JPH03252915A - Magnetic head and production thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow high-density recording, high-speed accessing, the prevention of a crash and the improvement in durability and floating characteristics by providing recessed parts along a longitudinal direction at both end edges in the transverse direction of a medium-facing surface and disposing a magnetic converting element between the recessed parts on one end side of the longitudinal direction. CONSTITUTION:Since the recessed parts 112, 113 along the longitudinal direction are provided at both end edges in the transverse direction of the medium-facing surface 11, the projecting parts formed by the work strains at both end edges are cut off by the recessed parts 112, 113 and the recessing of the medium-facing surface 11 is corrected. The thin-film magnetic head which has a good head touch, is small in spacing loss and has the high durability to decrease the generation of the head crash, etc., is, therefore, obtd. The area of an air bearing surface 111 is reduced in this way and the spacing loss is decreased with the low floating quantity. This head is suitable for high-density recording, prevents the crash and is improved in the durability. In addition, the floating characteristics are stabilized and the accessing action is speeded up.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a flying type magnetic head having a magnetic transducer element in a slider, in which recesses are provided at both widthwise edges of a medium facing surface of the slider, and a gap between the recesses is provided. By using the air bearing surface as an air bearing surface and arranging a magnetic transducer on this air hair ring surface, the concavity of the medium facing surface is corrected, and the area that acts as the air bearing surface is substantially reduced. High density recording, fast access, crash prevention,
The present invention provides a magnetic head and a method for manufacturing the same that can contribute to improved durability and flying characteristics.

<Prior Art> Conventionally, magnetic disk drives have a magnetic head that flies by using the dynamic pressure generated by the running of the magnetic recording medium to maintain a small air-hair ring gap between the head and the magnetic recording medium. It is used.

Conventionally, this type of magnetic head has a slider made of a ceramic structure, on the side facing the medium, which faces the magnetic recording medium.
Wooden rail sections are provided at intervals, and the surface of the rail section acts as an air bearing surface, and a tapered section is provided at one end of the rail section that becomes an air inflow end in combination with a magnetic recording medium. It had a similar structure. The magnetic transducer element is attached to the air outflow end side opposite to the tapered portion.

This type of magnetic head is becoming increasingly smaller in order to cope with higher density and higher speed magnetic recording.

Miniaturization is effective in reducing the flying height and spacing loss necessary to make it a distant relative of high-density recording, and in combination with cymbals, it increases the resonance frequency, preventing crashes and improving durability. Moreover, this is because an appropriate balance between dynamic pressure and support spring pressure can be maintained, a good flight attitude can be maintained, and stable levitation characteristics can be obtained. Furthermore, the reduction in mass of the head due to miniaturization results in faster access movements of the arm supporting the gimbal.

However, conventional floating magnetic heads have a complicated structure with a rail portion and a tapered portion on the medium facing surface side.
There are limits to miniaturization. As a means to solve this problem, a magnetic head has been proposed in which the medium-facing surface of the slider is made planar without a rail portion, as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-21713.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an example of such a magnetic head, in which 1 indicates a slider, 2 a magnetic transducer element, and 3.4 an extraction electrode.

The slider 1 has a medium facing surface 11 that is flat without a rail portion or a lift-generating tapered surface.
The entire surface is designed to act as an air bearing surface.

In combination with a magnetic recording medium, the magnetic transducer 2 has the following characteristics:
It is attached to the end surface that is the air outflow end side. The magnetic transducer element 2 is arranged approximately in the middle in the width direction.

The extraction electrodes 3.4 are connected to both ends of a conductor coil film that constitutes the magnetic transducer element 2.

When used as a magnetic disk device, the medium facing surface 1
The surface 12 facing 1 is adhered to a head support device (gimbal) not shown, and the medium facing surface 11 is brought into spring contact with the surface of the magnetic disk, and starting and stopping are performed in this state.
It is driven by the so-called contact, start, stop method. When the magnetic disk is stationary, the medium facing surface 11 is pressed against the surface of the magnetic disk by the spring pressure of the head support device, but when the magnetic disk rotates, lift dynamic pressure is applied to the medium facing surface 11 of the slider 1. is generated, and the head operates with a flying height that balances this dynamic pressure with the spring pressure of the head support device.

The magnetic head shown in FIG.
Since it has a simple planar shape without any rail portion, it is easy to downsize, and the above-mentioned advantages of downsizing can be secured.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, the above-described magnetic head is affected by processing distortion, etc., and as a result, the medium facing surface 11 or as shown exaggeratedly in FIG. Therefore, the middle part may become concave. If the medium facing surface 11 is concave, in combination with a magnetic disk, head touch will be poor, spacing loss will be large, head crashes will be more likely to occur, and durability will be reduced.

Furthermore, since the overall shape is cubic, the medium facing surface 11
Due to the area reduction, the surface 12 opposite to the medium facing surface 11
The area of the area will also be reduced. Since the surface 12 is the part to which the head support device is attached, the reduction in area of the surface 12 results in a smaller area for attachment of the head support device. For this reason, the smaller the head support device is, the smaller the area required to install the head support device becomes, and the more difficult it becomes to install it.

The aforementioned concave surface of the medium facing surface is deeply connected to conventional manufacturing processes. To explain the case of obtaining a thin-film magnetic head as an example, a large number of magnetic transducer elements are aligned and formed on a wafer that will become a slider according to a process similar to IC manufacturing technology, and then the wafer is subjected to cutting, grinding, polishing, etc. Processing is performed to take out the individual magnetic head elements. 1st
Figure 0 shows the step after the magnetic head assembly is taken out in columns from the wafer during the above steps.

FIG. 10(a) shows a perspective view of the magnetic head assembly taken out in units of rows.
The magnetic transducer elements 2 are arranged at intervals. When a magnetic head is configured for each magnetic transducer element 2, nine magnetic heads Q1 to Q9 are provided as shown in the figure.

In the magnetic head assembly described above, the surface 11 of the magnetic transducer element 2 where the transducing gap is located is polished to improve its surface quality.

Next, as shown in FIG. 10(b), cut lines (Xl-X, ) to
Divide vertically by (x8 to x8).

As mentioned above, in the conventional manufacturing method, the surface 11 where the conversion gap is located is polished and then divided.
The cutting blade hits directly, leaving machining distortion. For this reason,
It was not possible to prevent the concave shape shown in FIG. 9 from occurring.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, correct the concavity of the medium facing surface, reduce the area that acts as an air bearing surface, and achieve high-density recording, high-speed access, crash prevention, and An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic head that is effective in improving durability and flying characteristics.

Means for Solving the Problems> In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a magnetic head including a magnetic transducer element in a slider, the slider comprising:
When the medium facing surface is assumed to have a longitudinal direction and a width direction, the medium facing surface has recessed portions extending along the lengthwise direction at both ends in the width direction, and the space between the recessed portions is an air bearing surface; The conversion element is characterized in that it is arranged between the recesses on one end side in the length direction.

Furthermore, in order to obtain the above-mentioned magnetic head, the method for manufacturing a magnetic head according to the present invention includes manufacturing one or more magnetic transducer elements from a magnetic head assembly in which magnetic transducer elements are arranged on the same surface of a base that becomes a slider. a step of forming a shallow groove between adjacent magnetic heads on the gap surface side where the transducing gap of the magnetic transducing element is located; The method is characterized in that it includes a step of cutting the base body within the shallow groove with a width narrower than the shallow groove after polishing the surface side.

When the length and width directions are assumed to be on the medium facing surface, the slider has recesses along the length at both ends of the medium facing surface in the width direction. The convex part is
The above-mentioned concave portion corrects the concavity of the medium facing surface. Therefore, a thin film magnetic head with good head touch, small spacing loss, and high durability that is resistant to head crashes and the like can be obtained.

The slider has concave portions extending along the length at both edges in the width direction of the medium facing surface, and the width of the intermediate portion constituting the air bearing surface is narrowed to reduce the area. Therefore, a magnetic head with a low flying height, little spacing loss, and suitable for high-density recording can be obtained.

Since the surface of the slider facing the medium facing surface is not affected by the reduction in size of the air bearing surface, a sufficient adhesive area can be secured between the slider and the head support device, and adhesive strength can be increased.

In the magnetic head manufacturing method according to the present invention, shallow grooves are formed between adjacent magnetic heads on the gap surface side where the transducing gap of the magnetic transducer element is located, and after polishing the gap surface side, the shallow grooves are polished. Since the substrate is cut with a width narrower than the shallow groove, processing distortion during the formation of the shallow groove is removed by polishing, and the cutting blade is prevented from coming into contact with the side surface of the shallow groove in the cutting process after polishing. You can avoid it and cut it off. For this reason, cutting distortion does not remain on the gap surface serving as the medium facing surface.

<Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a magnetic head according to the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 8 indicate the same components. The slider 1 has recesses 112 and 113 extending in the length direction on both ends of the medium facing surface 11 in the width direction, and the space between the recesses 112 and 113 forms an air bearing surface 111 without a step. Depth h of recess 112,113
l and width d1, the total width W2 of the slider 1 is 1.2 mm,
When the total length is selected to be 1.1 mm and the thickness is selected to be 0.55 mm, approximately 0.1 mm is appropriate.

The magnetic transducer 2 has a recess 11 at one end in the length direction.
2-113 so that a gap is located at the air bearing surface 111. The magnetic transducer element 2 may be a Wintier type, a composite type, or a thin film element. This embodiment shows an example of a thin film magnetic head using a thin film element.

Concave portion 112-11 in medium facing surface 11 of slider 1
Magnetic recording and reproduction is performed between the magnetic transducer element 2 disposed on one end side of the air bearing surface 111 between the magnetic recording medium and the magnetic recording medium. Here, the air bearing surface 11 in the middle part
1, its width w1 is narrower than the full width w2 of the medium facing surface 11, so its area is reduced. Therefore, a magnetic head with a low flying height, little spacing loss, and suitable for high-density recording can be obtained.

Furthermore, recesses 112 and 113 are provided along the length at both ends in the width direction where machining strain tends to remain, and the machining strain portion is removed. Therefore, a magnetic head with good head touch, small spacing loss, and high durability that is resistant to head crashes and the like can be obtained.

Further, the surface 12 of the slider 1 that faces the medium facing surface 11 has an area corresponding to the total width w2 of the slider 1, and is not affected by the reduction in the air bearing surface 111. Therefore, a sufficient adhesive area can be secured between the head support device and the adhesive strength can be increased.

The air bearing surface 111 has both edges in the length direction, both edges in the width direction, and corners, which are the air inflow and outflow ends, formed in an arc shape in order to eliminate hooking with the surface of the magnetic disk at the time of contact and start. It is desirable to do so.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view centered on the magnetic transducer 2;
The figure is also an enlarged sectional view. In the figure, 21 is a lower magnetic film, 22 is a gap film made of alumina, etc., and 23 is a lower magnetic film.
24 is an upper magnetic film, 24 is a conductive coil film, 25 is an insulating film made of organic resin such as novolac resin, 26 and 27 are lead electrodes, and 28 is a protective film.

The tip portions of the lower magnetic film 21 and the upper magnetic film 23 are ball portions 211.2 facing each other with a gap film 22 of minute thickness in between.
31, and reading and writing are performed at the ball portions 211 and 231.

212.232 is a yoke part, and a ball part 211.2
At the back gap portion on the opposite side from 31, they are coupled to each other to complete a magnetic circuit.

The insulating film 25 is composed of a plurality of layers of insulating films 251 to 253, and a conductor coil film 24 is formed on the insulating film 251.252 so as to spiral around the joint part of the yoke part 212.232. It is formed. lead electric 8i2
6.27 has one end electrically connected to both ends of the conductive coil film 24, and the other end has an extraction electrode 3.4 formed thereon.

4 to 6 show different embodiments of the magnetic head according to the present invention. First, in the embodiment shown in FIG.
2.113 is composed of an inclined surface 114.115 continuous to the air hair ring surface 111 and a stepped surface 116.117.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, the recesses 112, 113 are constituted by convex arcuate surfaces 118, 119 which are continuous with the air bearing surface 111, and stepped surfaces 120, 121.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6, the recesses 112, 113 are concavely curved.

In any of the embodiments, the same effects as in FIGS. 1 to 3 can be obtained.

In each of the above embodiments, a magnetic head for in-plane recording and reproduction is shown, but the present invention can also be applied to a magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording and reproduction, and is not limited to the two-terminal magnetic head shown in the embodiments. , a three-terminal magnetic head with a center tap,
It can also be used with a Winchiesta type magnetic head or a composite shift type magnetic head. Further, the number and position of the magnetic transducer elements, the direction or position of the lead-out electrodes, etc. can be arbitrarily selected and are not limited to the illustrated state.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a method of manufacturing a magnetic head according to the present invention. First, as shown in FIG. 7(a), magnetic head assemblies are taken out from the wafer in units of columns.

The magnetic head assembly has magnetic transducer elements 2 arranged at intervals on the same surface of a base 1 serving as a slider. When a magnetic head is configured for each magnetic transducer element 2, nine magnetic heads Q+-Q9 are provided as shown in the figure. However, it is also possible to cut it so that it includes two magnetic transducer elements 2.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7(b), on the gap surface 11 side where the transducing gap of the magnetic transducing element 2 is located, a line between adjacent magnetic heads (XO-XO) to (X9 to X9)
A shallow groove 122 is formed in the vertical direction along.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7(C), the gap surface 11 is polished. By this polishing, the machining distortion caused in FIG. 7(b) is removed, and the concaveness of the gap surface 11 is corrected.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7(d), the cutting line (Xl-Xl)
~(X8~X8), cut within the shallow groove 122 with a width narrower than the width thereof.

124 indicates a cutting groove. In this cutting process,
Without the cutting blade coming into contact with the side surface of the shallow groove 122,
disconnected. Therefore, the gap surface 1 which becomes the medium facing surface
1. No cutting distortion remains.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, the present invention provides the following effects.

(a.) The slider has recesses along the length at both edges in the width direction of the medium facing surface, the space between the recesses serves as an air bearing surface, and the magnetic transducer is located at one end in the length direction. Since it is placed between the recesses, the area of the air bearing surface is reduced, resulting in a low flying height and less spacing loss.
Suitable for high-density recording, when combined with a gimbal, it is possible to provide a magnetic head with increased resonance frequency, prevention of crashes, and improved durability. In addition, in combination with a gimbal, we provide a magnetic head that can maintain an appropriate balance between dynamic pressure and support spring pressure, maintain a good flight attitude, stabilize flying characteristics, and further speed up access movements. can.

(b) It is possible to correct the concavity of the medium facing surface of the slider due to processing distortion, etc., and provide a highly durable magnetic head with good head touch, low spacing loss, and less likely to cause head crashes.

(e) The surface of the slider facing the medium facing surface is not affected by the reduction of the air bearing surface, so a magnetic head with sufficient bonding area between it and the head support device and improved bonding strength. can be provided.

(d) The magnetic head manufacturing method according to the present invention includes a step of forming a shallow groove between adjacent magnetic heads on the gap surface side where the transduction gap of the magnetic transducer element is located, and a step of forming a shallow groove after polishing the gap surface side. Within the groove, the width is narrower than the shallow groove,
Since the method includes a step of cutting the substrate, machining distortion at the time of forming the shallow groove is removed by polishing, and in the cutting step after polishing, the cutting blade is prevented from coming into contact with the gap surface that becomes the medium facing surface, It is possible to provide a method for manufacturing a magnetic head in which cutting distortion does not remain.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a magnetic head according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a magnetic transducer element, FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the magnetic transducer element, and FIGS. 4 to 6 are in accordance with the present invention. FIGS. 7(a) to 7(d) are front views of another embodiment of the magnetic head according to
8 is a perspective view of a conventional magnetic head, FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating problems with the conventional magnetic head, and FIGS. 10(a) and (b) 1 is a diagram showing a conventional magnetic head manufacturing method. 1...Slider 2...Magnetic conversion element 11...
Medium facing surface 111...air bearing surface 112,113...recess

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A magnetic head including a magnetic transducer element in a slider, wherein the slider has a magnetic head extending in the length direction on both widthwise edges of the medium facing surface when the length direction and the width direction are assumed to be on the medium facing surface. What is claimed is: 1. A magnetic head having a concave portion extending along the concave portion, the space between the concave portions serving as an air bearing surface, and the magnetic transducer element being disposed between the concave portions on one end side in the length direction. (2) A method for manufacturing a magnetic head comprising the step of taking out a magnetic head having one or more magnetic transducing elements from a magnetic head assembly in which magnetic transducing elements are arranged on the same surface of a base body serving as a slider, the method comprising: forming a shallow groove between adjacent magnetic heads on the gap surface side where the transduction gap of the magnetic transducer is located; and after polishing the gap surface side, forming a shallow groove in the shallow groove with a width narrower than that of the shallow groove. . A method of manufacturing a magnetic head, comprising the steps of: cutting the substrate.