JPH04349209A - Thin film magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a thin film magnetic head capable of adjusting a track width or an electromagnetic conversion characteristic later, forming a pole with a pair of masks without masks corresponding to each track width and whose cost is reasonable and productivity is high. CONSTITUTION:This head is provided with a slider 1 having air bearing surfaces 103 and 104 and a thin film magnetic conversion element 2 arranged on one side of the medium flowing out direction (a) of the slider 1. The thin film magnetic conversion element 2 is provided with pole sections 211 and 231 appearing on the air bearing surfaces 103 and 104. The tip parts of the pole sections 211 and 231 are provided with magnetic deteriorating layers 51 to 54.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a floating type thin film magnetic head in which a thin film magnetic conversion element is provided at one end of a slider in the medium outflow direction. The track width or electromagnetic conversion characteristics can be adjusted using the degraded layer, and a pole can be formed with a set of masks instead of requiring a mask for each track width, making it possible to provide a thin-film magnetic head with low cost and high yield. This is what I did.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, magnetic disk drives have a thin-film magnetic head that uses dynamic pressure generated by the running of the magnetic recording medium to fly while maintaining a small air bearing gap between itself and the magnetic recording medium. It is used. Its basic configuration is that a thin film magnetic transducer is provided on the air outflow end side of a slider that has an air bearing surface on the side facing the magnetic recording medium. FIG. 12 shows the basic structure of this type of thin-film magnetic head known from U.S. Pat. Two rail portions 101 and 102 are provided protrudingly from the rail portions 101 and 1.
The surface of 02 is an air bearing surface 1 with a high degree of flatness.
03 and 104, and a thin film magnetic transducer 2 is provided at each end of the rail portions 101 and 102 in the air outflow direction a.
is provided.

Referring to FIG. 13, the slider 1 is made of Al
The base portion 110 is made of 2O3-TiC, etc.
It has a structure in which an insulating film 120 made of Al2O3 or the like is deposited by means such as sputtering, and a thin film magnetic transducer 2 is provided on the insulating film 120.

The thin film magnetic transducer 2 is a thin film element formed according to a process similar to IC manufacturing technology. 21 is a lower magnetic film made of permalloy or the like, 22 is Al
23 is an upper magnetic film made of permalloy, etc., 24 is a coil, 251 to 253 are interlayer insulating films made of photoresist, etc., and 26 is Al.
A protective film such as 2O3 is provided, and 27 and 28 are lead conductors.

[0005] The lower magnetic film 21 and the upper magnetic film 23 have their tip portions facing each other with a gap film 22 in between.
11 and an upper pole portion 231, and the lower pole portion 211, the gap film 22, and the upper pole portion 231 constitute a conversion gap G. The track width of the thin film magnetic head is determined by the overlap W between the lower pole portion 211 and the upper pole portion 231, as shown in FIG.

[0006] Lower pole part 211 and upper pole part 23
1 has continuous yoke parts 212 and 232, and the yoke parts 212 and 232 are coupled to each other at a rear coupling part 233 so as to complete a magnetic circuit. coil 24
is formed so as to spiral around the joint portion 233. Both ends of the coil 24 are connected to lead conductors 27 and 28. Lead conductors 27 and 28 are lead electrodes 41
, 42 are formed, and extraction electrodes 41 and 42 are formed at the ends thereof. Around the extraction electrodes 41 and 42 is a protective film 26 that protects the entire thin film magnetic conversion element 2.
covered by.

[0007]

However, the conventional thin film magnetic head described above has the following problems. (A) The track width W and the electromagnetic conversion characteristics such as the reproduction waveform or writing characteristics of the lower pole part 211 of the lower magnetic film 21 and the upper pole part 231 of the upper magnetic film 23 are determined when the lower magnetic film 21 and the upper magnetic film 23 are It is determined by patterning during lithography and cannot be changed later. Therefore, if the pattern does not fall within a predetermined value, the product will be defective, resulting in a decrease in yield. (B) Each time the required track width W or electromagnetic conversion characteristics differ, a corresponding pattern mask must be prepared. This causes an increase in costs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, to be able to adjust the track width or electromagnetic conversion characteristics after pole formation, and to eliminate the need for a mask corresponding to each track width. An object of the present invention is to provide a thin film magnetic head in which poles can be formed at low cost and high yield.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a thin film magnetic transducer including a slider having an air bearing surface and a thin film magnetic transducer provided on one end side of the slider in the medium outflow direction. In the head, the thin film magnetic transducer has a pole portion appearing on the air bearing surface, and the pole portion has a magnetic deterioration layer at an end in the width direction.

0010

[Function] Since the pole part has a magnetic deterioration layer at the end in the width direction, the track width or electromagnetic conversion characteristics of the pole part can be adjusted depending on the position of the magnetic deterioration layer. can be easily realized.

[0011] After forming the pole part, the magnetic deterioration layer is
For example, it can be formed in the final process. Therefore, even if patterning errors occur due to photolithography, the track width and electromagnetic conversion characteristics can be set to predetermined values by selecting and adjusting the position and width of the magnetically degraded layer to improve yield. Can be done.

Even if the required track width and electromagnetic conversion characteristics are different, they can be set to predetermined values by patterning using a set of masks and then adjusting the position and width of the magnetically degraded layer. This eliminates the need for masks that match the required track width and electromagnetic conversion characteristics, allowing a pole to be formed with a single set of masks, resulting in lower costs and
Yield is improved.

In the following embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a thin film magnetic head for in-plane recording and reproducing is shown, but it can also be applied to a thin film magnetic head for perpendicular recording and reproducing.

[0014]

[Example] Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a modeled thin film magnetic head according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the thin film magnetic transducer element portion, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the pole portion viewed from the air bearing surface side. , FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view. In the figures, the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 12 and 13 indicate the same components.

The illustrated slider 1 has two rail portions 101 and 10 spaced apart on the side facing the medium, as in the conventional case.
2 are provided protrudingly, and the surfaces of the rail parts 101 and 102 are made into air bearing surfaces 103 and 104 having a high degree of flatness, and a thin film magnetic transducer element is provided at each end of the rail parts 101 and 102 in the air outflow direction a. 2 is provided.

The thin film magnetic transducer 2 includes a lower magnetic film 21, an upper magnetic film 23 which together with the lower magnetic film 21 constitutes a magnetic circuit, and a tip surface of the lower magnetic film 21 and the upper magnetic film 23, each of which has an air-containing top surface. A lower pole portion 211 and an upper pole portion 231 formed to appear on the bearing surfaces 103 and 104, and a lower pole portion 211 and an upper pole portion 23.
1 and a gap film 22 provided between the two. The yoke parts 212 and 232 of the lower magnetic film 21 and the upper magnetic film 23 are coupled at their rear parts to complete a magnetic circuit. The coil 24 is spirally formed around the joint. 251 to 253 are intermembrane insulating films.

The pole portion 211 has a width W at both ends in the width direction.
11, W12 and a depth d1 of magnetic deterioration layers 51 and 52, and the pole part 231 has widths W21 and W2 at both ends in the width direction.
2 and has magnetically degraded layers 53 and 54 with a depth d2. It is preferable that the magnetically deteriorated layers 51 to 54 have a saturation magnetic flux density Bs of substantially zero and a relative magnetic permeability μ substantially close to 1. Either one of the magnetically degraded layers 51, 52 can be omitted, and either one of the magnetically degraded layers 53, 54 can also be omitted. Moreover, the magnetic deterioration layers 51 and 52 of the pole part 211 or the pole part 23
Either one of the magnetically degraded layers 53, 54 of the pole portion 231, for example, the magnetically degraded layers 53, 54 of the pole portion 231 can be omitted. The magnetically degraded layers 51 to 54 as described above can be formed as a process-affected layer by mechanical processing or a heat-affected layer. Examples of means for producing a thermally altered layer include ion focus beam irradiation, etching, and ion implantation.

The magnetic deterioration layers 51 and 52 are provided at a distance W1 in a direction intersecting the medium outflow direction a of the air bearing surfaces 103 and 104.
4 are arranged at an interval W2. The effective track width is determined by the overlap width of the intervals W1 and W2. Therefore, since the track width is adjusted by the positions, widths, etc. of the magnetically degraded layers 51 to 54, it is possible to easily narrow the track width W1 to accommodate high-density recording.

Depths d1 and d2 of magnetically degraded layers 51 to 54
is set to be approximately the same as or slightly larger than the throat height TH of the upper pole portion 231 (see FIG. 5). Specifically, the depths d1 and d2 of the nonmagnetic alterations 51 to 54 are approximately 0.02 to 3 μm.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing still another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention. In the slider 1, the air bearing surface 105 on the side facing the medium is a flat surface without a rail portion. There is only one thin film magnetic conversion element 2,
Pole portion 21 constituting this one thin film magnetic transducer 2
Magnetic deterioration layers 51 to 54 are provided at both ends in the width direction of No. 1 and 231.

FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of still another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention. The thin film magnetic transducer 2 is arranged approximately in the middle of the slider 1 in the width direction. Further, the extraction electrodes 27 and 28 are arranged side by side in the width direction of the slider 1. The slider 1 has two magnetic deterioration layers 51 to 54 spaced apart from each other in a direction intersecting the medium outflow direction a of the air bearing surface 105 on one end side where the thin film magnetic transducer element 2 is provided. The magnetic deterioration layers 51 to 54 are provided at the ends of the pole parts 211 and 231 in the width direction.

According to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a compact thin-film magnetic head suitable for high-density recording and high-speed access can be realized.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged perspective view of a pole portion in still another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the operation thereof. The slider 1 includes a magnetic deterioration layer 5 that defines the track width of the pole portions 211 and 231.
In addition to 1 to 54, the gap film 22 of the upper pole part 231
It has a magnetic deterioration layer 55 provided along the end portion on the opposite side. Such a magnetic deterioration layer 55 is a magnetic deterioration layer 51~
It can be formed by the same means as 54. Referring to FIG. 9, the end surface of the upper pole portion 231 provided with the magnetic deterioration layer 55 is composed of a magnetic end surface P11 and a magnetic deterioration end surface P12. The magnetically degraded end face P12 is located on the opposite side to the direction of the conversion gap G and has a magnetically degraded layer depth d3.

With the structure described above, the thickness of the tip of the pole end surface that is dominant with respect to the magnetic field distribution is the same as that of the magnetic end surface P11.
is reduced to a value determined by the tip thickness T11. Therefore, the magnetic field distribution L2 is sharpened, and the gradient of the magnetic field strength at the medium outlet end side where the magnetization distribution on the medium M is determined becomes steep.

Moreover, during reproduction, a sub-pulse is generated at the boundary separating the magnetic end face P11 and the magnetically degraded end face P12 at a position close to the main pulse. Since the resulting reproduced waveform is a combination of the main pulse and the sub-pulses occurring at the boundary, the sub-pulses act in a direction that promotes sharpening of the main pulse. For these two reasons, the reproduced waveform is sharpened and PW5
The 0 value becomes small and high-density recording becomes possible. Further, as a result of the sub-pulse generated at the boundary being combined with the main pulse, undershoot in the reproduced waveform is suppressed. Sharpening of the reproduced waveform will be explained in more detail in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 10 and 11.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective view of a pole portion in still another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention, and FIG.
is a diagram similarly explaining the effect. Slider 1 is
magnetic deterioration layers 51 to 54 that determine the track width of the pole portion;
In addition to the magnetic deterioration layer 55 provided along the end of the upper pole portion 231 opposite to the gap film 22, a magnetic deterioration layer 55 is provided along the end of the lower pole portion 211 opposite to the gap film 22. It has a magnetic deterioration layer 56. The end face of the lower pole portion 211 provided with the magnetic deterioration layer 56 is composed of a magnetic end face P21 and a magnetic deterioration end face P22. Magnetic deterioration end face P
22 is on the opposite side to the direction of the conversion gap G,
The magnetic deterioration layer has a depth d4.

In the case of this embodiment, since the effect of the magnetic deterioration layer 56 is added to the effect of the magnetic deterioration layer 55, the magnetic field distribution is further sharpened, and the magnetic field distribution on the medium outflow end side where the magnetization distribution on the medium is determined. The slope of the magnetic field strength becomes even steeper.

Moreover, during reproduction, a sub-pulse L12 is generated at the boundary between the magnetic end surface P11 and the magnetically deteriorated end surface P12 formed by the magnetically deteriorated layer 55, and at the boundary between the magnetically deteriorated end surface P21 and the magnetically deteriorated end surface P22 formed by the magnetically deteriorated layer 56. A sub-pulse L13 is generated at a position close to the main pulse L11. The obtained reproduced waveform L1 is the main pulse L1
1 and the sub-pulses L12 and L13, the sub-pulses L12 and L13 act in a direction that promotes sharpening of the main pulse L11. For these two reasons, the reproduced waveform L
1 is sharpened, the PW50 value becomes small, and high-density recording becomes possible. Moreover, the sub-pulse L12 generated at the boundary
, L13 are combined with the main pulse L11, thereby suppressing undershoot in the reproduced waveform L1.

In FIGS. 8 to 11, the magnetic deterioration layers 51 to 54
Although an example has been shown in which a magnetically degraded layer 55 or 56 is added, the structure may be such that the magnetically degraded layers 51 to 54 are omitted and only the magnetically degraded layer 55 or 56 is provided. Although illustrations are omitted, it goes without saying that there are many modified examples that are combinations of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 11.

[0030]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (a) Since the pole part has a magnetic deterioration layer at the end, by adjusting the position and width of the magnetic deterioration layer, the track width or electromagnetic conversion characteristics of the pole part can be adjusted, for example, to support high-density recording. It is possible to provide a thin film magnetic head that can easily accommodate narrowing of the width. (b) Since the magnetic deterioration layer can be formed after forming the pole part, even if a patterning error occurs in the pole part, the track width or electromagnetic deterioration layer can be adjusted by selecting and adjusting the position and width of the magnetic deterioration layer. It is possible to provide a thin film magnetic head whose conversion characteristics can be set to a predetermined value and whose yield can be improved. (c) Even if the required track width or electromagnetic conversion characteristics are different, the track width can be set to a predetermined value by patterning using a set of masks and then adjusting the position and width of the magnetically degraded layer. , there is no need for a mask corresponding to each track width, and a pole can be formed with a set of masks, making it possible to provide a thin film magnetic head with low cost and high yield.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a magnetic transducer element portion of a thin-film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a pole portion of the thin-film magnetic head according to the present invention viewed from the air bearing surface side.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a pole portion of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing still another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged perspective view of a pole portion in still another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

9 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention shown in FIG. 8. FIG.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective view of a pole portion in still another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

11 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention shown in FIG. 10. FIG.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a conventional thin film magnetic head.

FIG. 13 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a magnetic transducer element portion of a conventional thin-film magnetic head.

FIG. 14 is an enlarged view of a pole portion of a conventional thin film magnetic head viewed from the air bearing surface side.

[Explanation of symbols]

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A thin film magnetic head comprising a slider having an air bearing surface, and a thin film magnetic transducer provided on one end side of the slider in a medium outflow direction, wherein the thin film magnetic transducer is attached to the air bearing. 1. A thin film magnetic head comprising a pole portion that appears on the air bearing surface, and the pole portion has a magnetically degraded layer at an end portion that appears on the air bearing surface. 2. The pole part includes a lower pole part and an upper pole part facing each other with a gap film interposed therebetween, and the magnetic deterioration layer is provided at at least one of the ends of the lower pole part and the upper pole part. 2. The thin film magnetic head according to claim 1, further comprising: a thin film magnetic head; 3. The magnetic deterioration layer is provided at an end in the width direction of the pole portion.
or the thin film magnetic head described in 2. 4. The thin film magnetic head according to claim 2, wherein the magnetic deterioration layer is provided at an end of the upper pole portion opposite to the gap film. 5. The thin film magnetic head according to claim 2, wherein the magnetic deterioration layer is provided at an end of the lower pole portion opposite to the gap film.