JP2000298819A - Manufacture of contact type magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily align the height of magnetic pole pad and auxiliary pad by forming a protection film formed of a material assuring the etching with the same method as forming a hard film formed on the surface of an element layer on which a magnetic pole is projected and then etching the surface of such element plate. SOLUTION: A hard film 20 is formed on the surface of an element plate 20 where a magnetic pole 18 is projected. The hard film 20 is laminated at least up to the thickness to perfectly cover the magnetic pole 18. The hard film 20 is laminated at least up to the thickness to perfectly cover the magnetic pole 18. An etching protection film 24 is formed on the surface of the element plate 10 where the hard film 20 is formed at least up to the thickness to almost perfectly cover the projection 20a of the hard film 20. When the etching is executed to the element plate 10, both the etching protection film 24 and the projection 20a of the hard film 20 are at last etched. Next, an etching protection film 24 is formed again at the surface of the hard film 20 where the height of the projection 20a becomes L2 and it is then etched. Such formation and etching of the etching protection film 24 are repeated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a contact type magnetic head, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a magnetic recording medium such as a floppy disk, a magnetic tape, and a magnetic disk used for a computer, a digital camera, a digital AV and the like. The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a contact type magnetic head suitable for density recording / reproduction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to achieve high-density recording / reproduction on a magnetic recording medium such as a floppy disk, a magnetic tape, and a hard disk, an area of the magnetic recording medium in which a leakage magnetic flux generated from a magnetic head is written is reduced. It is necessary to accurately read magnetically recorded information from a minute area. To this end, it is desirable that the magnetic recording medium and the magnetic head be as close as possible. As a magnetic recording / reproducing device developed from such a viewpoint, a contact type magnetic head for recording / reproducing magnetic recording information while directly contacting a contact pad having a magnetic pole with a magnetic recording medium is known.

For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-203190, a magnetic head slider (head chip) is provided with a single contact pad made of diamond, and the tip of the contact pad is provided with a center line average roughness Rmax of 0.5 nm. A contact type magnetic head which is spherically polished to a degree is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Application No. 9-225724 discloses a thin-film head chip having a contact pad having a magnetic pole (hereinafter referred to as a "magnetic pole pad") and stabilizing the contact running of the magnetic pole pad. The present applicant has proposed a contact-type magnetic head provided with two contact pads (hereinafter, referred to as “auxiliary pads”) for causing the contact to be performed.

[0005] A contact type magnetic head having such a contact pad can be manufactured by using a lithography technique. Specifically, it is generally manufactured by the following procedure. That is, first, as shown in FIG. 6A, a separation layer 14 made of a material that can be dissolved in an appropriate etchant is formed on a substrate 12, and then the separation layer 1 is formed.
The element layer 16 is formed on the substrate 4 to produce the element plate 10.

The element layer 16 has a number of head elements (not shown), including magnetic yokes, coils, etc., formed therein periodically, and the surface thereof is magnetically connected to each magnetic yoke. .. Are formed with a large number of magnetic poles 18.

Next, as shown in FIG.
On the surface of the element layer 16 on which is formed, a hard coating 20 which is a main part of the contact pad is formed. Next, unnecessary portions of the hard coating 20 are selectively removed by etching. As a result, a plurality of pole pads 54 and a plurality of auxiliary pads 56 are formed on the surface of the element layer 16 as shown in FIG.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6D, the surface of the element layer 16 on which the magnetic pole pads 54 and the auxiliary pads 56 are formed is covered with the protective film 22. Next, as shown in FIG. 6E, a plurality of grooves 28, 28... Reaching from the element layer 16 to at least the separation layer 14 are formed. Further, this is immersed in an etching solution to dissolve and remove the separation layer 14.
6 can be separated from the element plate 10 with a large number of contact magnetic heads 50 having the magnetic pole pads 54 and the auxiliary pads 56 as shown in FIG.

Finally, as shown in FIG. 7, an Au pad (not shown) buried on a surface of the contact type magnetic head 50 opposite to the surface on which the magnetic pole pads 54 and the auxiliary pads 56 are provided is exposed. , The Au pad and the suspension 58 are joined to obtain the contact type magnetic head 50 supported by the suspension 58.

The contact type magnetic head 50 obtained through the above-described manufacturing process has a state in which the tip of the magnetic pole 18 is covered with the hard coating 20. In the contact type magnetic head 50, it is common to use diamond-like carbon (hereinafter referred to as "DLC") as the hard coating 20, but DLC is a non-magnetic material.

If the tip of the magnetic pole 18 is covered with a non-magnetic material, the magnetic pole 18 and the magnetic recording medium are magnetically insulated, and magnetic information cannot be recorded / reproduced. Therefore, in such a contact type magnetic head 50, it is necessary to remove the hard coating 20 covering the tip of the magnetic pole 18 and completely expose the tip of the magnetic pole 18 before use.

Such a hard coating 20 at the tip of the magnetic pole 18
Is generally removed by individually lapping each contact-type magnetic head 50 supported by the suspension 58. In order to surely expose the tip of the magnetic pole 18, a method of performing lapping while monitoring the removal amount of the hard coating 20 at the tip of the magnetic pole 18 is also known.

For example, in US Pat. No. 5,632,699, a contact type magnetic head having a magnetic pole tip covered with DLC slides a disk on which magnetic information is written,
A method is disclosed in which a signal from a disk is received by the contact type magnetic head, and lapping is performed while monitoring the removal amount of DLC covering the tip of the magnetic pole based on the magnitude of the signal.

[0014]

A method of wrapping the tip of a magnetic pole while monitoring a signal from a disk is disclosed in US Pat.
There is an advantage that the removal amount of LC can be individually optimized.
However, there is a problem that a separate device for monitoring the signal is required, and the process becomes complicated.

The hard coating such as DLC used for the contact pad has extremely high hardness and excellent abrasion resistance. Therefore, after separating and cutting the element layer 18 from the substrate 12 to form the contact-type magnetic head 50, the method of individually wrapping the contact-type magnetic heads 50 may damage the lapping disk or cause the wrapping to take a long time. And there is a problem that the production cost is increased.

Further, the element layer 16 on which the magnetic pole 18 is formed
When the hard coating 20 is formed on the surface of the magnetic pole 18, the hard coating 20 is thickly raised on the magnetic pole 18 as shown in FIG. When the magnetic pole pad 54 and the auxiliary pad 56 are formed in such a state, there is a problem that the height of the magnetic pole pad 54 becomes higher than the height of the auxiliary pad 56 as shown in FIG.

If the height of the magnetic pole pad 54 and the height of the auxiliary pad 56 are different, the contact type magnetic head 50 and the rotating lapping disk 60 cannot be brought into parallel contact as shown in FIG. During the lapping process, it is extremely difficult to make the heights of the magnetic pole pad 54 and the auxiliary pad 56 uniform.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is that the contact type magnetic pole can be exposed in a short time without using a special device, thereby greatly reducing the manufacturing cost. An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a head.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a contact-type magnetic head having an auxiliary pad, in which the height of the pole pad and the auxiliary pad can be easily adjusted. It is to provide a method.

[0020]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an element plate for producing an element plate in which an element layer including a plurality of head elements is formed on a substrate via a separation layer. In a method for manufacturing a contact type magnetic head, comprising a manufacturing step and a separation / cutting step of separating / cutting each head element included in the element layer from the element plate, the method includes the steps of: A hard coating forming step of forming a hard coating on the surface; and a first protective film made of a material that can be etched by the same method as the hard coating on the surface of the element plate on which the hard coating is formed. Forming, and then repeating the step of etching the surface of the element plate a predetermined number of times, thereby selectively removing a convex portion of the hard coating formed on the magnetic pole. To It is an effect.

According to the method of manufacturing a contact type magnetic head according to the present invention having the above structure, the step of forming the first protective film on the element plate on which the hard coating is formed, and then etching is repeated a predetermined number of times. Therefore, only the projections of the hard coating formed above the magnetic poles are removed preferentially from the uneven surface of the hard coating, and the surface of the hard coating can be substantially flattened.

In this case, after the surface of the hard coating is flattened by the flattening step, the surface of the hard coating is wrapped in the state of the element plate, and all or one of the hard coatings covering the tip of the magnetic pole is wrapped. A wafer wrapping step of removing a part, and the tip of the magnetic pole from which all or a part of the hard coating is removed by the wafer wrapping step has resistance to an etching solution for dissolving the separation layer, and It is preferable that the method further includes a protective film forming step of forming a second protective film having low hardness.

If a lapping process is performed to remove all or a part of the hard coating covering the tip of the magnetic pole in the state of the element plate in which a plurality of head elements are formed, the magnetic pole is exposed for each head element. The total work time required for the lapping can be greatly reduced as compared with the case where it is performed. Also,
Since the surface of the hard coating is flattened in advance by the flattening step, there is no possibility that the projections of the hard coating are chipped off during the lapping or the lapping disk is damaged by the projections of the hard coating.

Further, since the second protective film is formed on the tip of the magnetic pole from which all or a part of the hard coating has been removed, the magnetic pole can be removed from the corrosive environment exposed when separating and cutting each head element from the element plate. Can be protected. Further, if a material having a lower hardness than the hard coating is used as the second protective film, the protective film at the tip of the magnetic pole can be easily removed only by performing simple lapping after separating and cutting each head element. it can.

Further, in the wafer wrapping step, it is preferable that one or two or more holes are provided in the hard film, and lapping is performed while monitoring the thickness of the hard film using the holes. By providing a hole in the hard coating, the thickness of the hard coating can be measured by a simple means such as inserting a stylus into the hole, and the removal amount of the hard coating at the tip of the magnetic pole can be accurately and easily determined. can do.

[0026]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 to 5
Next, an example of a manufacturing process of the contact type magnetic head according to the present invention will be described. 1 to 5, a method for manufacturing a contact type magnetic head according to the present embodiment includes an element plate manufacturing step, a hard coating forming step, a planarizing step, a wafer wrapping step, a protective film forming step, The method includes a pad forming step, a cutting / separating step, and a disk wrapping step.

First, an element plate manufacturing process will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1A, the element plate manufacturing process
This is a step of manufacturing the element plate 10 on which the element layer 16 is formed via the separation layer 14. The substrate 12 includes an element layer 16
It has various shapes and materials depending on the application. Generally, a diameter of about 150 m made of ceramics such as alumina and TiC
m, a ceramic substrate having a thickness of about 2 to 3 mm is used.

The separation layer 14 adheres the substrate 12 and the element layer 16 and simultaneously forms the substrate 1 in the final stage of the manufacturing process.
2 and the element layer 16. Therefore, a material that is easily dissolved by an appropriate etchant is used for the separation layer 14. Specifically, copper,
A metal thin film made of chromium, nickel, or the like is preferable.

The separation layer 14 can be formed on the substrate 12 by using a known means such as vacuum deposition, sputtering, plating, and the like. Further, the thickness of the separation layer 14 may be arbitrarily determined in consideration of the film formation speed, ease of separation between the substrate 12 and the element layer 16, and the like. Usually several μm to several tens μm
It is about.

The element layer 16 is a layer in which a plurality of head elements (not shown) which become a contact type magnetic head after separation / cutting are periodically formed, and the thickness thereof is usually about 50 μm. The number of head elements included in the element layer 16 depends on the size of the elements, but is about several thousand to about 10,000 when a substrate having a diameter of about 150 mm is used.

Such an element layer 16 can be manufactured by using a lithography technique.
Has a laminated structure in which many thin films are laminated. For the main part of the element layer 16, a ceramic material such as alumina or silica is generally used. In the element layer 16, constituent elements such as magnetic yokes, coils, lead wires, connection pads (Au pads) and the like are formed by the number of head elements.

Further, a plurality of magnetic poles 18 are provided on the surface of the element layer 16. Each magnetic pole 18, 18 ...
Are connected to respective magnetic yokes (not shown) formed in the element layer 16, and a magnetic circuit is constituted by the magnetic pole 18 and the magnetic yoke.

The magnetic pole 18 is generally made of a soft magnetic material such as NiFe (permalloy). However, for a portion where the magnetic flux density becomes extremely high during recording, such as the tip of the magnetic pole, a Co-based amorphous material such as CoZrTa or the like is used. , F
A high saturation magnetization material such as eTaN may be used and is not particularly limited.

Next, the step of forming a hard coating will be described. The hard coating forming step is a step of forming a hard coating 20 on the surface of the element plate 10 on which the magnetic poles 18 are protruded, as shown in FIG. Since the hard coating 20 becomes a main part of the contact pad, the hard coating 20 is laminated at least until the magnetic pole 18 is completely covered.

At this time, since the magnetic pole 18 is projected from the surface of the element layer 16, the hard coating 20 is also laminated on the tip of the magnetic pole 18, similarly to the surface of the element layer 16. Therefore, the hard coating 20, raised just above the pole 18, on its surface, convex portions 20a of the height L ₁ is formed. In addition, generally, the fragile layer 20 is provided around the convex portion 20a.
b is formed.

Here, the material of the hard coating 20 may be any material having at least higher hardness than the magnetic pole 18. Specifically, it is preferable to use DLC, TiC, alumina, or the like as the hard coating 20. In particular, DLC has a feature that the hardness is extremely high, but the coefficient of friction is small, and dry etching is possible.
It is suitable as a material of the contact pad.

When DLC is used as the hard coating 20,
Film formation can be performed by a method such as sputtering or plasma CVD. When alumina is used for the main part of the element layer 16, good adhesion to DLC cannot be obtained. In this case, a Si thin film is formed on the element layer 16 before the DLC is formed. Good to keep.

After the hard coating 20 is formed on the surface of the element layer 16, a hole 21 reaching the element layer 16 may be formed in the hard coating 20. Specifically, the hole 21
The portion other than the portion where the metal is to be formed may be covered with an appropriate mask material, and the exposed portion may be removed by etching. The number of the hole portions 21 may be one, but when the diameter of the substrate 12 is large, or when high film thickness measurement accuracy is required, the plurality of hole portions 21 are provided over the entire surface of the hard coating 20.
Should be provided.

Next, the flattening step will be described. In the flattening step, a first protective film 24 (hereinafter, referred to as an “etching protective film 24”) made of a material that can be etched by the same method as the hard film 20 is formed on the surface of the hard film 20 having irregularities. And then the etching protection film 24
This is a step of removing the protrusions of the hard coating 20 preferentially by repeating the step of etching the surface on which the surface is formed a predetermined number of times.

For example, when the etching rate of the hard coating 20 is equal to or higher than the etching rate of the etching protection film 24, the formation and etching of the etching protection film 24 is performed only once to make the surface of the hard coating 20 almost flat. Can be On the other hand, if the etching rate of the etching protection film 24 is higher,
It is necessary to repeat the formation and etching of No. 4 twice or more. Hereinafter, a specific procedure in the latter case will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 1C, the surface of the element plate 10 on which the hard coating 20 is formed has a thickness such that at least the projections 20a of the hard coating 20 are almost completely covered. An etching protection film 24 is formed. As the etching protection film 24, specifically, it is preferable to use a photoresist film, a polyimide or the like.

In particular, the photoresist film is formed by applying a liquid photoresist on the surface of the element plate 10 by means of spin coating or the like and curing the same in an electric furnace, so that the surface of the hard coating 20 has irregularities. Even if there is a film, a film having a substantially flat surface can be easily obtained, and can be easily removed by a method other than etching.

Next, the surface of the element plate 10 on which the etching protection film 24 has been formed is etched. For example, when a photoresist film is used as the etching protection film 24 and DLC is used as the hard film 20, a reactive ion etching method (hereinafter referred to as "RIE") may be used.

When the element plate 10 is etched, first, only the etching protection film 24 is etched. When the etching is continued, the projection 20a of the hard coating 20 is eventually exposed as shown in FIG. 1D, and both the etching protection film 24 and the projection 20a of the hard coating 20 are etched.

Here, when the etching rate of the hard coating 20 is higher than the etching rate of the etching protection film 24, if the etching is further continued from the state of FIG. 1D, the etching protection film 24 is removed first, The flat surface of the hard coating 20 is exposed. For example, when the DLC and the photoresist film are used as the hard coating 20 and the etching protection film 24, respectively, and the etching is performed by RIE, the etching rate of the photoresist film is about twice that of the DLC. Therefore, when the etching is further continued after the flat surface of the hard coating 20 is exposed, the convex portion 20a and the flat surface of the hard coating 20 are simultaneously etched, and
It becomes difficult to remove a.

Therefore, in this case, the tip of the projection 20a is etched, and when the height is reduced to some extent, the etching is stopped, and the remaining etching protection film 24 is left.
May be removed by another method (for example, dissolution and removal with an organic solvent). FIG. 1E shows that the height of the projection 20a is L
₂ shows a state in which the etching treatment is performed until ₂ (<L ₁ ), and the remaining etching protective film 24 is removed.

Next, as shown in FIG.
on the surface of the hard coating 20 the height of a becomes L _2, again,
An etching protection film 24 is formed and etching is performed. Thus, as described above, the flat surface of the hard coating 20 is not etched while the etching protection film 24 remains,
Only the protrusion 20a is preferentially etched (FIG. 2).
(B)).

Then, when the projection 20a is preferentially etched and its height is reduced to some extent, the etching is stopped and the remaining etching protection film 24 is removed, as shown in FIG. The height of the projections 20a on the surface of the hard coating 20 can be reduced to L ₃ (<L ₂ ).

Thereafter, when the formation and etching of the etching protection film 24 are repeated, only the protrusions 20a are preferentially removed as shown in FIG.
Thus, the element plate 10 having a substantially flat surface can be obtained. The number of repetitions of the formation and etching of the etching protection film 24 is determined by the allowable remaining height of the projection 20a,
What is necessary is just to determine in consideration of the difference of the etching rate of the hard coating 20 and the etching protection film 24, etc.

Next, the wafer wrap process will be described. In the wafer wrap process, as shown in FIG. 2E, the convex portion 20a is removed in the flattening process, and the hard coating 20 whose surface is flattened is wrapped in the state of the element plate 10, and the tip of the magnetic pole 18 is formed. This is a step of removing the covering hard coating 20.

Here, in the wafer wrap process, the entire hard coating 20 covering the tip of the magnetic pole 18 may be removed and wrapping may be performed until the tip of the magnetic pole 18 is completely exposed. Lapping may be performed until the coating 20 slightly remains. However,
If the remaining thickness of the hard coating 20 is too large, the operation time required for the disc wrapping process described later increases,
The wrapping is preferably performed so that the remaining thickness of the hard coating 20 at the tip 8 is 10 nm or less.

At this time, the removal amount of the hard coating 20 may be adjusted by measuring the lapping time. However, the lapping is performed while appropriately measuring the thickness of the hard coating 20 using the hole 21. Good. Specifically, a stylus may be inserted into the hole 21 and the thickness of the hard coating 20 may be measured. The lapping method is not particularly limited. For example, wrapping may be performed using a disk, or wrapping may be performed using a tape.

As described above, if the lapping is performed in the state of the element plate 10 including the thousands to 10,000 head elements, only 1
By the lapping process, thousands to 10,000 of the tips of the magnetic poles 18 can be almost exposed. Therefore, compared to the conventional magnetic pole exposing step performed for each head element, the total operation time required for lapping can be greatly reduced.

If the element plate 10 is wrapped while measuring the film thickness by using a means such as inserting a stylus into the hole 21, the amount of the hard film 20 covering the tip of the magnetic pole 18 can be accurately and easily removed. Can be determined.

Further, the element layer 16 having the magnetic poles 18 protruding therefrom.
When the hard coating 20 is formed on the magnetic pole 1 as described above,
8, a convex portion 20a is formed.
If the lapping is performed while the protrusion 20a is left on the surface of No. 0, the wrapping disc may be damaged by the protrusion 20a. Further, the fragile layer 20 is provided around the protrusion 20a.
Since b is formed, the entire convex portion 20a may be chipped off from the surface of the hard coating 20 during lapping.

On the other hand, if the lapping is performed after removing the projections 20a in the above-described flattening step, there is no danger of damaging the lapping disk, and the entire projections 20a may be chipped off during the lapping. Absent.

Next, a protective film forming step will be described.
In the protective film forming step, as shown in FIG.
In this step, a second protective film 30 for protecting the magnetic pole 18 (hereinafter, referred to as a “magnetic pole protective film 30”) is formed on the surface of the element plate 10 whose tip is almost exposed.

Here, the magnetic pole protection film 30 is formed from an etching solution used in a cutting / separating step to be described later.
It is used to protect. Therefore, it is necessary to use a material having high corrosion resistance to the etchant used in the cutting / separating process for the magnetic pole protection film 30.

The magnetic pole protection film 30 is removed by lapping in a disc wrapping process to be described later after the separation / cutting step. However, if the hardness of the magnetic pole protection film 30 is too high, the magnetic pole protection film 30 may be removed. It is not preferable because it takes a long time. Therefore, it is desirable to use a material having a lower hardness than at least the hard coating 20 for the magnetic pole protection film 30. In particular, a material having a lapping speed 100 times or more that of the hard coating 20 is preferable as the magnetic pole protection film 30.

As the magnetic pole protection film 30, specifically, silicon carbide, silicon, silica, alumina, or a composite film in which a metal film is formed on the surface of a hard-baked photoresist is preferable. In particular, a composite coating comprising a hard-baked photoresist and a metal film is particularly suitable as the magnetic pole protection film 30 because it has a lower hardness than other materials and can be easily dissolved and removed with an organic solvent. It is.

Next, the contact pad forming step will be described. The contact pad forming step is a step of removing unnecessary portions of the hard coating 20 and forming a contact pad made of the hard coating 20. FIG. 3B shows that a plurality of pole pads 54, 54... And a plurality of auxiliary pads 56, 56 are provided on the surface of the element layer 16.
.. Indicate a state in which is formed.

The size of the magnetic pole pad 54 and the auxiliary pad 56 depends on the application, but when used for high-density recording and reproduction, the length is about several tens μm to 100 μm and the height is about several μm. . In order to form the magnetic pole pad 54 and the auxiliary pad 56, for example, a portion of the surface of the hard coating 20 where a contact pad is to be formed is covered with an appropriate mask material, and then a portion not covered with the mask material is formed. May be selectively removed by etching.

Next, the cutting / separating step will be described.
The cutting / separating step is a step of separating the element layer 16 on which the magnetic pole pads 54 and the auxiliary pads 56 are formed from the substrate 12 and cutting the element layer 16 along the boundary of each head element. Specifically, the element layer 16 may be separated and cut according to the following procedure.

That is, first, as shown in FIG. 3C, a third protective film for preventing unnecessary substances from adhering to the surface of the element layer 16 on which the magnetic pole pads 54 and the auxiliary pads 56 are formed. 22 (hereinafter, referred to as “surface protective film 22”). As the surface protection film 22, for example, a photoresist film is preferable.

Next, as shown in FIG.
6 along the boundary of the head element included in the element layer 16.
, Grooves 28 reaching at least the separation layer 14 are formed. In this case, the tips of the grooves 28, 28.
May have been reached.

Next, the element plate 10 in which the grooves 28 are formed is immersed in an etching solution. As a result, the separation layer 14 is dissolved by the etchant that has reached the separation layer 14 through the groove 28, and after a predetermined time has elapsed, each head element is completely separated from the substrate 12. After that, if the surface protective film 22 covering the surface of the separated head element is removed, FIG.
As shown in (1), a contact type magnetic head 50 is obtained.

The groove 28 may be formed by dicing, or may be formed by laser scribe. In particular, the laser scribe has the advantage that the material yield is improved because the width of the groove 28 can be reduced to about several tens of μm. In addition, an etchant that dissolves only the separation layer 14 is used. For example, when copper is used for the separation layer 14, hot nitric acid may be used as an etchant.

Next, the disc wrapping process will be described. The disc wrap process is a process of removing the magnetic pole protection film 30 and completely exposing the tip of the magnetic pole 18.
Specifically, disc wrap may be performed according to the following procedure.

That is, on the upper and lower surfaces of the contact type magnetic head 50, on the surface opposite to the surface on which the magnetic pole pad 54 and the auxiliary pad 56 are formed, an Au pad (not shown) serving as a head-side electrode is provided. Since it is buried, first, this Au pad is exposed. Next, the Au pad and the suspension 58 are joined. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 4, a contact type magnetic head 50 supported by the suspension 58 is obtained.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the contact type magnetic head 50 supported by the suspension 58 is pressed against the rotating lapping disk 60 to wrap the tip of the magnetic pole pad 54 and the auxiliary pad 56. In the lapping, the magnetic pole protection film 30 is removed and the magnetic pole 18 is removed.
Until fully exposed.

According to the present invention, since the hard coating 20 is flattened in advance in the wafer wrap process, the contact type magnetic head 50 in which the height of the pole pad 54 and the height of the auxiliary pad 56 are substantially equal is obtained. Therefore, in the disk wrapping process, the contact type magnetic head 50 and the lapping disk 60 can be brought into substantially parallel contact, and the magnetic pole pad 54 and the auxiliary pad 56 can be wrapped evenly.

As the magnetic pole protection film 30, the hard coating 2
Since a material having a hardness lower than 0 is used, the magnetic pole protection film 3
It does not take a long time to remove 0. In addition, since the hard coating 20 at the tip of the magnetic pole 18 has been substantially removed in advance in the wafer wrapping process, the magnetic pole 18 can be reliably exposed only by lapping at a fixed time. Therefore, a device for performing lapping while monitoring a signal from the lapping disk 60 becomes unnecessary, and the manufacturing process can be simplified.

When the grooves 28 are formed by laser scribing, the components of the substrate 12, the separation layer 14 and / or the element layer 16 melted by the laser become dross and adhere to the surface of the element layer 16. If the separation layer 14 is etched in this state, dross prevents the entry of the etchant and causes the dissolution rate of the separation layer 14 to be delayed.

When the element layer 16 is separated from the substrate 12, the element layer 16 and the substrate 12 may be mechanically fixed to each other by dross, making it difficult to separate the element layer 16.
Further, if the dross is adhered to each head element and used as a contact type magnetic head 50, the dross adhered may damage the magnetic recording medium.

Accordingly, the grooves 28 are formed by laser scribe.
It is desirable that dross be removed after the element layer 16 is inserted and before the element layer 16 is separated. Specifically, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-361
The dross may be removed by using the method proposed by the present applicant in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-64.

That is, first, after the entire surface of the element plate 10 on which the magnetic pole pads 54 and the auxiliary pads 56 are formed is covered with the surface protective film 22, the grooves 2 are formed by laser scribing.
Insert 8. Next, the substrate 10 is immersed in an etching solution capable of dissolving the element layer 16, and the dross adhered thereto and the element layer 16 are removed.
A void is formed at the interface of. Further, ultrasonic vibration is applied to the substrate 10 using megasonic or the like. Thereby, the dross is destroyed, and the dross can be easily removed from the element layer 16.

When the grooves 28 are formed by laser scribing, all the grooves 28 may be grooves having a depth reaching the separation layer 14 (hereinafter referred to as "all cut grooves"). As proposed by the present applicant in Japanese Patent No. 3615, a plurality of grooves are formed in parallel with each other, and grooves that stop inside the element layer 16 (hereinafter referred to as “half-cut grooves”). A plurality of grooves may be formed in a direction intersecting with all the cut grooves.

The formation of the full cut groove and the half cut groove so as to intersect with each other has the advantage that the separation of the head elements can be prevented when the element layer 16 is separated from the substrate 12. In particular, if a strip-shaped element in which a plurality of head elements are connected by a half-cut groove separates the element layer 16 as a sheet that is connected at least at one end in parallel, each head element in a sheet state can be used in a subsequent process. And the working efficiency is improved.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications are possible without departing from the gist of the present invention. is there.

For example, in the above embodiment, the hard coating 2
After the surface of the hard coating 20 is flattened, the lapping is performed in the state of the element plate 10 to remove the hard coating at the tip of the magnetic pole 18, but immediately after the surface of the hard coating 20 is flattened, the contact pad is formed. Alternatively, the element layer 16 may be separated and cut, and the obtained contact magnetic heads may be individually disc-wrapped. In this case, since the hard coating 20 serves to protect the magnetic pole 18, it is not necessary to separately form the magnetic pole protection film 30.

In the above-described embodiment, the method of manufacturing the contact type magnetic head 50 having both the magnetic pole pad 54 and the auxiliary pad 56 has been described. The present invention can also be applied to such cases.

Further, the present invention can be applied to an inductive contact magnetic head performing horizontal magnetization, a contact magnetic head performing vertical magnetization, or an MR head utilizing the magnetoresistance effect. The same effect as in the embodiment can be obtained.

[0083]

According to the method of manufacturing a contact type magnetic head according to the present invention, a hard coating is formed on a surface of an element layer provided with a magnetic pole, and then the hard coating is formed of a material which can be etched in the same manner as the hard coating. Since the step of forming the protective film 1 and then etching the surface of the element plate is repeated at least once, only the protrusions of the hard film are preferentially removed, and the surface of the hard film is almost flattened. This has the effect.

Further, after the surface of the hard coating is flattened by the flattening step, the surface of the hard coating is wrapped in the state of the element plate to remove all or a part of the hard coating at the tip of the magnetic pole. This has the effect that the total working time required for lapping can be greatly reduced as compared with the case where the magnetic pole is exposed for each head element.

Further, since the entire hard coating is substantially flattened, the heights of the pole pads and the auxiliary pads can be easily adjusted even when a contact type magnetic head having the auxiliary pads is manufactured. This has the effect. further,
Since the surface of the hard coating is flattened in advance, there is no danger that the projections of the hard coating will be chipped off during lapping, or that the projections of the hard coating will damage the lapping disk.

After the hard coating at the tip of the magnetic pole is almost removed in the state of the element plate, the second protection has a resistance to an etching solution that dissolves the separation layer, and has at least the tip of the magnetic pole having a lower hardness than the hard coating. Forming the film has the effect of preventing corrosion of the magnetic pole. In addition, there is an effect that lapping processing for exposing the tip of the magnetic pole performed after separating and cutting the head elements is simplified.

Further, one or more holes are provided in the hard film, and while the film thickness of the hard film is monitored using the holes, wrapping for exposing the magnetic pole in the state of the element plate is performed. Whether it was completely exposed,
In addition, there is an effect that determination can be made easily.

As described above, according to the method of manufacturing the contact type magnetic head according to the present invention, the operation time of the lapping step, which conventionally required a long time, can be greatly reduced.
As a result, the manufacturing cost can be greatly reduced, and the invention has an extremely large industrial effect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a process chart showing a method for manufacturing a contact type magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a continuation of the process chart shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a continuation of the process chart shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4A is a bottom view showing a state in which the contact type magnetic head obtained through the steps shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 is supported by a suspension, and FIG. 4B is a front view thereof; FIG.

5 is a diagram showing a state in which the tip of a magnetic pole pad of the contact type magnetic head shown in FIG. 4 is wrapped.

FIG. 6 is a process chart showing a method for manufacturing a conventional contact magnetic head.

7A is a bottom view showing a state in which the contact type magnetic head obtained through the process shown in FIG. 6 is supported by a suspension, and FIG. 7B is a front view thereof. .

8 is a diagram showing a state in which the tip of a magnetic pole pad of the contact type magnetic head shown in FIG. 7 is wrapped.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Element board 12 Substrate 14 Separation layer 16 Element layer 18 Magnetic pole 20 Hard coating 24 First protective film (etching protective film) 30 Second protective film (magnetic pole protective film) 50 Contact magnetic head 54 Contact pad (magnetic pole pad) 56 contact pad (auxiliary pad)

Claims (3)

[Claims] An element plate manufacturing step for manufacturing an element plate having an element layer including a plurality of head elements formed on a substrate via a separation layer, and each head element included in the element layer is formed by the element element. A method of manufacturing a contact type magnetic head, comprising: a separation / cutting step of separating / cutting from a plate; a hard coating forming step of forming a hard coating on a surface of the element layer provided with a magnetic pole; Forming a first protective film made of a material that can be etched by the same method as the hard coating on the surface of the element plate on which is formed, and then performing the step of etching the surface of the element plate a predetermined number of times. A flattening step of selectively removing a convex portion of the hard coating formed on the magnetic pole by repeating the process, further comprising a flattening step. 2. After the surface of the hard coating is flattened by the flattening step, the surface of the hard coating is wrapped in the state of the element plate, and all or a part of the hard coating covering the tip of the magnetic pole is provided. A wafer wrapping step of removing the hard coating by removing all or a part of the hard coating in the wafer wrapping step, the tip of the magnetic pole has resistance to an etching solution for dissolving the separation layer, and is harder than the hard coating. 2. The method of manufacturing a contact magnetic head according to claim 1, further comprising: a protective film forming step of forming a second protective film having a low thickness. 3. The wafer wrapping step, wherein one or more holes are provided in the hard film, and lapping is performed while monitoring the thickness of the hard film using the holes. Item 3. A method for manufacturing a contact type magnetic head according to Item 2.