JP2000298810A - Method and apparatus for adhesion of thin film magnetic head slider block - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To adhere a thin film magnetic head slider block to a base, suppressing an amount of displacement from a reference plane, of each thin film magnetic head device constituting the thin film magnetic head slider block. SOLUTION: An adhesion method, in which a parallelepiped-shaped thin film magnetic head slider block, disposed on an adhesive applied on a base, is pressured to be adhered, includes an unevenness-detecting step (S108) for detecting unevenness along the longitudinal direction of the thin film magnetic head slider block, and a pressure force varying step (S114) for partially varying a pressure force to the thin film magnetic head slider block along the longitudinal direction of the thin film magnetic head slider block.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of bonding a thin film magnetic head slider block in which a thin rectangular parallelepiped thin film magnetic head slider block placed on an adhesive applied to a base is pressed and bonded to the base. The present invention also relates to a bonding apparatus for a thin film magnetic head slider block.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a manufacturing process of a magnetic head, an elongated and thin rectangular parallelepiped thin film magnetic head slider block (hereinafter simply referred to as a slider block) in which a plurality of thin film magnetic head elements are arranged in a line is adhered to a base. There is a need. In the bonding of the slider block, a high positional accuracy, that is, bonding to the base such that a plurality of thin-film magnetic head elements included in the slider block are aligned in a straight line is required for the subsequent lapping process.
The reason is that in the thin-film magnetic head element, the resistance value of the magnetoresistive film 52 of the magnetoresistive element 50 shown in FIG.
It must be constant for each head. However, it is difficult to make this resistance constant in the thin film manufacturing process of the magnetic head element. For this reason, after forming the thin film of the magnetic head element, the height (width) h of the magnetoresistive film 52 is
This is because the resistance is processed to be constant so as to make the resistance value uniform.

First, an outline of a manufacturing process of a thin-film magnetic head element will be described. As shown in FIG.
Next, a number of thin-film magnetic head elements are formed by thin-film technology. Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the slider 54 is formed by cutting the wafer 54. The slider block 56 has a plurality of thin-film magnetic head elements 58 formed in a row and formed in an elongated and thin rectangular parallelepiped.
As described above, the magnetic head element 58 needs to be wrapped so that the height of the magnetoresistive film 52 is constant. However, the slider block 56 is generally extremely thin, for example, 1 mm or less (for example, about 0.3 mm). ), It is difficult to directly attach this to a lap processing jig. For this reason, as shown in FIG.
Then, the slider block 56 is bonded with an adhesive such as a hot-melt wax.

Then, the slider block 56 is placed on a lapping plate (not shown) and lapping is performed. Thereby, the height h of the magnetoresistive film 52 is made constant. afterwards,
A slider is formed on the lower surface of the slider block 56.
Further, the slider block 56 is cut into each magnetic head element 58 while being attached to the base 60. Then, each magnetic head element 58 is taken out while heating the base 60 to melt the hot-melt wax.

However, in order to make the height h of the magnetoresistive film 52 of each thin-film magnetic head element 58 uniform in order to lap the slider block 56 composed of a large number of thin-film magnetic head elements 58, The slider block 56 must be accurately and linearly adhered to the base 60. For the accuracy of the linearity, an accuracy on the order of submicrons is required.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, a conventional bonding method uses a bonding surface 62 of a slider block 56 of a base 60.
And the pressing surface 66 of the pressing head 64 for pressing the slider block 56 are processed as flat as possible. When the slider block 56 bonded to the bonding surface 62 is bonded by pressing with the pressing head 64, the bonding surface 62 and the pressing surface 6
6 is as parallel as possible. This allows
The pressure from the pressure head 64 on the slider block 56 becomes uniform in the longitudinal direction of the slider block 56, and the thickness of the adhesive 68 interposed between the slider block 56 and the bonding surface 62 becomes uniform, so that the slider The block 56 is accurately and linearly bonded to the bonding surface 62 in a straight line. Note that 7
Numeral 0 denotes a rubber for close contact attached to the pressing surface 66 of the pressing head 64, which is formed to have a uniform thickness.

After the slider block 56 is bonded, in the subsequent step (warpage measurement step), as shown in FIG. 10, the reference of the unevenness detection marker 72 previously marked on each thin-film magnetic head element 58 of the slider block 56 is obtained. The unevenness of the slider block 56 is detected by measuring the amount of displacement (warpage) k from the plane A. When the measured displacement amount k is within a predetermined allowable range, the process proceeds to lapping of the slider block 56. When the measured displacement amount k exceeds the allowable range, the adhesive 68 is heated and The process of melting, removing the slider block 56 from the base 60, and re-adhering the slider block 56 to the base 60 through the above-described bonding process was repeated until the displacement k became within the allowable range.

[0008]

However, the slider block 56 which has exceeded the allowable range in the warp measuring step is not used.
Dissolve the adhesive 68 from the base 60, remove it from the base 60, and reattach it to the base 60, which is troublesome, and has a problem that the manufacturing process is complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a method of bonding a thin film magnetic head slider block capable of bonding a thin film magnetic head element constituting a thin film magnetic head slider block to a base while keeping a displacement from a reference plane within an allowable range. And a thin film magnetic head slider block bonding apparatus.

[0010]

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a rectangular parallelepiped thin-film magnetic head slider block mounted on an adhesive applied to a base is added to the base. A method for adhering a thin film magnetic head slider block to be pressed and adhered, comprising: an irregularity detecting step of detecting irregularities along a longitudinal direction of the thin film magnetic head slider block; and a thin film so that the irregularities fall within a predetermined allowable range. And a pressure changing step of partially changing the pressure applied to the magnetic head slider block in the longitudinal direction of the thin film magnetic head slider block. According to this, unevenness is detected while the thin-film magnetic head slider block is adhered to the base, and the pressing force on the thin-film magnetic head slider block is reduced in the longitudinal direction of the thin-film magnetic head slider block so that the unevenness is reduced. Since the unevenness of the thin-film magnetic head slider block can be suppressed within an allowable range by partially changing the slider block, it is not necessary to dissolve the adhesive, remove the slider block from the base, and re-attach the slider block.

In the step of detecting unevenness, specifically, the amount of displacement of an unevenness detection marker previously marked on the thin-film magnetic head slider block from a reference plane is measured to detect the unevenness.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thin-film magnetic head comprising: a rectangular parallelepiped thin-film magnetic head slider block mounted on an adhesive applied to a base; In a head slider block bonding apparatus, an unevenness detecting means for detecting unevenness along a longitudinal direction of the thin-film magnetic head slider block, and a pressing force applied to the thin-film magnetic head slider block in a longitudinal direction of the thin-film magnetic head slider block. Pressure means, and the pressure means is controlled based on the unevenness information from the unevenness detecting means, and the thin film magnetic head slider block is controlled so that the unevenness is within a predetermined allowable range. Control means for partially changing the pressing force in the longitudinal direction of the thin film magnetic head slider block.

Specifically, the unevenness detecting means is movable relative to the base on which the thin-film magnetic head slider block is mounted in parallel with the reference plane, and moves relative to the base plane. The unevenness is detected by measuring the amount of displacement of the unevenness detection marker previously marked on the head slider block from the reference plane.

The pressure means has a pressure head in surface contact with the thin film magnetic head slider block, and the pressure head has a shape of a pressure surface in a longitudinal direction of the thin film magnetic head slider block. An uneven mechanism is provided to partially uneven the surface.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A thin film magnetic head slider block (slider block) bonding apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The bonding method will be described together with the operation of the slider block bonding apparatus. The same components as those in the related art are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. First, a basic concept of a slider block bonding apparatus and a bonding method will be described. A feature of the bonding method of the present application is that, during the bonding process of the slider block 56 to the base 60, the slider pressed by the pressing head 64 before the step of curing the adhesive 68 applied to the base 60. An unevenness detecting step of detecting unevenness along the longitudinal direction of the block 56, and a pressing force applied to the slider block 56 so that the detected unevenness is within a predetermined allowable range (FIG. 1).
(Indicated by F in FIG. 2) is provided so that the unevenness of the slider block 56 is corrected in real time, and then the adhesive 68 is cured and adhered. It is in the point which did.

More specifically, in the above-mentioned unevenness detecting step,
As shown in FIG. 10, the unevenness of the slider block 56 with respect to the reference plane A is detected by measuring the displacement amount k of the unevenness detection marker 72 previously marked on the slider block 56 from the reference plane A. In the pressing force changing step, the pressure (pressing force) applied to the slider block 56 is partially changed along the longitudinal direction, and the thickness of the adhesive 68 is changed so that the unevenness is within an allowable range. To

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, in the region of the slider block 56 which is determined to be in a convex state (for example, in the center portion), the pressing force F applied to the slider block 56 is increased so that the slider block 56 and the base 60 Bonding surface 62
The thickness of the adhesive 68 interposed therebetween is reduced to be depressed by an appropriate amount. On the other hand, in the portion determined to be in the concave state (for example, both end portions), the slider block 56
Reduce the pressure applied to As a result, the adhesive 68 moves from both sides of the concave portion where the pressing force is larger to the concave portion, and the thickness of the adhesive 68 interposed between the slider block 56 and the adhesive surface 62 of the base 60 increases. , The concave state is alleviated. By increasing the pressure on the protruding portion of the slider block 56, the adhesive 68 between the protruding portion on both sides along the longitudinal direction and the bonding surface 62 of the base 60 moves. Therefore, in some cases, it is not necessary to positively reduce the pressure applied to the concave portion.

According to this, before the adhesive 68 is hardened, the unevenness generated on the slider block 56 can be alleviated to be within an allowable range, so that the bonding process is completed as in the conventional case. A step of measuring the warpage of the slider block 56 later can be omitted, and the slider block 56 determined to be defective in the warp measuring step can be replaced with an adhesive 68.
It is no longer necessary to perform a repairing process such as melting, removing, and bonding again.

Next, the thin film magnetic head slider block bonding apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. First, the configuration will be described. Note that the same components as those described in the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Base 6 to which slider block 56 is adhered
The adhesive surface 62 of No. 0 is formed flat, and an adhesive (for example, a hot-melt wax) 62 is applied. Pressure head 6
4, the pressing surface 66 that makes surface contact with the slider block 56 is formed as a flat surface parallel to the bonding surface 62 of the base 60. A rubber 70 for adhesion is attached to the pressing surface 66. The pressure head 64 is provided with a weight 12 for adjusting a pressing force applied to the slider block 56.

The pressure head 64 is a pressure head moving mechanism 14
The base 6 to which the slider block 56 is bonded
It is moved toward and away from (0 up and down). The pressure head moving mechanism 14 according to the present embodiment includes a pressure surface 66 of the pressure head 64.
After the pressure head 64 is moved so that the pressure head comes into contact with the upper surface of the slider block 56, the pressure head 64 is freely movable along the vertical direction and supported so as not to tilt. Therefore, the slider block 56 is moved from the pressure head 64 to the slider block 56.
Is determined by the weight of the weight 12 and the pressure head 64. The unevenness detecting means 16 is arranged on the side of the slider block 56 mounted on the base 60, and is movably supported along the longitudinal direction of the slider block 56 (specifically, along the reference plane). Sensor 18
And an unevenness detection sensor moving mechanism 20 that moves the unevenness detection sensor 18 along the longitudinal direction of the slider block 56. The unevenness detecting means 16 is movable relative to the base 60 in parallel with the reference plane, and the displacement k of the unevenness detection marker 72 previously marked on the slider block 56 which moves relatively from the reference plane.
(Unevenness information) is measured to detect unevenness. The unevenness detecting sensor 18 is preferably a non-contact sensor, for example, an optical sensor such as a photo sensor or a CCD sensor.

The pressure head 64 includes a slider block 5
An uneven mechanism 22 capable of partially changing the pressure applied to the slider block 6 in the longitudinal direction of the slider block 56 is provided. A specific configuration of the concavo-convex mechanism 22 will be described. First, a slit 24 extending in the direction of the pressing surface 66 along the pressing surface 66 is provided on the pressing surface 66 side of the pressing head 64.
Are formed at predetermined intervals. The concavo-convex mechanism 22 includes a plurality of thin portions 26 formed in a region between each slit 24 and the pressing surface 66 of the pressing head 64 and a plurality of thin portions 2.
6 and an actuator 28 that bends each independently. The actuator 28 moves the central portion of the thin portion 26 in the vertical direction with the other portion of the pressure head 64 as a fulcrum. As a result, each thin portion 26 is independently bent outward (downward) of the pressure head 64 or inward (upward) of the pressure head 64 to form the pressure surface 66 of the pressure head 64. The slider block 56
Can be partially uneven along the longitudinal direction.

Then, the thin portion 26 is bent outward (downward) of the pressure head 64 to form the pressure surface 6 of the pressure head 64.
In the case where a convex portion is partially formed on the slider 6, the pressing force on the slider block 56 at the convex portion is larger than that of the other portions. As a result, the adhesive 68 interposed between the portion of the slider block 56 that contacts the convex portion and the bonding surface 62 of the base 60 escapes to both sides along the longitudinal direction of the slider block 56, and the slider that contacts the convex portion The part of the block 56 is dented. Conversely, the thin portion 26 curves inward (upward) of the pressure head 64 and
In the case where a concave portion is formed partially on the pressing surface 66 of No. 4, the pressing force on the slider block 56 at the concave portion is smaller than that of the other portions. As a result, the portion of the slider block 56 that comes into contact with the concave portion and the base 60
The adhesive 68 moves from both sides between the adhesive surface 62 and
The portion of the slider block 56 that comes into contact with the concave portion protrudes. The amount of movement of the central portion of the thin portion 26 by the actuator 28, that is, the amount of displacement of the top of the curved portion is usually in the order of microns, so that the entire pressure surface 66 of the pressure head 64 is in close contact with the slider block 56. Relationship is maintained.

The control means 30 is constituted by using a computer or a sequencer, and controls the pressing means, that is, each actuator 28 of the concavo-convex mechanism 22 based on the concavo-convex information from the concavo-convex detecting means 16. The pressure applied to the slider block 56 is partially changed in the longitudinal direction of the slider block 56 by curving the thin portion 26 so as to fall within a predetermined allowable range. Although not shown, the thin film magnetic head slider block bonding apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 3 has a mechanism for applying an adhesive 68 to the bonding surface 62 of the base 60 and a slider block A known mechanism such as a mechanism for mounting the 56 and a cooling mechanism for hardening the adhesive 68 while the slider block 56 is pressed is provided.

Next, the operation of the thin film magnetic head slider block bonding apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIG.
First, the control means 30 operates the adhesive application mechanism,
An adhesive 68 is automatically applied to the adhesive surface 62 of the base 60 (step 100). The application of the adhesive may be performed manually, and in this case, the adhesive application mechanism is not required. Next, the control means 30 places the slider block 56 to be fixed to the base 60 on the adhesive 68 applied to the bonding surface 62 of the base 60 by operating the slider block mounting mechanism (step). 102). In addition,
The mounting operation of the slider block 56 may be performed manually, and in this case, the slider block mounting mechanism is unnecessary.

Next, the control means 30 operates the pressure head moving mechanism 14 so that the pressure head 64 held by the pressure head moving mechanism 14 is brought into close contact with the pressure surface 66 with the slider block 56. Is moved onto the slider block 56 (step 104). After the pressure head 64 comes into close contact with the slider block 56, the pressure head 64 is free to move vertically (step 106). As a result, the pressing force defined by the own weight of the pressure head 64 and the weight of the weight 12
Join 6

Next, the control means 30 checks whether or not the unevenness detection for the entire slider block 56 has been completed based on, for example, the amount of movement of the unevenness detection sensor 18 (step 108). Mechanism 2
By operating 0, the unevenness detecting sensor 18 is moved along the longitudinal direction of the slider block 56. Then, the unevenness information from the unevenness detection sensor 18, that is, the displacement amount k of the unevenness detection marker 72 previously marked on each magnetic head element 58 of the slider block 56 from the reference plane is detected (step 110). Then, by checking whether or not the detected displacement amount k is within a preset allowable range, it is determined whether or not the slider block 56 has unevenness to be corrected (step 11).
2). If the displacement k exceeds the allowable range, it is determined that there is unevenness to be corrected.

When the unevenness to be corrected is present in the slider block 56, the actuator 28 of the thin portion 26 which presses the portion of the slider block 56 where the unevenness is generated.
Is actuated in accordance with the condition of the unevenness, and the pressure applied to the portion of the slider block 56 where the unevenness is generated by changing the thin portion 26 outward or inward of the pressure head 64 is changed. As a result, the thickness of the adhesive 68 between the portion of the slider block 56 where the unevenness has occurred and the adhesive surface 62 of the base 60 changes, and the unevenness of the slider block 56 can be corrected (step 114).

Steps 108 to 114 are repeated as described above. If it is determined in step 108 that the unevenness detection has been completed for the entire area of the slider block 56, the process exits this repetitive loop and proceeds to step 1
Then, the control means 30 activates the cooling mechanism,
The adhesive 68 is cured. Thereby, the slider block 56 is bonded to the base 60 with the irregularities corrected. Finally, the control means 30 operates the pressure head moving mechanism 14 to separate the pressure head 64 from the slider block 56 (step 118), and ends the bonding process.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. It is.

[0030]

According to the present invention, irregularities along the longitudinal direction of the thin-film magnetic head slider block are detected while the thin-film magnetic head slider block is being adhered to the base, that is, before the adhesive is cured. Then, the pressure on the thin-film magnetic head slider block is partially changed in the longitudinal direction of the thin-film magnetic head slider block so that the unevenness of the thin-film magnetic head slider block is automatically reduced to an allowable range. The linearity (warpage) of the thin-film magnetic head slider block is measured after the thin-film magnetic head slider block is completely bonded as in the past, and if the slider block is out of the allowable range, the adhesive is melted to dissolve the thin-film magnetic head slider block. It is not necessary to remove the head slider block from the base and re-attach the head slider block to rework defective products. Therefore, the process is simplified, the bonding operation is performed smoothly, and the reprocessing is not required in principle, so that the time required for bonding one thin-film magnetic head slider block can be reduced. This has the effect of increasing the efficiency of the bonding operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a method of bonding a thin film magnetic head slider block according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a graph for explaining a relationship between a warp k along a longitudinal direction of a slider block of FIG. 1 and a pressing force F;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an apparatus for bonding a thin film magnetic head slider block according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the bonding device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a structure of a magnetoresistive element.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a state in which a plurality of thin film magnetic head slider blocks are formed on a wafer.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the wafer of FIG. 6 is cut to form a slider block in which a plurality of thin-film magnetic head elements are arranged in a line and formed in an elongated and thin rectangular parallelepiped.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation of bonding a slider block to a mounting jig (base) using an adhesive such as hot-melt wax;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a slider block mounted on an adhesive surface of a base is pressed using a pressing head.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 9;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Adhesion device of thin film magnetic head slider block 16 Unevenness detection means 18 Unevenness detection sensor 20 Unevenness detection sensor moving mechanism 22 Unevenness mechanism 26 Thin part 28 Actuator 30 Control means 56 Slider block 60 Base 64 Pressure head 68 Adhesive 72 Unevenness detection marker

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshiaki Yanagita 4-1-1, Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor Tsutomu Homma 4-1-1, Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture No. 1 Fujitsu Limited F term (reference) 5D033 BB14 DA21 DA31 5D034 BA30 DA07

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A method of bonding a thin film magnetic head slider block, wherein a rectangular parallelepiped thin film magnetic head slider block mounted on an adhesive applied to a base is bonded to the base by pressing the thin film magnetic head slider block. An unevenness detecting step of detecting unevenness along the longitudinal direction of the slider block; and applying a pressure to the thin film magnetic head slider block in the longitudinal direction of the thin film magnetic head slider block so that the unevenness is within a predetermined allowable range. And a step of changing the pressing force to partially change the slider block. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the step of detecting irregularities, the amount of displacement of an irregularity detection marker previously marked on the thin-film magnetic head slider block from a reference plane is measured to detect the irregularities. Method of bonding thin film magnetic head slider block. 3. A thin-film magnetic head slider block bonding apparatus for bonding a thin-film magnetic head slider block having a rectangular parallelepiped shape mounted on an adhesive applied to a base to the base by pressing the thin-film magnetic head slider block. Unevenness detecting means for detecting unevenness along the longitudinal direction of the slider block; pressurizing means for partially changing the pressure applied to the thin-film magnetic head slider block in the longitudinal direction of the thin-film magnetic head slider block; The pressurizing means is controlled based on the unevenness information from the means, and the pressing force on the thin-film magnetic head slider block is adjusted in the longitudinal direction of the thin-film magnetic head slider block so that the unevenness is within a predetermined allowable range. And a control means for partially changing the slider block. 4. The thin-film magnetic head slider block which is movable relative to the base on which the thin-film magnetic head slider block is mounted in parallel with the reference plane, and which moves relatively. 4. A bonding apparatus for a thin film magnetic head slider block according to claim 3, wherein the unevenness is detected by measuring a displacement amount of an unevenness detection marker preliminarily marked from a reference plane. 5. The pressure means has a pressure head in surface contact with the thin film magnetic head slider block, and the pressure head has a shape of a pressure surface in a longitudinal direction of the thin film magnetic head slider block. 4. An unevenness mechanism for partially unevenness along the axis is provided.
Or a bonding apparatus for a thin film magnetic head slider block according to item 4.