JPH0210515A - Magnetic head processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To form a curved slider rail at a magnetic head made of ceramics by using a mask conforming to a necessary depressing shape for the slider floating surface of the magnetic head, radiating laser light and executing etching. CONSTITUTION:A mask 16 having an aperture part 15 conforming to the necessary depression shape is stuck to the floating surface of a magnetic head 11 with adhesives 14 or a wax 14. The magnetic head 11 is soaked into an etching solution having thermal reaction against a magnetic head slider material, the laser light is radiated to a mask aperture part 15, and a necessary depression is formed on the floating surface of the magnetic head 11. Thus, even when the slider rail is curved, it can be easily manufactured.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method for processing a magnetic head, and particularly to a method for processing a magnetic head in which the slider rail of the floating surface of a magnetic head made of ceramic such as ferrite or alumina titanium carbide has a curved shape. Regarding processing methods.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in order to achieve high-density recording in magnetic disk devices, it was necessary to minimize the flying gap between the magnetic disk medium and the magnetic head without increasing access time. Various types of magnetic head shapes have been proposed.

For example, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a magnetic head in which slider rails are arranged in parallel straight lines to explain a conventional example.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the conventional magnetic head, the slider rails 31 and 32 on the flying surface of the magnetic head are parallel straight lines, and therefore the formed depressions 33 are also formed parallel. Note that 34 and 35 represent magnetic transducers. When forming the recess 33 of the magnetic head, a rotating grinding wheel cuts and moves in parallel along the slider rails 31 and 32, thereby forming the recess 33.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a magnetic head that is an improved version of the magnetic head shown in FIG. 3 and has a curved slider rail on a floating surface with a tapered portion.

As shown in the fourth country, when the slider rail 41.42 having the magnetic transducer 44.45 has a tapered curved shape, the processing of such a magnetic head is performed by forming a recess 4 in the central part.
3 also has a correspondingly curved shape. Therefore, complex and precise processing techniques are required in this case.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The above-described processing method has a drawback in that when the slider rail has a curved shape, it is impossible to form a recess (for example, 20 μm in depth) in the center by conventional grinding.

An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic head processing method for forming a curved slider rail on a ceramic magnetic head.

[Means to solve the problem]

The method of processing a magnetic head of the present invention is to form a recess in a desired shape on the slider floating surface of the magnetic head in order to obtain a magnetic head that holds a magnetic transducer and has a curved slider rail on the floating surface. After bonding a mask having corresponding openings with adhesive or wax, the magnetic head is immersed in an etching liquid that is thermally reactive with the slider material,
A laser beam is irradiated to the opening of the metal mask to form a desired depression in the floating surface of the magnetic head slider. In this case, the mask and adhesive or wax used are ones that are resistant to corrosion by the etching solution.

〔Example〕

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

FIGS. 1A and 1B are a plan view and a side view, respectively, showing the positional relationship between a magnetic head sample and a mask for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b), with the floating surface of the magnetic head sample 11 made of alumina titanium carbide ceramic facing upward, a dummy sample 12 having the same thickness as the magnetic head sample 11 is placed on the magnetic transducer. A coal tar-based wax (alkali-resistant) 14 is used to bond the magnetic head sample 11 to the side surface of the magnetic head sample 11 on which the magnetic head 13 is formed. This is to protect the side surface of the magnetic transducer 13 from the alkaline etching solution. Next, a metal mask 16 made of stainless steel and having a mask opening 15 that matches the shape of the recess to be formed is bonded to the upper surface of the magnetic head sample 11 using a coal tar wax 17. This protects the top surface of the magnetic transducer 13 from the etching solution.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a magnetic head processing apparatus for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the magnetic head sample 11 bonded with the metal mask 16 is placed in a container 19 containing an etching solution 18 made of potassium hydroxide, which is thermally reactive with alumina titanium carbide. A laser (output 3W) is oscillated from the argon laser oscillator 20, and the mirror 2
1 changes the direction of the laser beam, the lens 22 focuses the laser beam, and the opening of the metal mask 16 of the magnetic head sample 11 is irradiated with the laser beam. At this time, the container 19 of the etching liquid 18 is moved using the moving table 23, and the laser beam is reciprocated (speed 1000 μm/5ec) within the opening of the metal mask 16 at a pitch of 10 μm. Magnetic head sample (
Alumina/titanium carbide) 11 is etched with a heat-reactive potassium hydroxide etching solution 18, and a curved depression (20 μm in depth) is formed corresponding to the mask opening 15.
m) 24 can be processed. Next, after processing, wax 14.1
By dissolving 7 with a solvent (for example, trichloroethane) and removing the metal mask 16, a magnetic head having slider rails 41 and 42 having curved shapes as shown in FIG. 4 is obtained.

In this case, as described above, the magnetic transducer 4 of the magnetic head
Since 4.45 is not protected with wax that is resistant to etching liquid, no change in the characteristics of the magnetic transducer due to processing is observed even when the magnetic characteristics are measured.

In this embodiment, alumina titanium carbide is used as the magnetic head slider material, but ferrite may also be used. Furthermore, although potassium hydroxide was used as the etching solution, sodium hydroxide may also be used. Further, although an argon laser is used as the laser, similar effects can be obtained using a YAG laser, an excimer laser (KrF, ArF laser), or the like. Furthermore, although a coal tar wax was used as the bonding agent, similar effects can be obtained by using an alkali-resistant adhesive (for example, a formal adhesive).

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the magnetic head processing method of the present invention involves bonding a mask having an opening corresponding to the desired recess shape to the floating surface of the magnetic head with adhesive or wax, and then attaching the magnetic head to the magnetic head slider material. By immersing the magnetic head in an etching solution that is thermally reactive and irradiating the mask opening with a laser to form a required recess on the floating surface of the magnetic head, even when the slider rail has a curved shape, it can be easily manufactured. There is an effect.

Furthermore, the processing method of the present invention has the advantage that a metal mask having a large number of required openings can be bonded to an array of magnetic head samples, and a large number of magnetic heads can be processed at once.

Furthermore, the wax and adhesive used for bonding can be easily removed with a solvent, resulting in high productivity.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1(a) and 1(b) are a plan view and a side view showing the positional relationship between a magnetic head sample and a metal mask, respectively, for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an embodiment of the present invention. A third cross-sectional view of a magnetic head processing device for explaining an example.
The figure is a perspective view of a magnetic head with parallel straight slider rails to explain a conventional example, and Figure 4 is a curved magnetic head with slider rails with a tapered part, which is an improved version of the magnetic head shown in Figure 3. FIG. 11...Magnetic head sample, 12...Dummy sample, 1
3...Magnetic transducer, 14.17...Wax, 15
...Mask opening, 16...Metal mask, 18.
... Etching liquid, 19... Container, 20... Laser oscillator, 21... Mirror, 22... Lens, 23...
...Moving table, 24... formed depression.

Claims (1)

[Claims] After a mask having an opening corresponding to the desired recess shape is bonded to the slider floating surface of the magnetic head with wax or adhesive, the magnetic head is immersed in an etching solution that is thermally reactive with the slider material, and the mask opening is 1. A method of processing a magnetic head, comprising: irradiating a laser with a laser to form a desired recess on the floating surface of the magnetic head slider.