JP3310778B2 - Thin film magnetic head and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic head used in a magnetic disk drive, and more particularly to a thin film magnetic head suitable for low-flying high-density magnetic recording / reproduction and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, magnetic disks have been required to have higher recording densities as the amount of information has increased.
For this reason, there has been an urgent need for a thin film magnetic head slider that performs recording on a recording medium and reproduction from the recording medium to reduce the flying height on the magnetic disk surface. On the other hand, since the head slider repeatedly contacts and non-contacts the disk surface due to its structure, it is necessary to provide a protective film on the air support surface for the purpose of protecting the head in order to improve the reliability of the magnetic disk device. .

Further, recently, it has become possible to use a magnetoresistive (MR) reading head as a method for realizing a high recording density.
The R head has a drawback that it is very susceptible to corrosion due to its material of manufacture (for example, a magnetic alloy thin film of CoNi or the like), and a protective film on the air support surface has become an indispensable technique as a countermeasure.

As this kind of protective film, there has been proposed a film formed by laminating an amorphous silicon film and an amorphous carbon film to form a double layer structure. In order to increase the recording density, the protective film must be made as thin as possible to reduce the distance between the head and the disk.However, since a ceramic material such as alumina titanium carbide is usually used as the slider material, a carbon film is directly formed on this. It is difficult to form the protective film alone (it is easy to peel off) from the viewpoint of film forming property. Therefore, in the above proposal, a silicon film is formed as an adhesive layer between the carbon film and the slider material surface. Avoids adhesion problems. As a related technique of this type, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 4-276667 is cited.

[0005]

A conventional protective film having a film thickness of about 25 nm has been sufficiently used for practical use. However, in order to increase the recording density in the future, it is required to further reduce the film thickness. Since a strict condition of 10 nm or less is required, for example, when the above-mentioned amorphous silicon film and amorphous carbon film are laminated to form a double-layer structure, at least 5 nm is required as an adhesive layer. Therefore, the remaining 20 nm becomes a carbon film, which cannot be realized by the conventional technology of this kind of multilayering.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and a first object of the present invention is to provide good adhesion to the surface of a slider material, and to provide sliding resistance (abrasion resistance). It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved thin-film magnetic head provided with a thin single-layer protective film having excellent corrosion resistance), and a second object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method thereof. In this way, the ultimate goal is to realize a high recording density by lowering the flying height by reducing the distance between the magnetic disk and the magnetic head.

The first object is to provide a coil conductor disposed between an upper magnetic film and a lower magnetic film on a slider substrate via an insulating film, and that one end of each of the upper and lower magnetic films is magnetic. Are connected to each other to form a back core connection portion, the other end portion forms a front magnetic gap portion formed with a gap regulating insulating film interposed therebetween, and an air support surface, and includes at least an end surface of the front magnetic gap. In a thin-film magnetic head having a protective film formed on a sliding surface, the protective film is characterized in that the adhesiveness and sliding resistance to the underlying slider material surface continuously change in the film thickness direction. It is composed of a non-magnetic single-layer inorganic protective film that has the property that the adhesion to the surface of the protective film decreases from large to small as the film thickness increases, while the sliding resistance increases from small to large. This is achieved by a thin-film magnetic head comprising:

That is, by using a thin single-layer film structure in which the composition is continuously changed in the film thickness direction, it is characterized in that both the adhesion to the base of the film and the sliding resistance as a protective film are compatible. I have. In general, when the gap between the sliding surface of the magnetic head and the magnetic disk becomes large, a spacing loss occurs that impairs good recording and reproduction. In order to avoid this, it is necessary to reduce the thickness of the protective film formed on both the head and the disk. Therefore, in the present invention, for example, in order to secure the adhesion of the protective film on the surface of the slider material, an amorphous film containing a large amount of silicon is formed at the initial stage of film formation, and the wear resistance is gradually and continuously improved. We focused on increasing the ratio of elements such as carbon to reduce the silicon component and ensuring abrasion resistance on the outermost surface of the protective film.

[0009] As described above, since both the adhesiveness and the abrasion resistance are achieved by the single-layer film, the thickness of the protective film can be greatly reduced, and the distance between the head and the disk can be reduced. Thus, high recording density can be achieved. Specifically, in order to ensure adhesion to the slider material, a film composition containing a large amount of at least one first constituent element group consisting of silicon, aluminum, and boron elements is preferable, and in order to increase abrasion resistance. Includes a film containing a large amount of at least one second constituent element group and / or constituent compound group composed of tungsten carbide, boron nitride, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride, aluminum carbide, aluminum oxide, boron carbide, silicon carbide, and carbon. Composition is preferred.

Although the required element or compound concentration varies depending on the state of the slider surface as a specific film composition, in the initial stage of forming a slider material surface protective film for the purpose of ensuring adhesion at the interface. In the protective film, the first constituent element group is contained in the protective film in an amount of 5 to 100 atomic%, preferably 10 to 100 atomic%.
The second constituent element group and / or the constituent compound group can be selected in the range of 95 to 0 atomic%, preferably 90 to 0 atomic%. Further, during the film formation, the component of the first constituent element group in the film thickness direction is continuously reduced, and 50% on the outermost surface of the protective film.
To 0 atomic%, preferably 40 to 0 atomic%, while the second constituent element group and / or constituent compound group is 50 to 1 atomic%.
It can be selected in the range of 00 at%, preferably 60 to 100 at%.

When the composition of the first constituent element group is less than 5% at the interface between the slider material and the protective film, that is, at the bottom surface of the protective film, the adhesiveness of the protective film deteriorates, and at the outermost surface of the protective film, 40%. If it exceeds the abrasion resistance, the hardness will decrease. Further, the composition in the thickness direction of the second constituent element group and / or the constituent compound group is completely opposite to that of the first constituent element group.

The protective film has a thickness of 5 nm to 15 n.
When the thickness is smaller than 5 nm, which is set according to the purpose in the range of m, the effect of continuously changing the composition is lost, and the function as a protective film is reduced due to the problem of pinholes in the film. On the other hand, when the film thickness exceeds 15 nm, the spacing loss becomes a problem as described above, which hinders the improvement of the recording density. Therefore, the thickness of the protective film is 5 to 1
When used in the range of 5 nm, preferably in the range of 5 to 10 nm, favorable results can be obtained in which both recording density and reliability can be achieved.

The second object is to form a thin film magnetic head on a slider substrate in advance, to form a protective film on an air support surface including a front gap end surface, and to form at least a front gap end surface of the air support surface. a method of manufacturing a magnetic head comprising a step of forming a slider rail surface in a region including a step of forming the protective layer, the adhesion and sliding resistance relative to the slider member surface as a base Continuously changes in the film thickness direction, and as the film thickness increases, the adhesiveness toward the protective film surface decreases from large to small, while the sliding resistance increases from small to large. This is achieved by a method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head comprising a step of forming a single-layer inorganic protective film.

More specifically, the step of forming the inorganic protective film of the non-magnetic single layer includes the step of depositing at least one first element group consisting of silicon, aluminum and boron; Boron nitride, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride, aluminum carbide,
Depositing at least one kind of second constituent element group and / or constituent compound group consisting of aluminum oxide, boron carbide, silicon carbide, and carbon, and depositing the first constituent element group. While decreasing the ratio of the constituent element group toward the surface of the protective film, the ratio of the constituent element group deposited in the step of depositing the second constituent element group and / or the constituent compound group is increased to continuously increase the film thickness direction. That is, a step of forming a single film by causing a compositional change to occur.

A method for forming these protective films is as follows.
A plasma CVD method using a high frequency or a microwave, a multi-source sputtering method capable of forming a film of various elements simultaneously, or the like is used. These film formation methods can be selected according to the purpose, but reactive sputtering or a combination of sputtering and CVD can also be used. CVD
When Si is used, SiH ₄ , SiF ₄
Using a compound containing silicon such as B ₂
For example, methane gas is used as a carbon material such as H ₆ , an alkoxide compound of aluminum is used as an aluminum material, tungsten hexafluoride or a combination of tungsten hexacarbonyl and methane gas is used as a tungsten carbide material, and B ₂ H ₆ gas is used as a boron nitride material. And N
Combination of H ₃ gas, etc.
Since VD alone is difficult, a combination of reactive sputtering with NH ₃ or the like and an aluminum target is used, a combination of SiH ₄ and NH ₃ is used as a silicon nitride raw material, a combination of methane gas and aluminum alkoxide is used for aluminum carbide, and N ₂ O is used for aluminum oxide. Sputtering with oxygen gas and aluminum target,
In the case of boron carbide, a combination of B ₂ H ₆ and methane gas can be selected, and in the case of silicon carbide, a combination of SiH ₄ and methane gas can be selected.

By introducing these source gases into the reaction chamber and adjusting the flow rates of the source gases during the film formation, it is possible to continuously change the material abundance constituting each film in the film thickness direction. . Also, by controlling the supply power applied to each target by using reactive sputtering using two or more types of targets, it is possible to change the ratio of the constituent materials in the film thickness direction as in the case of CVD. It is.

Further, as in the case of the above-mentioned aluminum compound, a protective film may be formed by a combination of CVD and sputtering as necessary. CV
When forming a film composed of silicon and carbon using D,
The ratio of the flow rate of the SiH ₄ gas to the flow rate of the methane gas in the initial stage of film formation is S
iH ₂ gas 100 to 5%, and 0% to 95% methane, in each flow rate ratio in the film forming the final film surface SiH ₄ gas 0-40%, the underlying substrate when deposited in the range of 100 to 60% methane Adhesiveness,
It is possible to obtain an air-supporting surface protective film that has both performance as a protective film. Further, the substrate temperature during film formation may be heated in a range from room temperature to 250 ° C. depending on the case of each of sputtering and CVD.

In the formation of the protective film, the film thickness is 5 to 1
The thickness is set according to the purpose within the range of 5 nm. If the thickness is smaller than 5 nm, the effect of continuously changing the composition is lost, and the function as a protective film is deteriorated due to the problem of pinholes in the film. On the other hand, if the film thickness exceeds 15 nm, the spacing loss becomes a problem as described above, which may hinder the improvement of the recording density. Therefore, when the protective film is formed with a thickness in the range of 5 to 15 nm, more preferably 5 to 10 nm, a favorable result in which the recording density and the reliability are compatible can be obtained.

[0019]

As described above, according to the thin-film magnetic head of the present invention, by using a single-layer film having a structure in which the composition continuously changes in the film thickness direction as the air support surface protective film, the adhesion to the slider material is improved. With a very thin film thickness, the sliding characteristics of the head and the corrosion resistance of the magnetic material can be greatly improved, so that the recording density is improved by reducing the distance between the head and the disk, The reliability of magnetic recording and reproduction can be improved.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. <Embodiment 1> FIG. 1 is a front view showing an end surface of a thin-film magnetic head slider 13 on a side where a magnetic head is formed, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AB in FIG. In FIG. 1, 1 is a slider, 6 is a thin-film magnetic head element, 9 is a protective film, 10 is a concave region forming an air support surface, and 11 is a rail portion forming an air support surface. A front magnetic gap (not shown) of the thin-film magnetic head element 6 faces one end of the head. Hereinafter, the structure of the thin film magnetic head will be described together with the manufacturing method.

As shown in FIG. 2A, first, a CoNi-based magnetic film is formed as a lower magnetic layer 2 on a slider substrate 1 made of alumina titanium carbide by a known sputtering film forming method. Next, an insulating material such as SiO ₂ and polyimide (here, polyimide is used) and a coil material (here, a spiral coil pattern is formed by copper plating) on the lower magnetic film 2 by a known method. The insulating layer 3 and the coil conductor 4 are formed by film formation and etching. Next, the upper magnetic layer 5 is formed on these laminates by the same film forming method as the lower magnetic layer 2. Thus, the magnetic head element 6 having the front magnetic gap 12 at one end is formed.

As shown in FIG. 2B, a protective layer 7 is formed on the magnetic head element 6 by depositing an insulating material such as alumina or silicon oxide by sputtering or the like.

The thus formed laminate is ground and polished at its end to expose the end face of the front magnetic gap 12, and as shown in FIG. It is formed.

The front magnetic gap 12 exposed on the sliding surface 8 by the sliding surface processing, that is, the thickness of the insulating layer 3 sandwiched between the upper magnetic layer 5 and the lower magnetic layer 2 defines the gap. Can perform writing and erasing using a leakage magnetic field determined by the gap width.

At present, the flying height of the head slider is 100 nm.
It is considered to be reduced to 80 nm or less in the future from the viewpoint of improving the recording density. Protective film on the disc,
Although a lubricant is formed, fine protrusions are formed on the disk, and the frequency of collision of the head with the disk increases as the flying height of the head decreases. The protective film used in the present invention not only protects the head element 6 from the collision with the disk, but also has a role of protecting a magnetic material which is susceptible to corrosion.

As shown in FIG. 2D, in order to protect the sliding surface 8, the thin-film magnetic head of the present embodiment forms a 13.56 MHz high frequency plasma CVD after the sliding surface 8 is formed. Gas pressure 1 × 10 to ¹ to 1 × 10
Monosilane gas (SiH ₄ ) as an example of the first constituent element group and methane gas (CH ₄ ) as an example of the second constituent element group are introduced into the film formation chamber at ~ ² Torr and a film formation temperature of 150 ° C.
A protective film 9 having a thickness of 10 nm in which the ratio of silicon and carbon continuously changes in the thickness direction was formed while controlling the introduction amounts of both gases temporally. At this time, the flow rates of the SiH ₄ gas at the start of the film formation are 10 sccm, the flow rates of the CH ₄ gas are 0 sccm, and the flow rates of the SiH ₄ gas at the end of the film formation are 0.
The flow rate of methane gas was 10 sccm.

The elemental analysis in the thickness direction of the protective film 9 thus formed was measured by secondary ion mass spectrometry. As a result, the proportion of silicon atoms and carbon atoms changed almost linearly. Carbon was scarcely present, and the film surface at the end of the film formation was a single-layer film having a silicon atom content of 5% or less and a carbon atom content of 95% or more.

As described above, when the thin film magnetic head slider having the protective film 9 having the film composition continuously changed was evaluated, the adhesion of the protective film 9 was found to be a conventional film having a multilayer structure using silicon as an adhesive layer. No difference was observed as compared with the case of the protective film having a thickness of 25 nm, and no corrosion was observed on the surface of the magnetic material even after 20 hours in a corrosion test of the device left in an atmosphere of 2 ppm of sulfurous gas. Further, as a result of a sliding test on a disk, no difference was observed in the sliding resistance as compared with the case where the surface layer of the conventional protective film having a multilayer structure was an amorphous carbon film.

Next, as shown in Table 1, the composition was continuously changed in the film thickness direction by changing the amounts of SiH ₄ and CH ₄ introduced into the film forming chamber of the high frequency plasma CVD apparatus. The effect of the composition of the bottom surface of the protective film and the composition of the outermost surface on the adhesion to the base and the sliding resistance, and the effect of the thickness of the entire protective film on the corrosion resistance were tested.

[0030]

[Table 1]

From these results, it is found that (1) In order to ensure good adhesion of the protective film at the slider material interface, the sample No.
As is clear from comparing 2 or 8 with 4, the value of the (SiH ₄ ) / (SiH ₄ + CH ₄ ) ratio is 0.1 at the initial stage of film formation.
(2) In order to satisfy the sliding resistance, the sample No. As is clear from the comparison between 3, 5 and 7, (CH ₄ ) / (SiH ₄ + C
It can be seen that the value of the H ₄ ) ratio should be 0.6 or more. (3) In order to prevent corrosion of the magnetic material existing under the protective film, the sample No. As is clear from comparison between 9 and 10, it is understood that the film thickness is preferably 5 nm or more.

Next, in the following embodiments, examples of a protective film containing a first constituent element group other than the silicon / carbon combination and a second constituent element group and / or a constituent compound group element will be described.

<Embodiment 2> After forming the magnetic head element 6 shown in FIG. 2A by the same method as in Embodiment 1, FIG.
The protective layer 7 was formed, and the sliding surface 8 shown in FIG. On this sliding surface 8, a protective film 9 shown in FIG. That is, 13.56 MHz high frequency plasma CV
Using a device having a sputtering function by installing an aluminum target in a D unit, a gas pressure 5 × 10 ~ ³ ~
SiH ₄ gas and NH ₃ gas are introduced into the film formation chamber at 1 × 10 to ² Torr and a film formation temperature of 150 ° C., and an aluminum target is set in the film formation chamber and sputtering is performed at the same time. Atoms are continuously reduced,
A protective film 9 having a thickness of 10 nm and having a structure in which the content ratio of aluminum nitride continuously increases was formed.

The elemental analysis in the thickness direction of the protective film 9 thus formed was measured by secondary ion mass spectrometry. As a result, the ratio of silicon atoms to aluminum nitride changed almost linearly. Almost no aluminum nitride was present, and silicon atoms were 5% or less and the aluminum nitride abundance was 95% or more on the film surface at the end of film formation.

As described above, when the thin film magnetic head slider having the protective film 9 having the film composition continuously changed was evaluated, the adhesion of the protective film 9 was found to be a conventional film having a multilayer structure using silicon as an adhesive layer. No difference was observed as compared with the case of the protective film having a thickness of 25 nm, and no corrosion was observed on the surface of the magnetic material even after 20 hours in a corrosion test of the device left in an atmosphere of 2 ppm of sulfurous gas. Further, as a result of a sliding test on a disk, no difference was observed in the sliding resistance as compared with the case where the surface layer of the conventional protective film having a multilayer structure was an amorphous carbon film. In other words, it was confirmed that even if the single-layer film of the present invention has a thickness of 10 nm, it can be sufficiently used practically, compared to the conventional multilayer structure having a thickness of 25 nm.

<Embodiment 3> In the same manner as in Embodiment 1, FIG.
After forming the sliding surface 8 in (c), a protective film 9 composed of a single layer containing silicon and boron nitride was formed to a thickness of 10 nm as shown in FIG.

That is, using the same CVD apparatus as in Example 1, SiH ₄ , B ₂ H ₆ and NH ₃ were introduced as film forming gases into the film forming chamber. The delivery conditions at this time of the gas, 70 vol% and SiH ₄ gas into the deposition initial, B ₂ H ₆ and NH ₃ flowing sum of the gas 30 vol%, SiH ₄ gas 0 on completion of film formation
%, And the total of B ₂ H ₆ and NH ₃ gas was 100% by volume. When the thin-film magnetic head slider thus formed was evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1, good results were obtained in all of the adhesion, corrosion resistance and sliding resistance to the underlying substrate.

<Embodiment 4> In the same manner as in Embodiment 1, FIG.
After forming the sliding surface 8 in (c), a protective film 9 composed of a single layer containing silicon and silicon nitride was formed to a thickness of 10 nm as shown in FIG.

That is, using the same CVD apparatus as in Example 1, SiH ₄ and NH ₃ were introduced as film forming gases into the film forming chamber. The gas introduction conditions at this time are as follows:
H ₄ gas was flowed at 70% by volume and NH ₃ gas was flowed at 30% by volume. At the end of film formation, SiH ₄ gas was 40% and NH ₃ gas was 60% by volume. When the thin-film magnetic head slider thus formed was evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1, good results were obtained in all of the adhesion, corrosion resistance and sliding resistance to the underlying substrate.

<Embodiment 5> In the same manner as in Embodiment 1, FIG.
After forming the sliding surface 8 in (c), a protective film 9 composed of a single layer containing silicon and boron carbide was formed to a thickness of 10 nm as shown in FIG.

That is, using the same CVD apparatus as in Example 1, SiH ₄ , B ₂ H ₆ , and methane gas were introduced as film forming gases into the film forming chamber. The gas introduction conditions at this time are as follows:
70 vol% of the SiH ₄ gas into the deposition initial, B ₂ H ₆ and CH ₄ flow the total gas 30 vol%, SiH ₄ gas 0% at completion of film formation, the sum of B ₂ H ₆ and CH ₄ gas 100 % By volume. When the thin-film magnetic head slider thus formed was evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1, good results were obtained in all of the adhesion, corrosion resistance and sliding resistance to the underlying substrate.

<Embodiment 6> In the same manner as in Embodiment 1, FIG.
After forming the sliding surface 8 in (c), a protective film 9 composed of a single layer containing silicon and aluminum oxide was formed to a thickness of 10 nm as shown in FIG.

That is, using a CVD apparatus having the same sputtering function as in the second embodiment, SiH ₄ ,
N ₂ O was introduced into the film formation chamber. As the gas introduction conditions at this time, 70% by volume of SiH ₄ gas and 30% by volume of N ₂ O gas were flowed at the beginning of film formation, and aluminum was sputtered at the same time. At the end of film formation, 0% SiH ₄ gas and 1 N ₂ O
00% by volume. When the thin-film magnetic head slider thus formed was evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1, good results were obtained in all of the adhesion, corrosion resistance and sliding resistance to the underlying substrate.

<Embodiment 7> In the same manner as in Embodiment 1, FIG.
After forming the sliding surface 8 in (c), a protective film 9 composed of a single layer containing silicon and aluminum carbide was formed to a thickness of 10 nm as shown in FIG.

That is, using a CVD apparatus having the same sputtering function as in Example 2, SiH ₄ ,
CH ₄ was introduced into the film forming chamber. The delivery conditions at this time of the gas, 70 vol% and SiH ₄ gas into the deposition initial flushed with CH ₄ gas 30 vol%, was sputtered aluminum simultaneously. At the end of film formation, SiH ₄ gas is 0% and CH ₄ is 1
00% by volume. When the thin-film magnetic head slider thus formed was evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1, good results were obtained in all of the adhesion, corrosion resistance and sliding resistance to the underlying substrate.

<Embodiment 8> In the same manner as in Embodiment 1, FIG.
After forming the sliding surface 8 in (c), a protective film 9 composed of a single layer containing silicon and tungsten carbide was formed to a thickness of 10 nm as shown in FIG.

That is, using the same CVD apparatus as in Example 1, SiH ₄ , CH ₄ , and W (CO) ₆ were introduced as film forming gases into the film forming chamber. The gas introduction conditions at this time are as follows:
70% by volume of SiH ₄ gas, CH ₄ and W (C
O) ₆ is flowed at 30% by volume, and SiH ₄
The gas was 40%, and the total of CH ₄ and W (CO) ₆ was 60% by volume. When the thin-film magnetic head slider thus formed was evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1, good results were obtained in all of the adhesion, corrosion resistance and sliding resistance to the underlying substrate.

In addition to the above-described embodiments, in order to enhance the adhesion to the base, the first constituent element group may be formed by using one or both of boron and aluminum elements other than silicon, if necessary. It was confirmed that the result was obtained.

[0049]

As described above, the intended object can be achieved by the present invention. That is, according to the thin-film magnetic head of the present invention, the first protective film is formed on the sliding surface.
By providing a single-layer thin film having a composition that continuously changes in the film thickness direction on the air supporting surface of the slider, the slider material includes the constituent element group and the second constituent element group and / or the constituent compound group. It is possible to form a thin protective film that combines good adhesion at the interface and excellent sliding characteristics.
As a magnetic recording device, it is possible to realize high recording density and improvement in reliability by reducing spacing loss.
In addition, since a single-layer film is used as a device, a multi-chamber film-forming device which is necessary for a multilayer film is not required, and the effect of the device cost is great.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a magnetic head slider provided with a thin-film magnetic head element for explaining one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional process view of FIG. 1A-B.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Slider board, 2 ... Lower magnetic layer, 3 ... Insulating layer, 4 ... Coil conductor, 5 ... Upper magnetic film, 6 ... Magnetic head element, 7 ... Protective layer, 8 ... Sliding surface, 9 ... Protective film, 10 ... Slider recess area, 11 ... Rail part, 12 ... Front magnetic gap, 13 ... Thin film magnetic head slider.

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Asao Nakano 292, Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Hitachi, Ltd.Production Technology Research Laboratories Within Business Unit (72) Inventor Kiyoshi Ogata 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Hitachi, Ltd. Production Research Laboratory (56) References JP-A-4-276367 (JP, A) JP-A-6-12615 ( JP, A) JP-A-7-129924 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G11B 5/31 G11B 5/60

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] A coil conductor disposed between an upper magnetic film and a lower magnetic film on a slider substrate via an insulating film, and one end of each of the upper and lower magnetic films is magnetically connected. A front magnetic gap portion that constitutes a back core connection portion, and the other end portion is formed with a gap regulating insulating film interposed therebetween,
In a thin-film magnetic head comprising an air support surface and a protective film formed on a sliding surface including at least an end face of the front magnetic gap, the protective film serves as a base.
The adhesiveness to the slider material surface and the sliding resistance change continuously in the film thickness direction, and as the film thickness increases, the adhesiveness toward the protective film surface decreases from large to small while sliding resistance increases. A thin-film magnetic head comprising a non-magnetic single-layer inorganic protective film having a characteristic of increasing the performance from small to large. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the non-magnetic single-layer inorganic protective film is made of silicon,
At least one first element group consisting of aluminum and boron and at least one second element group consisting of tungsten carbide, boron nitride, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride, aluminum carbide, aluminum oxide, boron carbide, silicon carbide, and carbon; And the presence ratio of the second constituent element group and / or the constituent compound group decreases while the proportion of the first constituent element group decreases toward the surface of the protective film. 2. A structure comprising a single film structure having an increased ratio.
The thin-film magnetic head as described in the above. 3. The composition ratio of the first constituent element group on the bottom surface of the protective film is at least 5 atomic%, and the composition ratio of the second constituent element group and / or the constituent compound group on the outermost surface of the protective film is at least 60 atomic%. 3. The thin-film magnetic head according to claim 2, further comprising a protective film having an atomic%. 4. A thin-film magnetic head according to any one of claims 1 to 3 comprising the thickness of the protective film as 5 to 15 nm. 5. A step of forming a thin film magnetic head on a slider substrate in advance, a step of forming a protective film on an air supporting surface including a front gap end face, and a step of forming a slider on at least a region of the air supporting face including the front gap end face. Forming a rail surface, wherein the step of forming the protective film is performed by using a slurry as an underlayer.
The adhesiveness to the surface of the ida material and the sliding resistance change continuously in the film thickness direction, and as the film thickness increases, the adhesiveness to the protective film surface decreases from large to small while sliding resistance A method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, comprising: forming a nonmagnetic single-layer inorganic protective film having characteristics of increasing from small to large. 6. The step of forming the non-magnetic single-layer inorganic protective film includes the steps of: depositing at least one first element group consisting of silicon, aluminum, and boron; and forming tungsten carbide, boron nitride, and nitride. aluminum,
Depositing at least one second constituent element group and / or constituent compound group consisting of silicon nitride, aluminum carbide, aluminum oxide, boron carbide, silicon carbide, and carbon; The ratio of the constituent element group deposited by the step of depositing the second constituent element group and / or the constituent compound group is increased while decreasing the ratio of the constituent element group deposited by the depositing step toward the surface of the protective film. 6. The method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head according to claim 5 , comprising a step of forming a single film by continuously changing the composition in the film thickness direction. 7. A step of depositing the first group of constituent elements;
7. The method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head according to claim 6 , wherein the step of depositing the second constituent element group and / or the constituent compound group comprises a step of depositing by plasma CVD or plasma CVD having a sputtering function. 8. A step of depositing the first group of constituent elements;
The step of depositing the second group of constituent elements and / or the group of constituent compounds comprises a step of depositing by plasma CVD, and using SiH ₄ and CH _{4 as} source gases,
iH ₄ gas flow ratio is 100-5%, CH ₄ gas flow ratio is 0
~ 95%, flow rate ratio of SiH ₄ gas at the end of film formation is 0 ~ 40
%, CH ₄ gas flow rate of the method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head according to claim 6, wherein comprising a step of forming a combination of the range of 100 to 60%.