JP2006209853A - Method for manufacturing magnetic head suspension - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for manufacturing a magnetic head suspension by which the occurrence of deformation of a suspension material requiring low rigidity is suppressed and the positional accuracy of a fixture hole is secured. <P>SOLUTION: A layered plate constituted of a spring metal layer 11, an insulating layer 12, and a conductive layer 13 is prepared, a part of the insulating layer 12 is removed by etching after a wiring part 13a and a fixture hole 11a are patterned by the etching of metal parts 11 and 13, desired postprocessing is performed, and then the outer shape processing of the spring metal layer 13 is carried out by etching. The etching of the insulating layer 12 is performed in the state of high occupation rate and high rigidity of the spring metal layer, and the desired postprocessing is performed. Consequently even when a thin layered body 10 is used as a material, deformation due to the influence of a transport mechanism is prevented between the steps, and only the part of the fixture hole 11a is etched beforehand, and thus positional accuracy is secured. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention belongs to the technical field of a magnetic head suspension assembly used in a hard disk drive (HDD), and in particular, a magnetic head suspension in which wiring for connecting a magnetic head and a control circuit board is integrally formed. It relates to a manufacturing method.

  In recent years, due to the spread of the Internet and the like, there has been a demand for an increase in the amount of information processing of personal computers and an increase in information processing speed. Increasing information transmission speed is required. In addition, a component called a magnetic head suspension that supports the magnetic head used in the HDD also has a signal line such as a copper wiring directly formed on a stainless steel spring from a conventional type in which a signal line such as a gold wire is connected. The so-called wireless suspension has been shifted to the integrated wiring type.

As one method for manufacturing such a wiring-integrated magnetic head suspension, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-180353 uses a laminated plate made of spring metal layer / insulating layer / conductive layer such as SUS and the like. A method is described in which after a predetermined patterning is performed by metal etching on the layer and the conductive layer, a part of the insulating layer is removed by plasma etching.
JP-A-8-180353

  As described above, wiring-integrated wireless suspensions are increasing as magnetic head suspensions. In recent years, the demand for HDDs mounted on various small devices such as portable applications has been increasing, and along with this, disks for recording information have become smaller in size and higher in recording density. ing. In order to read and write data on the track on the disk with the reduced diameter, it is necessary to rotate the disk slowly, and the relative speed (peripheral speed) of the disk with respect to the magnetic head becomes low. Since it is necessary to approach the disk with a weak force, it is necessary to reduce the thickness and reduce the rigidity.

  Therefore, when a magnetic head suspension is manufactured by the above method using a laminate made of a spring metal layer / insulating layer / conductive layer and thinner than the conventional one, it is affected by the transport mechanism in the etching process. This causes a problem that the suspension member is deformed. In other words, the outer shape processing including the jig hole is first performed by etching the spring metal layer and the conductive layer, but the suspension member becomes independent by this outer shape processing and is in a state of being connected to the support frame only by a specific connection portion. Since the rigidity of the insulating layer decreases, it is easily deformed due to the influence of the transport mechanism while moving to the subsequent etching process of the insulating layer. In addition, in the post-processing process of wiring plating and cover layer, the same influence is exerted, and the deformation rate of the suspension member is further increased. In addition, since the suspension member is deformed, it is difficult to ensure the positional accuracy of the jig hole formed first. As described above, when the rigidity of the suspension member is reduced, there arises a problem that the yield of the product is deteriorated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and the object of the present invention is to suppress the occurrence of deformation of a suspension member that is required to have low rigidity and to ensure the positional accuracy of a jig hole. An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a magnetic head suspension.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the method of manufacturing a magnetic head suspension of the present invention, a plurality of wires for connecting a magnetic head and a control circuit board are integrally formed on a spring metal layer through an insulating layer. A method of manufacturing a magnetic head suspension having a jig hole that is formed and serves as a reference at the time of assembly, comprising preparing a laminated plate comprising a spring metal layer / insulating layer / conductive layer, and etching the metal portion After the jig hole portion is patterned, a part of the insulating layer is removed by etching, and after the desired post-processing, the outer shape of the spring metal layer is processed by etching.

  In the manufacturing method of the magnetic head suspension of the present invention, the insulating layer is etched in a state where the occupancy ratio of the spring metal layer is high and the rigidity is sufficient, and the desired post-processing is also performed, so a thin laminate is used as a material. Even in this case, there is no deformation due to the influence of the transport mechanism between these processes, and only the jig hole portion is etched first, so that it is relative to the wiring pattern of the conductive layer. Accurate positional accuracy can be secured. Therefore, the yield of products can be improved when the rigidity of the suspension member is reduced.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1 to 3 are a series of process diagrams showing a method of manufacturing a magnetic head suspension according to the present invention.

  First, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), a laminate 10 comprising a spring metal layer / insulating layer / conductive layer is prepared. Here, a laminated plate made of stainless steel as the spring metal layer 11, polyimide as the insulating layer 12, and Cu as the conductive layer 13 is prepared as a material.

  Next, a resist for metal etching is first made on the laminated plate 10. Specifically, resist layers for metal etching are provided on both surfaces of the laminated plate 10, and resists 14 and 15 patterned as shown in FIG. 1B are formed by photolithography. In this case, a resist 14 is formed on the conductive layer 13 side in a pattern corresponding to the wiring portion, and a resist 15 is formed on the spring metal layer 11 side excluding the jig hole portion. The resist 15 is formed in a state where the flying lead portion is removed in addition to the jig hole.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 1C, the spring metal layer 11 and the conductive layer 13 are etched using ferric chloride as an etching solution, and the resists 14 and 15 are peeled off. As a result, the wiring portion 13 a is patterned by the conductive layer 13, and the jig hole 11 a is patterned in the spring metal layer 11. In the figure, reference numeral 11b denotes a hole for forming the flying lead portion. The conductive layer 13 may be etched using copper chloride.

  Next, a resist for etching the insulating layer 12 is made. Specifically, resist layers for polyimide etching are provided on both surfaces of the laminated plate 10, and resists 16 and 17 patterned as shown in FIG. 1 (d) are formed by photolithography. In this case, a resist 16 is formed on the wiring side so as to cover the wiring portion 13a, and a resist 17 is formed on the spring metal layer 11 side except for the corresponding portion of the hole 11b of the flying lead portion.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 1E, the insulating layer 12 is etched using an organic alkaline solution as an etching solution, and the resists 16 and 17 are peeled off. Thereby, the wiring portion 13 a is integrally formed on the spring metal layer 11 via the insulating layer 12. Further, the spring metal layer 11 is formed with a jig hole 11a and a punching hole 11b of the flying lead portion, and is not subjected to external processing. Note that the insulating layer 12 may be processed by plasma etching.

  As mentioned above, after performing the etching process except the external shape process of the spring-like metal layer 11 with respect to the laminated board 10, a desired post-process is performed. Specifically, first, as shown in FIG. 2A, the wiring plating 18 is formed by performing Au plating or Ni—Au plating covering the wiring portion 13a. Next, as shown in FIG. 2B, a cover layer 19 is formed on the wiring plating 18 using an insulating film or a liquid insulating material.

  Subsequently, in order to perform the outer shape processing of the spring metal layer 11, a metal etching resist is made on the post-processed laminated plate. Specifically, a resist layer for metal etching is provided on both surfaces of the laminated plate, and as shown in FIG. 3A, the resist 20 on the wiring side is left as it is, and only the spring metal layer 11 side is subjected to photolithography. A resist 21 patterned in accordance with the outer shape is formed.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 3B, the spring metal layer 13 is etched using ferric chloride as an etching solution, and the resists 20 and 21 are peeled off. Thereby, the external shape of each suspension member is processed in a plate-shaped material. After the outer shape processing is performed in this way, the solder portion 22 is formed by printing on the terminal portion of the wiring as shown in FIG. 3C as necessary, and a suspension member as a halfway product is completed.

  In the above steps, until the last outer shape processing, the occupancy rate of the spring metal layer in the laminate is high, so the etching process of the insulating layer and the post-processing process can be carried out with sufficient rigidity, The material being processed does not deform under the influence of the transport mechanism that moves between these processes. On the other hand, since the jig hole is used for alignment in the assembly process of the entire magnetic head assembly, high positional accuracy is required as compared with the outer shape processing accuracy of other parts of the spring metal layer. Since the portion is patterned first in a step that is continuous with the patterning of the resist for etching the conductive layer, and the etching is performed first, relative positional accuracy with respect to the wiring pattern of the conductive layer is ensured.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above. However, the method of manufacturing a magnetic head suspension according to the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various methods can be used without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Of course, it is possible to make changes.

FIG. 6 is a first stage process diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing a magnetic head suspension according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a second stage process diagram showing a method of manufacturing a magnetic head suspension according to the present invention. FIG. 10 is a third stage process diagram illustrating the method of manufacturing a magnetic head suspension according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Laminated body 11 Spring-like metal layer 11a Jig hole 11b Extraction hole 12 Insulating layer 13 Conductive layer 13a Wiring part 14,15 Resist 16,17 Resist 18 Wiring plating 19 Cover layer 20,21 Resist 22 Solder part

Claims (1)

Manufacture of a magnetic head suspension in which a plurality of wirings for connecting a magnetic head and a control circuit board are integrally formed on a spring metal layer via an insulating layer and provided with a jig hole used as a reference during assembly. A method comprising preparing a laminated plate comprising a spring metal layer / insulating layer / conductive layer, patterning a wiring portion and a jig hole portion by etching a metal portion, and then removing a portion of the insulating layer by etching Then, after performing desired post-processing, the outer shape processing of the spring metal layer is performed by etching, and a method of manufacturing a magnetic head suspension is provided.

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