JPH04114377A - Forming method for floating type head slider - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To form a pair of floating rails with prescribed width and a deep groove with high accuracy by applying dry etching to the floating plane of a substrate via a resist mask with thin film thickness, thence, applying ion milling to it via a resist mask with thick film thickness. CONSTITUTION:Resist film 22 with prescribed thin film thickness is applied and formed on the floating plane 21a of a slider substrate, and the dry etching is applied via the resist mask 24 formed by development via a photomask 23, and after that, the mask 24 is dissolved and eliminated, thereby, a pair of floating rails 25 with prescribed rail width and a shallow groove 26 are formed. Thence, resist film 27 with prescribed thick film thickness is applied and formed, and after a prescribed deep groove 29 is formed by applying the etching to the shallow groove 26 via the resist mask 28 formed in the same process, the mask 28 is dissolved and eliminated, thereby, a head slider 30 can be obtained with high accuracy.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] The present invention relates to a method for forming a floating head slider used in a magnetic disk device, etc., and in particular to a forming method that improves the processing accuracy of the air bearing surface of a floating head slider. The H objective is to accurately form a pair of floating rails of a predetermined width and a predetermined deep groove between the floating rails on the air bearing surface of the substrate that will become the head slider, and on the air bearing surface of the substrate that will become the head slider facing the recording medium. In a method of forming a plurality of floating rails having a predetermined rail width with grooves of a predetermined depth between the floating rails, a thin film is formed on the floating surface of the substrate using the floating rail portion to be formed as a mask pattern. After providing a first resist mask, dry etching is performed to form a plurality of floating rails having a predetermined width on the floating surface and shallow grooves between each floating rail; A second resist mask, which has the same pattern as the first resist mask but has a thicker film, is provided on the air bearing surface of the substrate, and then dry etching is performed again to form grooves on the air bearing surface to a predetermined depth. The method includes a step of forming a cylindrical shape.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a method for forming a floating head slider used in a magnetic disk drive or the like, and more particularly to a forming method that improves the processing accuracy of the air bearing surface of a floating head slider.

The photolithography process using a resist film has good etching accuracy and can achieve high efficiency in productivity, so it is suitable for the patterning process of the air bearing surface of floating head sliders used in magnetic disk devices, semiconductor elements, etc.
Alternatively, it is used in the buttering process, etc. in the manufacture of printed boards.

When using such a resist film to form a thick etching mask of MI to form a pair of floating rails and a deep groove between the floating rails on the floating surface of a substrate that will become a hent slider, pattern accuracy may be affected. Since it is difficult to obtain a good etching mask, it becomes difficult to accurately form a deep groove between the pair of floating rails on the air bearing surface through an etching process using the etching mask. Therefore, there is a need for a method of accurately patterning a pair of floating rails having a predetermined rail width and a deep groove between the floating rails on the floating surface of a substrate serving as a Hent slider.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, the method of forming a floating head slider is as follows:
For example, as shown in FIG. 2(a), a slider block 1 made of ceramic or the like in which a large number of thin film magnetic head elements 2 are patterned in a matrix is connected to a slider block 1 made of ceramic or the like, as shown in FIG. 2(b). The so-called air bearing surface 3a, which becomes the medium facing surface of the separated slider substrate 3, is cut and separated into two horizontal array units, and the so-called air bearing surface 3a, which becomes the medium facing surface, is formed by a photolithography process using a resist film and an ion milling method as shown in FIG. 2(C).
A large number of desired floating head sliders 5 are formed at one time by forming a pattern into a slider shape each having a floating rail 4 as shown in FIG. 2, and cutting and separating the slider substrate 3 into individual sliders.

In the above-described formation process, the air bearing surface 3a of the slider substrate 3 is formed to a thickness of 30 μm by, for example, a photolithography process using a negative type resist film and an ion milling method.
When patterning a pair of floating rails having a rail width of m and a groove with a depth of about 10 μm between the floating rails, a groove of about 10 μm is formed on the floating surface 3a of the slider substrate 3 as shown in FIG. 3(a). A negative type resist film 11 with a thick film thickness of ~30 uts is formed, a photomask 12 for air bearing surface patterning is placed on the resist, and exposed by an exposure device, and then the resist film 11 is developed and exposed. 3. A resist mask 13 is formed as shown in FIG. 3(b).

Next, the air bearing surface 3a of the slider substrate 3 is etched by ion milling through the resist mask 13 as shown in FIG. By removing it, a pair of floating rails 15 having a desired rail width of 300 μm are created as shown in FIG. 3(d).
A groove I6 having a depth of 10 μm was formed between the floating rail 15 and the floating rail 15.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the above-described formation process, the resist mask 13 formed on the air bearing surface 3a of the slider substrate 3 is
Since it is also milled at the same time during ion milling, it requires a film thickness that is at least several times as thick as the depth to be milled.

Therefore, in practice, as shown in FIG. 4(a), a negative type resist film 11 having a thick film thickness of 20 to 30 μm is formed by coating on the air bearing surface 3a of the slider substrate 3.
When exposed through the photomask 12 for air bearing surface patterning, because the resist film 11 is thick, the light during exposure is transmitted through the thickness of the resist film 11 as shown by the broken line in the figure. Since the exposure spreads in the direction, the cross-sectional shape of the resist mask 13 formed after development is the fourth one.
As shown in Figure (b), an undercut shape is formed, and when the air bearing surface 3a of the slider substrate 3 is etched by ion milling through the resist mask 13, the fourth
As shown in Figure (C), a pair of floating rails 15 having a rail width D2 wider than a predetermined rail width D1, for example, are formed. A predetermined deep groove 16 between
Therefore, there is a problem in that the floating force generating surface of the floating rail 15 changes, and the flying operation of the head slider having the pair of floating rails 15 changes.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention provides a novel method that makes it possible to accurately form a pair of floating rails of a predetermined width and a predetermined deep groove between the floating rails on the floating surface of a substrate that becomes a head slider. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for forming a floating head slider.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention forms a plurality of floating rails having a predetermined rail width on the floating surface of a substrate serving as a head slider facing a recording medium, with grooves having a predetermined depth between the floating rails. In this method, a first resist mask with a thin film thickness is provided on the air bearing surface of the substrate, using the air bearing rail portion to be formed as a mask pattern, and then dry etching is performed to form a plurality of resists with a predetermined width on the air bearing surface. A process of forming shallow grooves between the floating rails and each floating rail, and forming a pattern between the floating rails and on the floating surface of the substrate on which the shallow grooves are formed, the pattern is the same as that of the first resist mask, but the film thickness is thicker. The method includes a step of forming a groove in the air bearing surface to a predetermined depth by performing dry etching again after providing a second resist mask.

[For production]

In the formation method of the present invention, dry etching, for example ion milling, is performed on the air bearing surface of the substrate that will become the hent slider through a thin first resist mask.
A pair of floating rails having a predetermined width with good precision and a shallow groove between the floating rails can be formed, and then a pattern similar to the first resist mask is applied to the shallow groove between the pair of floating rails having a predetermined width. By performing ion milling through a second resist mask with a thick film thickness,
Since a predetermined deep groove can be formed with high accuracy, the processing accuracy of the air bearing surface of the head slider can be ensured, and a head slider with good flying characteristics can be obtained.

[Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1(a) to 1(5) are sectional views of main parts sequentially showing one embodiment of a method for forming a floating head slider according to the present invention.

First, on the air bearing surface 21a of the slider substrate 21, which is a head slider made of ceramic or the like as shown in FIG.
A negative type resist film 22 with a thin film thickness of 3 μm is formed by coating, and this resist film 22 is exposed to light using an exposure device through a photomask 23 for air bearing surface patterning, and is developed. A first resist mask 24 is formed as shown.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the air bearing surface 21a of the slider substrate 21 is etched by dry etching, such as ion milling, through the first resist mask 24, and then the first resist mask 24 is dissolved and removed. By doing so, the predetermined 10
The rail width is 0 to 400 μm, for example 300 μm in this example.
A pair of floating rails 25 having a rail width of μm and a shallow groove 26 having a depth of 1 μm are formed between the floating rails 25.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the pair of floating rails 2
20 again on the air bearing surface 21a where the shallow grooves 26 and 5 are formed.
A negative type resist film 27 with a thickness of ~30 μ- is applied and formed, and this resist film 27 is exposed to light using an exposure device through the photomask 23 for air bearing surface patterning used in the previous process, and then developed. Then, as shown in FIG. 1 (fl), a second resist mask 28 is formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1 (gl), the shallow groove 26 is formed by dry etching, for example, ion milling, through the first resist mask 24 to form a deep groove of 10 to 20 μm, in this example, a deep groove of 10 μm. A deep groove 29 is formed.

Thereafter, by dissolving and removing the second resist mask 28, as shown in FIG. It is possible to easily obtain a head slider 30 in which a 10 μm deep a29 with a 1 μm step difference is formed with high precision.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the method for forming a floating head slider according to the present invention, a pair of floating rails of a predetermined width and a predetermined deep groove are formed between the floating rails on the floating surface of the slider substrate with precision. Since it can be formed well, the machining accuracy of the air bearing surface is significantly improved and ensured, so that excellent practical effects such as obtaining a hent slider with good flying characteristics can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 (al~ (hl) are sectional views of main parts sequentially showing one embodiment of the method for forming a floating type head slider according to the present invention, Figure 2 (al~ (C1) is a complete formation of a conventional floating type head slider. Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the steps in order; Figures 3 fa) to (di are cross-sectional views of main parts showing the steps of forming the air bearing surface of a conventional floating head slider in order; Figures 4 al to (C1 are views of a conventional floating head FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a main part for explaining problems in the method of forming a slider. In FIG. 24 is a first resist mask, 25 is a floating rail, 26 is a shallow groove, 28 is a second resist mask, 29 is a deep groove, and 30 is a head slider. (h) 1st II (Boo 2) 2nd Figure diagram

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A plurality of floating rails (25) having a predetermined rail width are provided on the floating surface (21a) of the substrate (21) which becomes a head slider, facing the recording medium, and grooves (25) with a predetermined depth are formed between the floating rails. 29), a first resist mask (24) with a thin film thickness is provided on the air bearing surface (21a) of the substrate (21), the mask pattern being the air bearing rail portion to be formed. Dry etching is then performed to form a plurality of floating rails (25) of a predetermined width on the floating surface (21a) and shallow grooves (2) between each floating rail (25).
6), and the pattern is the same as that of the first resist mask (24) between the floating rails (25) and on the floating surface (21a) of the substrate (21) where the shallow grooves (26) are formed. However, after providing a thick second resist mask (28), dry etching is performed again to form grooves on the air bearing surface (21a) to a predetermined depth. A method for forming a floating head slider.