JP2003281714A - Holder for magnetic transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide uniform adhesive force on the full surfaces of a slave medium and a master carrier by vacuum suction in the internal space of a holder, and to carry out good magnetic transfer by making a magnetic field application device approachable to improve transfer signal quality. <P>SOLUTION: Master carriers 3, 4 carrying transfer information, and a slave medium 2 to receive transfer are housed in a holder 1 to be opposed and bonded to each other, and its internal space 6 is subjected to vacuum suction to obtain adhesive force. Then, the flexible master carrier 4 constitutes one pressing wall part of the internal space 6 of the holder 1, and this master carrier 4 is deformed by an external pressure applied on the backside part during the vacuum suction to uniformly apply the adhesive force to the slave medium 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic transfer apparatus for magnetic transfer from a master carrier carrying information to a slave medium, which contains the master carrier and the slave medium. It is related to the holder to adhere. 2. Description of the Related Art Magnetic transfer, which is the subject of the present invention, is a master carrier (patterned master) in which a transfer pattern such as a servo signal having a soft magnetic layer at least on the surface layer is formed in an uneven shape or an embedded structure. The magnetic field corresponding to the information carried on the master carrier is transferred and recorded on the slave medium by applying a transfer magnetic field in close contact with the slave medium having the magnetic recording unit. As an example of this magnetic transfer, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-183623.
No. 10, JP 10-40544 A, JP 10-2695 A
66, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-256644, and the like. When the slave medium is a disk-shaped medium such as a hard disk or a high-density flexible disk, the disk-shaped master carrier is brought into close contact with one or both sides of the slave medium, and the slave medium is disposed on one or both sides. A magnetic field application device using an electromagnet device or a permanent magnet device is provided to apply a magnetic field for transfer. In order to improve the transfer quality in this magnetic transfer, it is an important issue how the slave medium and the master carrier are closely adhered. In other words, if there is poor adhesion, there will be areas where magnetic transfer will not occur, and if magnetic transfer does not occur, signal loss will occur in the magnetic information transferred to the slave medium, the signal quality will deteriorate, and the recorded signal will be In this case, there is a problem that the tracking function cannot be sufficiently obtained and the reliability is lowered. By the way, in the conventional magnetic transfer apparatus, in order to improve the adhesion between the slave medium and the master carrier, a pressing force is mechanically applied by the pressing means to press the slave medium against the master carrier. ing. Further, there is also known one that is pressed and brought into close contact with an elastic body (see JP-A-7-78337). Such a mechanical adhesion application method is suitable in that a large pressure can be obtained, but it is difficult to apply pressure with a uniform distribution to the adhesion surface between the slave medium and the master carrier. There is also known an apparatus in which the air on the contact surface is sucked and discharged so that air does not remain on the contact surface between the slave medium and the master carrier to prevent the contact. 2000-67433). This simply sucks the air on the contact surface, and it has not been solved with regard to uniformly applying the contact force. [0007] From the above points,
The inside of the holder containing the slave medium and the master carrier is vacuum-sucked, and the external air pressure acting evenly from the outside
The vacuum suction method for obtaining the adhesion between the slave medium and the master carrier is basically easy to obtain a uniform adhesion state because pressure is applied to the entire surface of the holder. However, even if the vacuum suction method is adopted, it is difficult to obtain a uniform contact state on the entire surface unless a load is applied evenly from the holder to the slave medium or the master carrier. This requires that the flatness of the master carrier and the slave medium itself affect uniform adhesion, and that the parallelism between the pressing surfaces of the holders containing the slave medium and the master carrier is highly accurate. In addition, it is difficult in terms of quality control and disadvantageous in terms of cost to secure processing accuracy and the like that can apply contact pressure in parallel and uniformly with a rigid holder. If these accuracies cannot be obtained, there is a risk that the adhesion becomes uneven and local signal loss occurs. Further, when a transfer magnetic field is applied to the contact surface between the master carrier and the slave medium accommodated in the holder, the head portion of the magnetic field applying device for applying the transfer magnetic field is brought close to the contact surface. It is good in that the magnetic field strength is high and magnetic transfer can be performed with an optimal magnetic field distribution, but the approach is limited by the thickness of the pressing wall of the holder, and the quality of the transfer signal is lowered due to the influence of a leakage magnetic field or the like. There's a problem. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a holder for a magnetic transfer apparatus in which a slave medium and a master carrier in magnetic transfer are uniformly adhered over the entire surface to improve the quality of a transfer signal. It is intended to do. The holder of the magnetic transfer apparatus according to the present invention accommodates a master carrier carrying transfer information and a slave medium receiving the transfer information, and has an adhesive force by vacuum suction of the internal space. In the holder of the magnetic transfer apparatus for closely contacting the slave medium and the master carrier, the master carrier has flexibility, the master carrier constitutes one pressing wall portion of the inner space of the holder, and the master carrier The back surface is deformed by receiving external air pressure, and an adhesion force is applied to the slave medium. In the holder, there are a case where both sides of the slave medium are brought into close contact with the master carrier for simultaneous double-sided magnetic transfer, and a case where the master carrier is brought into close contact with one side of the slave medium for one-sided sequential magnetic transfer. In the double-sided simultaneous magnetic transfer, the other master carrier may not be flexible. According to the present invention as described above, one pressing wall portion of the inner space of the holder is constituted by the flexible master carrier, and the master carrier is used for the outside air pressure during vacuum suction. By applying the contact force to the slave medium by deformation, it becomes possible to apply a uniform pressure to the whole, and the slave medium and the master carrier can be uniformly contacted with the desired contact force, and the signal quality can be improved. High and good magnetic transfer can be performed. In addition, the thickness of the holder can be reduced, the magnetic head for applying the transfer magnetic field can be approached, the influence of the leakage magnetic field can be reduced, and the strong magnetic field necessary for transfer can be applied to the slave medium. This makes it easy to perform magnetic transfer with higher signal quality. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an open state of a holder of a magnetic transfer apparatus according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a close-contact state of the holder.
Each figure is a schematic diagram, and the dimensions of each part are shown in proportions different from actual ones. The holder 1 of the magnetic transfer apparatus is provided with a lower base chamber 5, a lower master carrier 3 and a slave medium 2 are arranged in an internal space 6, and the upper part thereof is sealed with an upper master carrier 4. Then, the inside of the slave medium 2 and both master carriers 3 and 4 are brought into close contact with each other with their center positions aligned by vacuum suction. Although not shown in the figure, the magnetic transfer device vacuum-sucks air in the internal space 6 in the holder 1,
A vacuum suction unit that obtains an adhesive force with the inside reduced pressure and a magnetic field application device that applies a transfer magnetic field while rotating the holder 1 are further provided. The illustrated holder 1 shows a mode in which master carriers 3 and 4 are respectively arranged on both sides of a slave medium 2 arranged in a horizontal direction and are brought into close contact with each other to perform double-sided simultaneous magnetic transfer. Alternatively, the master carrier 4 may be brought into close contact with one side (upper surface) of the slave medium 2 to perform one-sided sequential magnetic transfer. Further, the magnetic transfer may be performed with the holder 1 in the vertical direction. here,
Confronting close contact refers to either contact close contact or both facing with a very small gap. The base chamber 5 of the holder 1 is disk-shaped and has a circular recess 5a larger than the outer diameter of the slave medium 2 and the lower master carrier 3, and the recess 5a forms an internal space 6. The inner bottom surface of the recess 5a serves as a pressing surface and contacts the back surface (lower surface) of the lower master carrier 3,
An annular flange 5b is provided on the outer periphery of the recess 5a. The lower master carrier 3 is held on the inner surface of the recess 5a by suction or the like. The base chamber 5 is driven to rotate in conjunction with a rotation mechanism (not shown). The upper master carrier 4 is disc-shaped and flexible, closes the upper surface opening of the recess 5a of the base chamber 5, that is, the internal space 6, and can be elastically deformed during vacuum suction. That is, the outer diameter of the upper master carrier 4 is larger than the diameter of the concave portion 5 a of the base chamber 5, and the outer peripheral portion can come into contact with the upper end surface of the flange portion 5 b. One pressing wall portion of the space 6 is configured. A sealing material 8 such as an O-ring is installed on the end surface of the flange portion 5b of the base chamber 5 to seal the outer peripheral portion of the upper master carrier 4 and seal the internal space 6. The upper master carrier 4 is deformed by the external pressure applied to the back surface during vacuum suction (see FIG. 2) due to its flexibility, and the slave medium 2 and the master carrier 3 are deformed.
The contact force is applied evenly. In this embodiment, the base chamber 5 is made of a highly rigid material. Both master carriers 3 and 4 are formed on a disk-like disk, and have a transfer pattern in which a soft magnetic material is coated on a fine concavo-convex pattern formed on a substrate. It is in close contact with the medium 2. As the substrates of the master carriers 3 and 4, nickel, silicon, quartz plate, glass, aluminum, alloy, ceramics, synthetic resin or the like is used. The formation of the concavo-convex pattern
The stamper method is used. The formation of soft magnetic material
The magnetic material is deposited by vacuum deposition means such as vacuum deposition, sputtering, ion plating, plating, or the like. Almost the same master carrier is used for in-plane recording and perpendicular recording. The lower master carrier 3 is formed in the same size as the slave medium 2, while the upper master carrier 4
Is larger than the outer diameter of the slave medium 2 and the outer peripheral portion of the transfer pattern is configured wider. Further, at least a portion corresponding to the internal space 6 is formed to be thin, for example, in order to impart flexibility. This flexible portion is optimized for its material (Young's modulus), thickness, etc. so as to have optimum rigidity so that it adheres to the slave medium 2 evenly with a predetermined adhesion force during vacuum suction. In addition, about an outer peripheral part, rigidity may be improved, for example, thickness may be enlarged or it may reinforce with another member. The upper master carrier 4 is held by a handling mechanism equipped with a suction cup or the like and is moved toward and away from the base chamber 5, thereby opening and closing the internal space 6 of the holder 1, The slave medium 2 is carried in and out. As a means for vacuum-sucking the internal space 6 of the holder 1, for example, an exhaust port 7 penetrating in the outer peripheral direction is opened in the flange portion 5b of the base chamber 5.
An air passage (not shown) communicating with is led out to the outside and connected to a vacuum pump. The internal space 6 is controlled to a predetermined degree of vacuum by vacuum suction of air by the vacuum suction means. As a result, the slave medium 2 and the master carrier 3,
4 is set to a predetermined contact pressure. When performing magnetic transfer, the magnetization of the slave medium 2 is initially DC magnetized in advance in the in-plane track direction for in-plane recording and in the vertical direction for perpendicular recording. The slave medium 2 is brought into close contact with the master carriers 3 and 4, and magnetic transfer is performed by applying a transfer magnetic field in a track direction or a direction perpendicular to the initial DC magnetization direction. Slave medium 2
A disk-shaped magnetic recording medium such as a hard disk having a magnetic recording portion (magnetic layer) formed on both sides or one side, or a high-density flexible disk is used. In the case of in-plane recording, a magnetic field applying device (not shown) for applying a transfer magnetic field and an initial magnetic field is, for example, a ring type in which a coil is wound around a core having a gap extending in the radial direction of the slave medium 2. A head electromagnet is provided on both upper and lower sides, and a transfer magnetic field generated in the same direction in the upper and lower sides and parallel to the track direction is applied. Holder 1
, And a transfer magnetic field is applied to the entire surface of the slave medium 2 and the master carriers 3 and 4. You may provide so that a magnetic field application apparatus may be rotationally moved. The magnetic field application device may be disposed only on one side, or the permanent magnet device may be disposed on both sides or one side. In the perpendicular magnetic recording, the magnetic field application device arranges electromagnets or permanent magnets having different polarities above and below the holder 1 to generate and apply a transfer magnetic field in the vertical direction. In the case of applying a magnetic field partially, the entire surface is magnetically transferred by moving the holder 1 or moving the magnetic field. The holder 1 performs magnetic transfer to the plurality of slave media 2 by the same master carrier 3, 4. First, as shown in FIG. 1, the upper master carrier 4 is opened apart from the base chamber 5. In state,
After the slave medium 2 that has been initially magnetized in the in-plane direction or the vertical direction is set on the master carrier 3 that has been previously aligned and held in the base chamber 5, the upper master carrier 4 is used as the base. Move closer to the chamber 5. As shown in FIG. 2, the outer peripheral portion of the upper master carrier 4 comes into contact with the sealing material 8 of the flange portion 5 b of the base chamber 5 to seal the internal space 6. The internal space 6 is discharged with air by a vacuum suction means to reduce the pressure, and the inside is set to a predetermined degree of vacuum. As a result, the upper master carrier 4 is deformed by the pressure due to the external air pressure acting on the back surface in accordance with the degree of vacuum, and an adhesive force is applied to the slave medium 2 and the master carrier 3 toward the base chamber 5.
The master carriers 3 and 4 are brought into intimate contact with each other at a predetermined contact pressure. Thereafter, the upper and lower magnetic field applying devices are brought close to the upper and lower surfaces of the holder 1, and a magnetic field for transfer is applied in a direction almost opposite to the initial magnetization by the magnetic field applying device while the holder 1 is rotated. A magnetization pattern corresponding to the transfer pattern is transferred and recorded on the magnetic recording portion of the slave medium 2. The magnetic field for transfer applied at the time of the magnetic transfer is sucked into the convex pattern of the soft magnetic material in close contact with the slave medium 2 in the transfer pattern of the master carriers 3 and 4, and in the case of in-plane recording, the initial magnetization of this portion Is not reversed and the initial magnetization of the other part is reversed. In the case of perpendicular recording, the initial magnetization of this part is reversed and the initial magnetization of the other part is not reversed. A magnetization pattern corresponding to the transfer pattern is transferred and recorded. In the above embodiment, the upper master carrier 4 having flexibility constitutes one pressing wall portion of the inner space 6, so that the master carrier 4 can be evenly slaved during vacuum suction of the inner space 6. 2 can be applied to the back surface of 2 and a uniform load is applied over the entire surface, and the slave medium 2 and the master carriers 3 and 4 at the time of magnetic transfer can be evenly adhered with an optimum pressure to improve the adhesion, It is possible to prevent poor transfer due to poor adhesion and perform good magnetic transfer. In addition, the upper portion has no wall portion of the holder 1, and the upper master carrier 4 is thin in order to obtain flexibility, and the head portion of the magnetic field applying device for applying the transfer magnetic field is brought close to the upper portion. The magnetic field strength is high,
Magnetic transfer can be performed with an optimal magnetic field distribution. Furthermore, since the base chamber 5 holding the back surface of the lower master carrier 3 has high rigidity, the lower master carrier 3 is held flat on the inner surface of the base chamber 5 by this rigid body, and the slave medium 2 Similarly, the upper master carrier 4 is also flattened to improve the adhesion and to prevent the transfer position shift due to the curve, and to prevent deterioration of the signal writing position accuracy due to the undulation of the master carriers 3 and 4. In the above embodiment, the flange portion 5b is formed integrally with the base chamber 5. However, the base chamber 5 has a flat plate shape and is provided with a ring-shaped member separately. The outer peripheral portion of the master carrier 4 may be attached, and the ring-shaped member may be handled and moved toward and away from the base chamber 5. In the case of single-sided sequential magnetic transfer, the slave medium 2 is set directly in the base chamber 5, and the upper master carrier 4 seals the internal space 6 and the slave medium 2.
It is provided so as to contact and press evenly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an open state of a holder of a magnetic transfer apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the holder in FIG. 1] Holder 2 Slave medium 3 and 4 Master carrier 5 Base chamber 6 Internal space 7 Exhaust port

Claims (1)

What is claimed is: 1. A magnet which accommodates a master carrier carrying transfer information and a slave medium receiving the transfer information, and makes the slave medium and the master carrier come into close contact with each other by an adhesion force by vacuum suction of the internal space. In the holder of the transfer device, the master carrier has flexibility, the master carrier constitutes one pressing wall portion of the inner space of the holder, and the master carrier is deformed by receiving external air pressure on the back surface portion. A holder for a magnetic transfer device, wherein an adhesive force is applied to a medium.