JPH05217119A - Floating thin film magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a highly reliable floating thin film magnetic head by making grooves shallower than 0.1mm in predetermined number of magnetic head elements laminated on a basic material while copying the profile of head by means of laser beam. CONSTITUTION:A groove 6 shallower than 0.1mm is made in the periphery except an Al2O3 protective film 1, a slider 2, an ABS surface 3, a leading tapered part, and a central groove 5. In other words, magnetic head elements are formed on a substrate which becomes a slider 2 through similar processes employed in the fabrication of IC such that the Al2O3 protective film 1 is formed as a sputter film while covering the entire surface of the magnetic head element and then it is trimmed by means of laser beam to form a groove 6 shallower than 0.1mm. Grooves 6 shallower than 0.1mm are also made in the opposite side faces of two ABS surface 3 by means of laser beam and then grinding/ cutting, grooving and polishing are performed to finish a final profile of magnetic head.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flying type thin film magnetic head having a read / write element and a protective film attached to an end surface of a magnetic head slider used in a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus in the air outflow direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A floating thin film magnetic head is a magnetic head manufactured by utilizing a thin film technology used in a semiconductor manufacturing process, and has a feature that a recording density can be extremely increased. In addition, when moving relative to the magnetic disk, a minute floating amount is generated between the magnetic disk surface and the surface of the magnetic disk by utilizing the dynamic pressure generated by the viscosity of air. In the process of manufacturing such a floating thin-film magnetic head, cracks, chipping and peeling are likely to occur in the protective film, and there are problems in reliability, yield reduction, and the like. 64-46216
There is a method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-242121 in which a cutter different from the protective film that protects the slider and the magnetic head element is used for processing. FIG. 5 is an external perspective view of a conventional floating thin-film magnetic head. In FIG. 5, 1 is an Al ₂ O ₃ protective film for protecting the magnetic head element and the like, 2 is a slider made of a ceramic structure such as Al-TiC or an oxide magnetic material,
3 is a medium facing surface with high flatness (hereinafter referred to as ABS surface),
4 is a taper part (hereinafter referred to as a leading taper part) applied to the air inflow end part for floating the slider,
5 is a central groove. The magnetic head element is provided on the air outflow end portion side opposite to the leading taper portion 4. The structure of a conventional floating thin-film magnetic head will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 shows an example of an enlarged side view of the magnetic head element portion of the most common flying thin film magnetic head in which the slider and the protective film are processed by the same cutter. In FIG. 6, 1 is an Al ₂ O ₃ protective film, 2 is a slider, 3 is an ABS surface, 7 is an upper magnetic core made of amorphous material, 8 is a coil for generating a magnetic flux, and 9 is a terminal for bonding a lead wire. The part 10 is the end of the Al ₂ O ₃ protective film, and the end of the Al ₂ O ₃ protective film is flush with the slider. Another conventional example is shown in FIG.
An enlarged side view of the magnetic head element portion described in Japanese Patent No. 46216 is shown. In FIG. 7, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 6 are the same. Reference numeral 6 denotes a shallow groove having a clearance L dimension from the end portion of the slider 2 and for preventing chipping, cracking and the like of the protective film. That is, the end of the Al ₂ O ₃ protective film 1 other than the central groove 5 and the ABS surface 3 and the side surface of the ABS surface 3 is preliminarily subjected to shallow groove machining using a cutter different from the cutter for grinding and cutting the slider 2. It is made with a shape.

[0003]

However, in the above conventional flying type thin film magnetic head, the slider and the Al ₂ O ₃ protective film always have the same surface in the slider processing, and the Al ₂ O ₃ protective film is chipped. There is a problem that cracks occur and reliability, quality and yield are lowered. The present invention is to solve the above conventional problems,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a flying-type thin-film magnetic head of high quality and high yield, which eliminates the occurrence of chipping and cracks on the cut surface of the protective film.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention performs shallow groove processing on the inner side of the periphery except the ABS surface which is the final magnetic head shape including the magnetic head element formed on the substrate. It was done like this.

[0005]

According to the invention therefore, processed Al ₂ O ₃ protective film by laser processing, by providing a level difference between the Al ₂ O ₃ protective film and the slider, occurring Al ₂ O ₃ protective film cut surface A flying-type thin film magnetic head with high reliability and high quality can be obtained by eliminating chipping and cracks.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a flying thin-film magnetic head according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of portion A of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an embodiment of the present invention on a substrate. FIG. 4 is a front view, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of portion B in FIG. 3. 1 and 2, 1 is A
l ₂ O ₃ protective film, 2 is a slider, 3 is an ABS surface, 4 is a leading taper portion, 5 is a central groove, and 6 is a shallow groove having a depth of 0.1 mm or less provided on the periphery excluding the ABS surface 3, A laser (for example, a YAG laser with a laser beam output of 30 w and a focus size of 50 μm to 100 μm) is provided at a position having a gap L from the end of the slider 2. However, the gap L is 0.005 to 0.03 mm. 7 is an upper magnetic core, 8 is a coil, 9 is a terminal portion, 10 is Al ₂ O ₃
It is located inside the slider 2 except the ABS 3 at the end of the protective film.

A process of processing the flying thin-film magnetic head of the embodiment having the above structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. In FIG. 3, a magnetic head element is formed on a substrate to be a slider 2 according to a process similar to IC manufacturing technology, and the Al ₂ O ₃ protective film 1 is formed as a sputter film so as to cover the entire surface of the magnetic head element. This shows that the shallow groove 6 having a depth of 0.1 mm or less is formed by performing the laser-based traying. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the portion B in FIG. 3. Unlike the conventional example, the shallow grooves 6 of 0.1 mm or less are also processed by laser on both sides of the two ABS surfaces. Further, a cutting cutter performs grinding and cutting, grooving and polishing to obtain the final magnetic head shape shown in FIG. In the conventional example (FIG. 7), the opposite side of the ABS surface 3 and both side surfaces of the slider 2 can be processed by the shallow groove processing with a cutter, but the shallow groove processing of both side surfaces of the ABS surface 3 and the central groove 5 is impossible. However, in the above embodiment, it is possible to process the ABS 3, the both side surfaces and the central groove 5 into shallow grooves. That is, in each processing step, the processing work can be advanced without the Al ₂ O ₃ protective film 1 contacting a cutting cutter, a grooving cutter or the like other than the ABS surface 3. Also,
When handling the magnetic head, the shallow groove 6 provided on the periphery other than the ABS 3 serves as a protective gap against direct contact of an external member or the like with the Al ₂ O ₃ protective film 1 and can prevent cracks or chips. In the embodiment, since the ABS 2 side of the slider 2 is cut and polished, the Al ₂ O ₃ protective film 1 is formed.
Abrasions and cracks can be absorbed by polishing.

[0008]

As is apparent from the above-described embodiments of the present invention, a cutting cutter, a grooving cutter, and tweezers are brought into contact with the protective film by subjecting the protective film of the thin-film magnetic head to shallow groove processing with a laser. It is possible to realize a floating thin-film magnetic head having high reliability by preventing the above-mentioned phenomenon, improving the yield without chipping and cracks in the protective film.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of part A in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of part B in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a conventional floating thin-film magnetic head.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a part of a conventional flying-type thin-film magnetic head.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a part of another conventional floating thin-film magnetic head.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Al ₂ O ₃ protective film, 2 ... slider, 3 ... medium facing surface (ABS surface), 4 ... leading taper portion, 5
... central groove, 6 ... shallow grooves, 7 ... magnetic core, 8 ... coil, 9 ... terminal portion, 10 ... Al ₂ O ₃ protective film ends, L ...
gap.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A flying thin film in which a shallow groove having a depth of 0.1 mm or less is processed by a laser in accordance with the outer shape of the head for a magnetic head element formed by laminating a predetermined number of layers in parallel on a substrate by thin film technology. Magnetic head. 2. A width of 5 is provided on the periphery other than the medium facing surface (ABS surface).
2. The flying thin film magnetic head according to claim 1, wherein the thin film magnetic head has a shallow groove having a depth of .about.30 .mu.m and a depth of 0.1 mm or less.