Patent ID: 7167343

Claim:
A slider for a disk drive, comprising: a supporting structure having a top surface with a pocket, a plurality of protrusions protruding from the pocket where a protruding end of the protrusions forms an air bearing surface, a leading edge, a trailing edge, and two lateral side edges extending between the leading and trailing edges that intersect to define four corners, the leading and trailing edges being spaced apart from each other in a longitudinal direction, and the lateral side edges being spaced apart from each other in a lateral direction; a coating on the top surface of the supporting structure other than the protrusions, the coating being formed from a material that is softer than the supporting structure; and the coating is located on each of the four corners of the top surface of the supporting structure to define four rectangular coatings that extend directly from the pocket and are aligned with the intersections of the leading, trailing, and lateral side edges at the four corners.