JPH01211210A - Magnetic head slider - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To stably maintain the sliding and floating state of a slider with respect to a medium surface by removing only the surface layer of titanium carbide exposed on the floatage generating surface of two pieces of floating rails, then covering the surface of the titanium carbide exposed in the recessed after the removal with titanium oxide. CONSTITUTION:Only the titanium carbide (TiC) particles 24 in the surface layer part are removed on the floatage generating surface 22 of the floating rails 21 of the slider consisting of Al2O3.TiC and the TiC forming surface exposed in the parts recessed from the other aluminum oxide (Al2O3) particle surface 23 is oxidized by an oxidation treatment, etc,. and is formed as the chemically stable titanium oxide (TiO2) film 25. Direct contact of the chemically active TiC particle surface with a lubricating agent is, therefore, obviated when the magnetic head slider is slid with the surface of the magnetic recording medium. The sliding and floating state is thus stably maintained.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] This invention relates to a magnetic head slider used in magnetic disk drives, etc., and is made of an aluminum oxide ceramic material containing titanium carbide, and is equipped with a levitation rail having a levitation force generating surface. Regarding the improvement of the magnetic herad slider, A2□0.・The TiC particle surface exposed on the floating rail surface of a slider made of TiC does not come into direct contact with the medium surface, and moreover, it is a so-called chemically stable surface that does not chemically react with lubricants, etc., and the slider is attached to the medium surface. The slider body is made of aluminum oxide ceramic material containing titanium carbide, and has a levitation force generating surface on the surface facing the magnetic recording medium, and an air outflow end surface. In the structure of the slider, the titanium carbide component in the surface layer portion of the levitation force generating surface of the at least two levitation rails is removed, and the titanium carbide component is removed. The titanium carbide component surface exposed in the rear recess is a titanium oxide surface.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a magnetic helad slider used in a magnetic disk device, etc., and particularly relates to an improvement of a magnetic helad slider that is made of an aluminum oxide ceramic material containing titanium carbide and is equipped with a levitation rail having a levitation force generating surface. be.

In magnetic disk devices and the like, as the recording density of magnetic disk media becomes higher, it is required that the flying distance of the magnetic rad slider with respect to the medium be further reduced.

Therefore, as the flying height becomes lower, the possibility and frequency of the magnetic rad slider colliding with the disk medium during recording and playback naturally increases, and so-called head crashes occur, which damage both the disk medium and the magnetic head. In order to prevent such troubles, a lubricant is applied to the surface of the magnetic disk medium.

However, it is difficult to prevent these failures by applying such a lubricant, and there is a strong demand for a magnetic rad slider that can effectively prevent these failures.

[Conventional technology]

As shown in FIG. 2, the conventional magnetic herad slider has a levitation force generating surface 4 on the surface of the slider body 1 where the magnetic recording medium ζ is loaded.
. ing.

The slider body 1 is made of titanium carbide (Ti), which has excellent wear resistance.
C) aluminum oxide (8ρ203) ceramic material containing, for example, 82□0. - Made of TiC.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, A l zo*・TiC that constitutes the slider body 1 in the magnetic herad slider as described above is A
I! , 203 and TiC particles at a ratio of approximately 7:3, and Aj! Since the particle surfaces of zo3 and TiC are exposed at the above ratio, chemically active Ti
A stable sliding condition and subsequent levitation of the slider are achieved due to uneven wear of the C particle surface during sliding with the magnetic recording medium surface, or denaturation due to reaction with the lubricant applied to the medium surface due to frictional heat. There was a problem in that it was difficult to maintain a stable condition.

In particular, when stopped, the magnetic helide slider is in contact with the medium surface, and as the rotational speed of the medium increases, the slider is levitated to perform recording and reproducing, so-called C3S (Contact
When applying the 5tart 5top) method, such problems occur significantly. For example, due to denaturation of the lubricant, it becomes difficult for the magnetic head slider surface to separate from the medium surface when the magnetic recording medium starts rotating, or both surfaces become There were drawbacks such as head crashes causing damage.

Therefore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 166562/1983 has been proposed as a magnetic rad slider to solve this problem. That is, as shown in the cross-sectional view of the main part in FIG.
Only the surface layer of the TiC particle surface 14 of the zO:+ particle surface 13 and the TiC particle surface 14 is removed.

Although the gliding surface 12 has a depression in the TiC removal trace, it is actually Af20. The structure is made up of only particle surfaces, and is intended to improve start-stop characteristics and flying characteristics.

However, in the slider with such an improved structure, the chemically active TiC particle surface is still exposed in the depression where the surface layer of the TiC particle surface 14 portion of the rail glide surface 12 has been removed. There was a risk that the lubricant or the like would chemically react and denature the lubricant, making the sliding and flying conditions of the slider unstable.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention has been developed to
The TiC particle surface exposed on the floating rail surface of the slider made of iC is not brought into direct contact with the medium surface, and is made into a so-called chemically stable surface that does not chemically react with lubricants etc. The object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic head slider whose sliding and flying conditions are stabilized.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a magnetic head on the levitation force generating surface and the air outflow end surface of the slider body, which is formed of an aluminum oxide ceramic material containing titanium carbide, on the surface facing the magnetic recording medium. In the structure of a slider having at least two floating rails having a supporting region, the titanium carbide component in the surface layer portion of the floating force generating surface of both of the two floating rails is removed, and the titanium carbide component after the removal is The titanium carbide component surface exposed in the recess is a titanium oxide surface.

[Function] The magnetic herad slider of the present invention has an A2□0.・The titanium carbide component on the surface layer of the levitation force generating surface of the levitation rail of the TiC slider is removed, and the chemically active titanium carbide component surface exposed in the recess after removal is chemically stabilized by oxidation treatment. By making the surface a titanium oxide surface, the surface of the titanium carbide component denatures the lubricant applied to the surface of the medium due to uneven wear or chemical reaction when the slider slides against the surface of the magnetic recording medium. This eliminates this problem, and it becomes possible to maintain a stable sliding state and floating state.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a main part of a floating rail portion for explaining an embodiment of a magnetic herad slider according to the present invention.

In the figure, 21 is a floating rail of the slider made of Al t'3.TiC, and the floating force generating surface 22 of the floating rail 21 has a surface layer made of titanium carbide (
Only the TiC) particles 24 are removed, and the TiC components exposed in the recesses after removal, which are recessed from the other aluminum oxide (Affi□03) particle surfaces 23, are oxidized by surface oxidation treatment or the like to produce chemically stable titanium oxide. The structure is such that it is covered with a (TiO□) film 25.

Therefore, when the magnetic rad slider is slid on the surface of the magnetic recording medium, the surface of the titanium carbide particles does not come into direct contact with the lubricant, so that the sliding and floating state can be stably maintained.

As a method for forming the levitation force generation surface of the levitation rail in the slider as described above, first, the levitation force generation surface 2 is
For example, only the 24 portion of the titanium carbide (TiC) particles exposed to the
Etching is selectively removed by a thickness of about 0 to 1000 layers. At this time, the surface of the A2□03 particle 23 exposed at the same time on the levitation force generating surface 22, the Ni-Fe of the attached thin film magnetic head, or the amorphous Co-Zr
The tip surface of the magnetic pole made of such materials is not affected by this plasma etching in any way.

Next, the TiC particle surface exposed after this selective etching removal is selectively heated and oxidized using oxygen (0□) gas plasma or laser beam irradiation, thereby removing the TiC.
The surface layer of the particles is made of chemically stable titanium carbide (Ti(h)).
It is formed by forming the film 25.

Incidentally, the crush resistance of the magnetic herad slider according to this embodiment and the conventional magnetic helad slider in which the above-mentioned treatment is not applied to the levitation force generating surface of the levitation rail is different from that of the 7-P which has been subjected to lubrication treatment.
The following table shows the results of a comparative study of the number of times the slider passes until it crashes when the ezOz sputtered thin film medium is forced to slide at a high speed rotation of 25 m/sec.

Table As is clear from this table, the crush resistance of the magnetic herad slider according to the embodiment of the present invention is significantly improved by about 10 times over that of the conventional example, and although it is not shown as comparative data, A significant improvement was confirmed compared to a conventional magnetic RAD slider in which only the Tic particle portion exposed on the levitation force generating surface of the levitation rail was selectively removed.

In addition, in the above embodiment, an example was explained in which a slider using Alzo or x-based ceramic containing TiC was used. Needless to say, it can also be applied to

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above explanation, according to the magnetic herad slider of the present invention, only the surface layer of chemically active titanium carbide exposed on the levitation force generating surface of the levitation rail is removed, and By covering the titanium carbide surface exposed after its removal with chemically stable titanium oxide, and forming a sliding surface made only of aluminum oxide, which has excellent sliding properties and wear resistance, that is, a levitation force generating surface, When sliding against the magnetic recording medium surface, the titanium carbide particle surface is prevented from directly contacting and reacting with the lubricant, and the sliding and floating state can be maintained stably.

Therefore, the durability of not only the magnetic herad slider but also the magnetic recording medium is improved, and the lifespan thereof can be extended, which is a practical advantage.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a floating rail portion showing one embodiment of a magnetic helical slider according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional magnetic helicoidal slider, and Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a conventional magnetic helicoidal slider. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part for explaining a floating rail portion of the magnetic herad slider of FIG. In Fig. 1, 21 is a levitation rail, 22 is a levitation force generation surface, and 23 is an Al
t, 3 particle plane, 24 a Tic particle, and 25 a TiO2 film, respectively. 1st Figure eime A Straw Niri 1\-1゛Slider @-Ai P Key T U Wife 4
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Claims (1)

[Claims] A slider body made of an aluminum oxide-based ceramic material containing titanium carbide has a levitation force generating surface (22) on the surface facing the magnetic recording medium, and a magnetic head is supported on the air outflow end surface of the slider body. In the structure of the slider including at least two floating rails (21) having a region, a titanium carbide component (24
) is removed, and the titanium carbide component surface exposed in the recess after removal is a titanium oxide (25) surface.