Patent ID: 7289299

Claim:
A head for use with a disk that can store information, the head comprising: a transducer for at least reading information from the disk; a slider having an air bearing surface, the air bearing surface comprising a central cavity having a bottom surface; a leading pad adjacent to the central cavity; a trailing center pad having a top surface, the trailing center pad having an aft region adjacent to the transducer and three projections extending from the aft region towards the central cavity, the central cavity separating the three projections from the leading pad; two inter-projection step surfaces, each lying at least partially between the projections, and each lying at an intermediate level between a level of said top surface and a level of said bottom surface; an ID-side trailing channel having a surface at the level of said bottom surface; an ID-side trailing pad separated from the trailing center pad by the ID-side trailing channel; an ID-side leading step region adjacent to the ID-side trailing pad, the ID-side leading step region having a surface at the intermediate level; and an ID-side trailing step region adjacent to the ID-side trailing pad, the ID-side trailing step region having a surface at the intermediate level.