Patent ID: 8194350

Claim:
A head comprising: a slider comprising a facing surface configured to face a surface of a recording medium, and configured to fly due to airflow between the recording medium surface and the facing surface; and a head portion on the slider and configured to read data from the recording medium or to write the data to the recording medium, the facing surface of the slider comprising a negative-pressure cavity defined by a recess in the facing surface, a leading step portion on an upstream side of the negative-pressure cavity with respect to the airflow, a pair of side portions along a first direction from the leading step portion toward an outflow end of the slider, a trailing step portion on an outflow side of the negative-pressure cavity with respect to the airflow, a pair of skirt portions along the first direction from the side portions toward the outflow end of the slider and being deeper than the side portions, and an enclosure step portion along an outflow end edge and side edges of the facing surface from the trailing step portion to sides of the skirt portions and outsides of the side portions and being deeper than the skirt portions and shallower than the negative-pressure cavity, wherein the enclosure step portion comprises first portions extending bilaterally in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction from the trailing step portion to side edges of the slider, second portions along the first direction and the side edges of the slider from the first portions, outside the skirt portions and side portions, and third portions along the first direction between the first portions and the side portions inside the skirt portions.