Patent ID: 7616405

Claim:
A head comprising: a slider having a leading face and a trailing face and an air bearing surface, the slider defining a longitudinal plane that bisects the air bearing surface and is approximately orthogonal to both the air bearing surface and the trailing face, the slider defining a slider length measured along the longitudinal plane from the trailing face to the leading face, the air bearing surface including: at least one leading pad that includes a major surface in a first plane; a cavity adjacent the leading pad, the cavity including a surface that is recessed from the first plane; a trailing pad adjacent the trailing face, the trailing pad including a surface that lies in the first plane; a inter-cavity dam disposed between at least a portion of the cavity and the trailing pad, the inter-cavity dam spaced longitudinally from the trailing pad by at least one thirtieth of the slider length, the inter-cavity dam including an OD dam surface and an ID dam surface, the longitudinal plane passing between a majority of the OD dam surface and a majority of the ID dam surface, the OD dam surface being recessed from the first plane by an OD dam recession, and the ID dam surface being recessed from the first plane by an ID dam recession not equal to the OD dam recession.