leading pad and being disposed between the right leading pad and the leading face; wherein the left leading pressurizing step includes a left short region that extends for a first distance measured parallel to the longitudinal axis from the leading face to the left leading pad, and includes a left long region that extends for a second distance measured parallel to the longitudinal axis from the leading face to the left leading pad; and wherein the left short region is disposed closer to the left lateral face than is the left long region, wherein the left long region is disposed closer to the longitudinal axis than is the left short region, and wherein the second distance is at least 25% greater than the first distance.