Patent ID: 6961217

Claim:
A head slider comprising: a plurality of flat steps formed at an air inlet end of a flying surface of said head slider accessing a disk medium, said steps facing said disk medium in such a manner as to be stepped gradually from a slider base and a vacuum area formed on said flying surface of said head slider which faces said disk medium at a downstream end of an air flow flowing through said steps; wherein, a first step is formed on an upper surface of said slider base, said first step having the same front end face as a front end face of said slider base and a top flat surface parallel to the upper surface of said slider base, a second step is formed on the top flat surface of said first step, spaced from said front end face, and having a top flat surface which is parallel to said upper surface of said slider base, and, at least a groove for introducing air to said vacuum area is formed in said second step in such a manner that the depth of said groove so formed varies and reaches a maximum at the top flat surface of said first step.