JP3471285B2 - Thermally assisted magnetic recording head and thermally assisted magnetic recording device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat-assisted magnetic recording head mounted on a magnetic recording device for magnetically recording and reproducing information, and a heat-assisted magnetic recording device using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A magnetic recording device for magnetically recording and reproducing information continues to develop as a large-capacity, high-speed, inexpensive information storage means. Especially in recent years hard disk drive (H
The progress of DD) is remarkable, and the recording density is 10G at the product level.
The internal data transfer rate of b / in ² exceeds 100 Mbps, and the cost per megabyte is reduced to several yen / MB. The densification of HDD is progressing as a culmination of several elemental technologies such as signal processing, mechanical servo, head, medium, HDI, etc., but in recent years, the thermal agitation problem of the medium has been revealed as an obstacle to densification of HDD. It's starting.

Higher magnetic recording density means finer recording cells
However, due to the miniaturization of recording cells,
Since the signal magnetic field is reduced, the specified signal-to-noise ratio (S / N)
In order to secure the above, it is essential to reduce the medium noise.
The main cause of medium noise is the disorder of the magnetic transition,
The size is proportional to the magnetization reversal unit of the medium. For magnetic media
If a thin film composed of polycrystalline magnetic particles (multi-particle thin film) is used
However, the magnetization reversal unit of the multi-particle thin film is
When the magnetic exchange interaction works, it is exchange-coupled.
It is composed of a plurality of magnetic particles. Conventionally, for example,
0 Mb / in ^TwoTo several Gb / in^TwoAt the recording density of
The main reason for the low noise in the medium is the exchange interaction between magnetic particles.
This is achieved by reducing
It was Latest 10Gb / in^TwoIn magnetic media of the class,
The conversion unit has been reduced to 2-3 magnetic particles.
In the future, the magnetization reversal unit will shrink until it corresponds to one magnetic particle.
It is expected to be smaller.

Therefore, in order to further reduce the magnetization reversal unit and secure a predetermined S / N in the future, it is necessary to reduce the size of the magnetic particles. If the volume of the magnetic particles is V, the magnetic energy of the particles is represented by KuV. Here, Ku is the magnetic anisotropy energy density of the particles. When V is decreased to reduce noise, KuV decreases, and thermal energy near the room temperature disturbs recorded information, which causes a thermal disturbance problem. According to the analysis of Shallok et al., The magnetic energy and thermal energy (k
T; k: Boltzmann constant, T: absolute temperature ratio, KuV
If / kT is not a value of about 100, the reliability of the recording life will be impaired. With the CoCr-based alloy Ku (2-3 × 10 ⁶ erg / cc) that has been conventionally used for the medium magnetic film, it is difficult to secure thermal agitation resistance if the grain size is reduced for noise reduction. Is approaching.

Therefore, in recent years, 10 such as CoPt and FePd
Magnetic film materials exhibiting a Ku of ⁷ erg / cc or more have been attracting attention, but another problem becomes apparent when Ku is simply increased in order to achieve both grain size reduction and thermal agitation resistance. It is a matter of recording sensitivity. When Ku of the medium magnetic film is increased, the recording coercive force (Hc0 = Ku / Isb; Isb: net magnetization of the medium magnetic film) of the medium increases, and the magnetic field required for saturation recording increases in proportion to Hc0. The recording magnetic field generated from the recording head and applied to the medium depends not only on the current supplied to the recording coil but also on the recording magnetic pole material, magnetic pole shape, spacing, type of medium, film thickness, etc. Considering that the size of the tip of the recording magnetic pole is reduced, the magnitude of the generated magnetic field is limited. For example, even with a combination of a single magnetic pole head having the largest generated magnetic field and a soft magnetic backing perpendicular medium, the magnitude of the recording magnetic field is limited to about 10 kOe at most. On the other hand, with a particle size of about 5 nm, which is required for future high-density, low-noise media, to obtain sufficient thermal disturbance resistance, 10 ⁷ erg
It is necessary to employ a magnetic film material having a Ku of at least / cc, but in that case, the magnetic field required for recording on the medium at room temperature is slightly higher than 10 kOe, and recording cannot be performed. Therefore, if the Ku of the medium is simply increased, the problem that the recording itself cannot be performed becomes apparent.

As described above, in the magnetic recording using the conventional multi-particle type medium, there is a trade-off relationship between the reduction of noise, the assurance of thermal agitation resistance and the assurance of recording sensitivity, which gives a limit to the recording density. . As a proposal for solving this problem, there is a heat-assisted magnetic recording system.

In the heat-assisted magnetic recording method using a multi-particle type medium, fine magnetic particles having a sufficiently low noise are used, and a high K value is obtained near room temperature in order to secure thermal agitation resistance.
A recording layer exhibiting u is used. In the medium having such a large Ku, the magnetic field required for recording exceeds the magnetic field generated by the recording head and recording is impossible near room temperature. A medium heating means such as a light beam or an electron beam is arranged in the vicinity of the recording magnetic pole, and the medium is locally heated at the time of recording so that Hc0 of the heating portion is lowered to a head magnetic field or less for recording. An important point in realizing this basic concept is to supply the recording magnetic field at the timing before the medium is cooled during or immediately after heating to complete the recording, and after the recording is completed, the medium is cooled sufficiently. In order to prevent re-inversion of the recording magnetization due to the influence of thermal agitation, and to prevent the adjacent magnetic transition from being destroyed by thermal agitation, only a small area of the width of the recording magnetic pole should be prevented so as to prevent the adjacent magnetic transition from being destroyed. It is to heat selectively.

[0008]

In heat-assisted magnetic recording, it is necessary for the heat source to generate sufficient heat rays to heat the medium sufficiently. Output reduction of heat source due to heat generation of itself,
Degradation becomes an important issue to be solved. Laser beams and electron beams are examples of practical heat sources. Particularly when a laser is used as a heat source, the region up to the oscillation threshold current is entirely consumed for heat generation, and the heat generation of the laser itself is considerably large. This heat generation causes problems such as a decrease in oscillation output and a decrease in the recording magnetic field due to a temperature rise of the recording magnetic pole arranged close to the laser.

In order to use the laser beam efficiently and to arrange the heating position and the recording magnetic field applying position close to each other, the light source is formed directly on the slider by a thin film process rather than guiding the light beam by a fiber or the like, or It is better to stick it on the slider. In this case, a part of the heat generated by the light source escapes to the slider side, but the slider does not act as an efficient heat sink because the heat capacity of the slider is small and the heat dissipation efficiency is low.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the conventional heat-assisted magnetic recording, and solves various problems in the heat-assisted magnetic recording head and the heat-assisted magnetic recording device due to heat generation of the heat source itself. It is provided for the purpose.

[0011]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a recording element section having a recording magnetic pole, and
The recording magnetic pole of the recording medium is disposed close to the recording element section.
A heat source for selectively heating a small area of about
Raw element part, and these recording element part, heat source, and reproducing element
The slider that supports the child part and the above description of this slider.
The lower surface facing the recording medium is covered with a material with high thermal conductivity,
At least a portion of the member is thermally coupled to the heat source
A heat sink is provided to prevent the air flow entering the lower surface.
The heat-assisted magnet is characterized by further cooling the heat source.
An air recording head is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, a recording having a recording magnetic pole is provided.
The element section and the recording element section are arranged close to each other, and
Selectively heating a minute region of the width of the recording magnetic pole
For heat source, reproducing element section, these recording element section, heat
This slider and the slider that supports the source and playback element
A chip fan is equipped with a micro fan on the upper rear end of the rider.
And a piezoelectric bimorph element,
Due to the operation of the bimorph element,
Sending an air flow to the heat source provided at the rear end of the slider
A thermally assisted magnetic recording head is provided.

Further , according to the present invention, recording having a recording magnetic pole
The element section and the recording element section are arranged close to each other, and
Selectively heating a minute region of the width of the recording magnetic pole
For heat source, reproducing element section, these recording element section, heat
This slider and the slider that supports the source and playback element
Change the direction of the air flow attached to the rear end of the rider
An air flow control plate, wherein the air flow control plate is
The airflow flowing into the rider is controlled by the rear end of the slider.
Of heat-assisted magnetism, which is guided to the heat source provided in
Provide an air recording head.

Further , in the present invention, recording having a recording magnetic pole
The element section and the recording element section are arranged close to each other, and
Selectively heating a minute region of the width of the recording magnetic pole
For heat source, reproducing element section, these recording element section, heat
This slider and the slider that supports the source and playback element
From the lower surface of the rider facing the recording medium, the heat source
To the joint surface with this slider,
At least one hole penetrating to the surface opposite the surface.
The heat source is cooled by the airflow flowing into the hole.
Providing a heat-assisted magnetic recording head characterized by
To do .

Further , in the present invention, recording having a recording magnetic pole
The element section and the recording element section are arranged close to each other, and
Selectively heating a minute region of the width of the recording magnetic pole
Heat source for reproducing, reproducing element section, recording element section, heat source
And a negative pressure slider for supporting the reproducing element section
On the lower surface of the pad part provided on the negative pressure slider.
The lower ends of the heat sources formed in alignment are the same as those of the recording medium.
It is characterized by sliding on a lubricating layer to cool the heat source.
A thermally assisted magnetic recording head is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, the above-mentioned heat-assisted magnetic recording head and the heat source selectively allow a minute area to be formed.
A heat-assisted magnetic recording apparatus comprising: a recording medium which is heated and whose coercive force of the heating portion is lower than the recording magnetic field generated from the recording element portion.

[0017]

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

The present invention basically requires a heat-assisted magnetic recording head having a heat source as long as it has a means for preventing the temperature rise of the heat source itself, and the heat-assisted magnetic recording head having such means. It may be a heat-assisted magnetic recording device equipped with a head.

There are roughly four means for preventing the temperature rise of the heat source itself. The first is to have a heat sink member that is in thermal contact with the heat source, the second is to forcibly cool the heat source by air cooling with a piezoelectric bimorph fan, and the third is to devise a slider shape to make it a slider. Introduce a part of the air flow passing through to the heat source to cool the heat source by air, and the fourth is to bring the heat source into thermal contact with the medium as a huge heat sink. The present invention is constituted by each of the above-mentioned four means or by appropriately combining them.

In the embodiment including the first heat sink member, a heat sink made of a material having a high thermal conductivity and a high heat dissipation efficiency is used, and the heat sink is a slider AB.
A mode in which the heat sink is guided to the S surface and air-cooled, a heat sink is guided to the side wall of the slider and air-cooled by the air flow, and a heat sink is guided to the gimbal side surface of the slider and the heat radiation of the suspension, which is a relatively large heat sink, is performed through the gimbal. And the like. In addition, although it is similar to the combined use with the second, there is an aspect in which the heat sink is air-cooled by a piezoelectric bimorph fan or the like. In devising the third slider shape to guide part of the air flow to the heat source, devise the slider shape near the slider side wall or the slider rear end where the heat source is provided to smoothly move the air flow to the heat source side. A manner of guiding, arranging a through hole in the slider to bring the path of the through hole close to the heat source,
Examples include a mode in which a part of the air flow is introduced into the through hole.
In the means for devising the slider shape, the shape is determined in consideration of the flying characteristics of the slider, measures for preventing particles from adhering to the thin film element portion, and the like. The means for using the fourth medium as a heat sink means contact recording, for example, a mode in which the tip of the heat source portion slides on the medium lubricating layer. The thermal conductivity of the lubricating layer itself is low, but the layer thickness is nm or sub-nm, so that the thermal resistance does not become large. Since the DLC protective film having a high thermal conductivity is arranged below the lubricating layer and the metallic magnetic layer having a high thermal conductivity is further arranged below the lubricating layer, it is possible to effectively prevent the temperature rise of the heat source. (Embodiment) An embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings for each of the main means for preventing the temperature rise of the heat source. Before describing the embodiments directly related to the present invention, an outline of the heat-assisted magnetic recording apparatus according to the present invention will be first described.

FIG. 1 is a main configuration diagram of a magnetic disk device. Reference numeral 1 is a magnetic head, 2 is a medium, 3 is a casing accommodating a mechanical servo system and an electric system, and 4 is a chassis. In an actual magnetic disk device, as shown in FIG. 1, it is used in a form sealed with a housing.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the magnetic head 1.
Is a slider, 12 is a gimbal portion, 13 is a suspension, 14 is a lead wire, and 15 is a center of rotation of the head. The recording / reproducing thin film element portion is provided on the front surface or side surface of the slider in FIG. The magnetic head having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 is formed by, for example, forming a recording / reproducing element on a Altic wafer substrate (finally becoming the slider 11) by a thin film process, then performing row cutting, chip cutting, and slider shape processing. It can be prepared by attaching the slider 11 to the gimbal portion 12 at the tip of the suspension arm 13 and connecting the lead wire 14 to the contact pad portion of the thin film element portion. The suspension unit 13 may be an integrated type as shown in FIG. 2 or a multi-stage type. In the case of the multi-stage type, a piezoelectric element is provided between the first stage (attached to the rotor) and the second stage to finely adjust the slider position. A configuration that enables Alternatively, the gimbal portion 12 may be composed of a piezoelectric element to allow fine adjustment of the slider position.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a relative positional relationship between the slider 11 and the medium 2. The slider 11 is arranged so that the thin film element portion (the right end surface of the slider) of the medium 2 is closest to the medium. In FIG. 3, the medium moving direction is from the left side to the right side, and the air flow is generated in the medium moving direction and blows on the slider from the surface opposite to the surface of the slider on which the thin film element is provided (the left end surface of the slider). What characterizes the thermally-assisted magnetic recording device of the present invention is the thin film element portion provided on the slider, and particularly the recording element portion.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the main structure of the recording element portion, which corresponds to an enlarged view of the slider right end portion of FIG.
In FIG. 4, 5 is an edge emitting laser device as a heat source,
6 is a recording element section, 7 is a reproducing element section, 8 is a protective member, and the heat source 5 is composed of a first cladding layer 51, an active layer 52, a second cladding layer 53, and an optical aperture 54. The part 6 includes a main magnetic pole 61, a return path 62, and a coil 6.
The reproducing element section 7 is composed of a first shield 62, a GMR reproducing element 71, and a second shield 72 which are also used as the return path of the recording element.

The heat-assisted magnetic recording head having the structure shown in FIG. 4 can be formed monolithically or hybridly. For example, a first clad layer 51, an active layer 52 and a second clad layer 53 are grown on a GaAs substrate by MOCVD. After that (although not shown, the electrode films are arranged on the upper and lower sides), the wall is opened, and the laser device 5 which is quiet by forming films of appropriate reflectances on both surfaces of the resonator (upper and lower surfaces of the laser device of FIG. 4) is formed. After thinly polishing the GaAs substrate as needed, a large number of them are bonded to the Altic wafer 11 at equal intervals. After that, a thin film process is performed to first emit the laser element (the lower end surface of the active layer in FIG. 4).
Finally, a space between the surfaces where the optical apertures are provided is filled with a transparent film and processed into a predetermined shape. Here, the predetermined shape means, for example, processing into a shape such that the optical aperture and the main pole are arranged close to each other. Then, the frame plating process is repeated to repeat the main magnetic pole 61, the coil 63, and the return path 62.
Are sequentially formed, and the surface is flattened as necessary. Next, the first gap film, the GMR reproducing film, the bias film, the lead film, the second gap film, and the second shield film 72 are laminated while being processed into a predetermined shape, and finally the protective film 8 is coated, and the substrate 11 is cut. And process the slider. After coating a reflective film on the ABS surface after row cutting or chip cutting, and opening an optical aperture 54 by FIB near the central portion of the laser element active layer, the heat-assisted magnetic recording head of FIG. 4 can be obtained. The element of FIG. 4 has two terminals for the laser element section, the recording element section, and the reproducing element section, and a total of six lead wires 14 are mounted. The lead wire 14 is connected to a laser drive source, a recording current source, and a reproduction signal detection system housed in the casing 3.

The thermally assisted magnetic recording according to the present invention can be carried out, for example, by the following procedure using the configuration shown in FIGS. The medium recording layer has, for example, a room temperature coercive force Hc0 of 30.
The one with kOe is used, and Hc0 is higher than the recording magnetic field (about 10 kOe) generated from the recording element at room temperature, and recording is impossible. This medium is moved at, for example, 10 m / s, the laser element 5 is driven to emit a light beam from the optical aperture 54, and the medium arranged in proximity is irradiated and heated. For example, heating at about 250 ° C. lowers Hc0 to less than 10 kOe, and recording is performed by the recording magnetic field generated from the main magnetic pole 54. For reproduction, normal GMR reproduction may be performed. The laser element emits light of several to several tens of mW, and the element itself also generates heat. The degree of heat generation of the element depends on the type of laser used and the wavelength, but it is 100 in the tens of mW class laser.
It is accompanied by heat generation of about mW. Heat flows into the slider,
Since the slider has a small heat capacity, the slider temperature rises immediately and the laser temperature rises. Examples for preventing the temperature rise of the heat source directly related to the present invention will be sequentially described below. [Embodiment 1] In this embodiment 1, an example of attaching a heat sink member to a heat source will be described.

5A and 5B are views showing the configuration of the first embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 5A is a view of the slider as seen from the ABS surface, and FIG. 5B is a view of the slider as seen from the side. is there. There are various types of slider shapes, but FIG.
Then, a so-called tripad-shaped positive pressure type is exemplified. In FIG. 5, 11 is a slider, 111 is a ski portion, 112 is a pad portion, and 113 is a heat sink member according to the present invention. The thin film element portion is provided on the right end surface in FIG. 5, and the pad 112 is close to the medium surface.

The slider shown in FIG. 5 can be created by the following procedure, for example. First, in FIG. 4, the heat sink film 113 of high heat conduction connected to the electrode of the laser element
Is formed on the right end surface of the substrate by plating or sputtering. Then, according to the above-mentioned process, the recording / reproducing element portion is laminated using a thin film process, and slider processing is performed into the shape of FIG. After that, a heat sink film 113 having a high thermal conductivity is formed in the concave portion of the slider ABS surface by a plating method or the like. As the high thermal conductive film, Au, Cu, Ag, Al or the like can be used, and when a single element does not have sufficient corrosion resistance,
It suffices to add an additional element to the extent that thermal conductivity is not lowered or to provide a stable metal compound film on the heat sink film. Examples of using additional elements are CuAl, AgP
Examples thereof include dCu, AlTi and AlMo.
The heat sink film 113 may be provided not only on the ABS surface side of the slider but also on the slider side wall or the slider upper surface. When it is provided on the ABS surface, the airflow blown to the heat sink film is the fastest, so that the heat dissipation effect is large. When a heat sink film is provided on the upper surface of the slider, it is preferable that the gimbal portion 12 is connected and heat is radiated via a suspension having a relatively large heat sink effect. [Embodiment 2] In Embodiment 2, an embodiment will be described in which a piezoelectric bimorph fan is chip-mounted on a slider and a laser element or a heat sink member is air-cooled.

6A and 6B are views showing the structure of the slider used in the present embodiment. FIG. 6A is a view of the slider viewed from the ABS surface, and FIG. 6B is a view of the slider viewed from the side. The slider having the shape shown in FIG. 6 is a so-called Shaped-R.
It is an ail type positive pressure type that secures a pitch angle in a low flying operation. In FIG. 6, 1
1 is a slider body, 12 is a gimbal portion, 13 is a suspension, 111 is a ski portion, 5 is a heat source represented by a laser element, 6 is a recording element, 7 is a reproducing element, 114 is a piezoelectric bimorph fan chip, and 115 is a microfan. Is.

The slider shown in FIG. 6 can be created by the following procedure, for example. In this example, the thin film element portion is formed by recessing from the upper surface of the slider to the lower side. The thin film element portion is formed, cut, and processed into a slider by the same means as in the above-mentioned embodiment, and then a separately prepared piezoelectric bimorph fan is chip-mounted on the slider. The micro fan is set at a position where air is blown into the laser element. When a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element (two terminals are sufficient), the piezoelectric element made of PZT or the like vibrates, and a microfan attached to the element operates to blow air to the laser element side for cooling.

The piezoelectric element may be attached at a position for directly cooling the laser element as shown in FIG. 6, but it may be arranged so as to blow air on the heat sink member described in the above embodiment. However, since it is difficult to mount the chip on the ABS side, it is preferable to mount it on the side surface or the upper surface of the slider to cool the heat sink member. Further, in a mode in which the heat sink member is guided to the gimbal portion and is brought into thermal contact with the gimbal portion, air may be blown to the gimbal portion to cool it. [Third Embodiment] In a third embodiment, an embodiment will be described in which a slider shape is devised to guide an air flow to a heat source.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a prototype slider,
(A) is the figure seen from the ABS surface, (b) is the figure seen from the side. In this embodiment, the conventional so-called Two-Ra is used.
A positive taper type slider shape of il Taper-Flat type was used. The thin film element part is formed at the rear end of the ski. In FIG. 7, 11 is a slider body, 111 is a ski part, 5 is a laser element part, 6 is a recording element part, 7 is a reproducing element part, and 116 is an air flow control plate.

The slider of FIG. 7 can be created by the following means, for example. The formation of the thin film element, the cutting, and the processing of the slider are carried out in the same manner as in the above embodiment, and finally, the air flow control plate is attached to the center of the rear end portion of the slider. The airflow that has flowed at the same speed as the medium linear velocity on the ABS surface of the slider hits the control plate 116 and is guided to the thin film element portion to air-cool the element. In this case, although the slider receives a force backward (to the right in FIG. 7) by the air flow, it does not receive a force particularly in the up-down direction, and therefore has little influence on the flying characteristics.

As another embodiment in which the slider shape is devised, there is a mode in which a minute hole penetrating in the vicinity of the heat source element of the slider is provided and an air flow is made to flow through this hole. For example, in the slider having the shape shown in FIG. 7, the through holes are arranged obliquely from the vicinity of the heat source element in the recess other than the ski portion on the ABS surface toward the heat source element, and penetrate the AlTiC substrate to the heat source element substrate surface. And a second hole portion that is connected to the end of the first hole portion from the upper portion of the heat source element on the surface opposite to the ABS surface, for example. With such a structure, a part of the airflow flowing into the ABS surface is guided to the first hole of the through hole, and the heat source element substrate is air-cooled, while being opposed to the ABS surface through the second hole. Spill to the side surface. The above-described method of forming the holes is an example, and in short, it is sufficient that the holes for cooling the heat source element are provided. [Embodiment 4] In this embodiment, an embodiment of contact recording in which a heat source is positively pressed against a medium will be described.

FIGS. 8A and 8B show an example of a negative pressure slider manufactured as a prototype. FIG. 8A is a view seen from the ABS surface, and FIG. 8B is a side view showing the medium. A so-called Sub-Ambient type negative pressure slider is adopted in the present embodiment, and a negative pressure is generated by the air flow, and the thin film element portion positively contacts the medium surface.

The procedure for producing the slider shown in FIG. 8 is the same as that in the above-described embodiment, and is the formation, cutting and slider processing of the thin film element portion. The laser element portion slides on the lubricating layer of the medium by the operation, and a part of the heat generated by the element is guided to the medium side that acts as a huge heat sink to prevent the temperature rise of the laser element. [Embodiment 5] For the purpose of quantitatively clarifying the effects of Embodiments 1-4 described above, the stability of recording operation was comparatively evaluated.
That is, the heat-assisted magnetic recording head according to the present invention shown in FIG. 4 was provided to the head gimbal assembly shown in FIG. 3 and mounted on the magnetic recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 to perform a recording experiment. The outline of the recording experiment is as described before Example 1. The slider used is shown in FIG.
The laser device for which temperature rise prevention measures were taken and the laser device for comparison which did not take temperature rise prevention measures were used. Medium linear velocity is 10m
/ S, the optical aperture size was 200 nm (track width direction) and 500 nm (track direction), and the initial value of the light emission power from the aperture was about 5 mW. As a result of thermal analysis of the medium, it has been confirmed that the medium temperature is raised to a temperature at which Hc0 falls below the recording magnetic field by such power irradiation. The recording was performed by irradiating the laser beam in a DC manner while shaking the recording magnetic field at a high frequency. Two linear recording densities, 200 kfci and 300 kfci, were selected. After recording at one recording frequency, a reproduction signal was read by GMR, overwriting was performed at the other recording frequency, and signal reading was repeated again. The reproduced signal was read by attaching a spectrum analyzer to the reproducing circuit system. When the laser element generates heat, the threshold current increases and the optical output decreases, so it was investigated here whether the laser drive current for sufficient recording changes. By the way, regarding the characteristics of the laser element alone, when the operating environment temperature was 30 ° C., the threshold current was 50 mA, and the operating current for obtaining an optical output of 5 mW was 60 mA. In addition, the operating environment temperature characteristic is 1
The optical output characteristic shifts toward a higher operating current by about 5 mA with an increase of 0 ° C. When the temperature exceeds 80 ° C., the rising of the optical output with respect to the operating current above the threshold becomes slow and the output tends to be saturated. And when the temperature exceeded 100 ° C, it stopped oscillating. The operating environment temperature is controlled to 30 ° C. in the case where the heat source temperature rise prevention measure of the present invention described in the above-mentioned Examples 1-4 is taken and in the case where the heat source temperature rise prevention measure is not particularly taken according to the prior art. In this atmosphere, the recording operation was continued while controlling the laser operating current so as to maintain the reproduction signal immediately after the operation of the heat source (in this case, the laser element) was started, and the time change of the recording current was monitored.
The slider used in the experiment is sample 1-1: a structure in which a heat sink is attached to the heat source and the heat sink is guided to the ABS surface, sample 1-2: a structure in which the heat sink is attached to the heat source and the heat sink is led to the upper surface of the slider and connected to a gimbal, sample 2 -1: A structure in which a piezoelectric bimorph fan is attached to the rear end of the slider to cool the heat source by air, Sample 2-
2: Sample 1-2, configuration in which a piezoelectric bimorph fan for air cooling the gimbal is attached, sample 3-1: configuration in which an airflow control plate is attached to the rear end surface of the slider, sample 3-2: through hole in the slider Was prepared, Sample 4-1: a structure in which the heat source was positively brought into thermal contact with the medium by a negative pressure slider, and Sample C: a structure in which no heat source temperature rise prevention measures were taken according to the conventional technique.
Table 1 shows the continuous operation time when the operation current exceeds 85 mW. It is considered that an optical output of about 5 mW is required to obtain the same reproduction signal as in the initial stage. Therefore, the fact that the operating current reaches 85 mW means that the operating environment temperature of the laser element is substantially 8
This means that the temperature reached 0 ° C.

[Table 1] As is clear from Table 1, in the sample C in which the heat source temperature rising prevention measure is not applied, the operating current reached 85 mA in the continuous recording operation of 2H at the most, whereas according to the present invention, the heat source temperature rise prevention measure was taken. When applied, all showed significant improvements, demonstrating improved operational stability.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the semiconductor laser device that generates the most heat is used as the heat source is illustrated.
The present invention is not particularly limited to the form of a heat source, and is useful for all heat-assisted magnetic recording devices that employ an electron beam source or another heat source.

[0039]

According to the present invention, the operation stability of the heat source can be remarkably improved in the heat-assisted magnetic recording system which breaks the recording density limit of the existing room temperature magnetic recording / reproducing system. It greatly contributes to high density magnetic recording.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of a heat-assisted magnetic recording device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a head gimbal assembly mounted on the heat-assisted magnetic recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relative positional relationship between a slider and a medium in heat-assisted magnetic recording according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a thin film element portion mounted in the thermally-assisted magnetic recording device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of a slider mounted in the heat-assisted magnetic recording device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of a slider mounted in the heat-assisted magnetic recording device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a third embodiment of a slider mounted in the heat-assisted magnetic recording device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a fourth embodiment of a slider mounted in the heat-assisted magnetic recording device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 magnetic head 2 medium 3 casing 4 chassis 5 Edge emitting laser device 6 Recording element section 7 Playback element section 8 protective member 11 slider 12 Gimbal part 13 suspension 14 lead wire 15 Head rotation center

Continuation of front page (56) Reference JP-A-9-305903 (JP, A) JP-A-8-212617 (JP, A) JP-A-5-342595 (JP, A) JP-A-3-58303 (JP , A) JP-A-2-66701 (JP, A) JP-A-13-283403 (JP, A) JP-A-2001-216673 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) ) G11B 5/02

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A recording element portion having a recording magnetic pole, and
The width of the recording magnetic pole of the recording medium, which is arranged close to the recording element section.
Heat source for selectively heating a minute area and regeneration
Element part, and these recording element part, heat source, and reproducing element
Slider that supports the section and the recording of this slider
The lower surface facing the medium is covered with a member with high thermal conductivity,
At least a portion of the member is thermally coupled to the heat source.
A heat sink, and is provided by an air flow flowing into the lower surface.
Heat-assisted magnetism characterized by cooling the heat source
Recording head. 2. A recording element portion having a recording magnetic pole, and
The width of the recording magnetic pole of the recording medium, which is arranged close to the recording element section.
Heat source for selectively heating a minute area and regeneration
Element part, and these recording element part, heat source, and reproducing element
And the upper part of the rear end of this slider
Chip-mounted piezoelectric bar with micro fan
And a piezoelectric bimorph element.
Movement causes the micro fan to move to the rear end of the slider.
Heat characterized by sending an air flow to the heat source provided in the section
Assisted magnetic recording head. 3. A recording element portion having a recording magnetic pole, and
The width of the recording magnetic pole of the recording medium, which is arranged close to the recording element section.
Heat source for selectively heating a minute area and regeneration
Element part, and these recording element part, heat source, and reproducing element
The slider that supports the part and the rear end surface of this slider
And an air flow control plate that changes the direction of the attached air flow.
The air flow control plate flows into the slider.
Airflow to the heat source at the rear end of the slider
A thermally assisted magnetic recording head characterized by leading. 4. A recording element portion having a recording magnetic pole, and
The width of the recording magnetic pole of the recording medium, which is arranged close to the recording element section.
Heat source for selectively heating a minute area and regeneration
Element part, and these recording element part, heat source, and reproducing element
Slider that supports the section and the recording of this slider
From the lower surface facing the medium, the heat source and this slider
Reach the joint surface of the
At least one hole through which the fluid flows.
Characterized in that the heat source is cooled by an incoming air flow.
Thermally assisted magnetic recording head. 5. A recording element portion having a recording magnetic pole, and
The width of the recording magnetic pole of the recording medium, which is arranged close to the recording element section.
Heat source for selectively heating a minute area and regeneration
Element part and recording element part, heat source and reproducing element part
And a negative pressure slider for supporting the negative pressure slider.
Front formed on the bottom surface of the pad provided on the dar
The lower end of the heat source slides on the lubricating layer of the recording medium,
Thermally assisted magnetic recording characterized by cooling the heat source
Recording head. 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5.
The heat-assisted magnetic recording head and the heat source cause
The area is selectively heated, and the coercive force of this heating section is recorded as above.
A recording medium that is lower than the recording magnetic field generated from the element part
A heat-assisted magnetic recording device comprising: