JPH06162439A - Contact type thin-film magnetic head and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the cost of production and to obtain uniform recording and reproducing characteristics by increasing the number of the heads which can be produced on one sheet of substrate. CONSTITUTION:This magnetic head has a head element part 11 constituted of a thin film to execute recording and reproducing by coming into contact with a recording medium and a spring part 12 which is provided, partly superposing, on the rear surface of the contact surface in contact with the recording medium and impresses prescribed contact load to the head element part in the part extending from the head element part. This spring part 12 is formed as a film by sputtering on the rear surface of the head element part 11. Plural pieces of the head element parts 11 are formed on one wafer by a thin film forming method and thereafter, the respective head element parts 11 are parted and taken out discretely. The respective head element parts 11 are arranged apart spaced intervals of a proper length on the substrate by bringing their surfaces for contact with the recording medium into contact with the substrate. After a Cu layer is deposited over the entire surface, this layer is flattened flush with the surface of the head element parts 11 and further a material for the spring part is deposited over the entire surface. The substrate is thereafter parted to a prescribed head shape.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a contact type thin film magnetic head having a head element portion for recording / reproducing in contact with a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, as a thin film magnetic head for a hard disk of a computer, a floating type is predominant. In this flying type thin film magnetic head, there is a demand for an improvement in reproduction output with a demand for higher recording density. However, in order to improve the reproduction output, it is necessary to reduce the flying height of the magnetic head.

Therefore, there has been proposed a contact type thin film magnetic head (hereinafter referred to as a contact head) which performs recording and reproduction in a state where the magnetic recording medium and the magnetic head are in contact with each other. FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a conventional perpendicular magnetic recording contact head of this type. Al ₂ O ₃ , SiO ₂ , Si
While forming the main body 1 made of N, ZrO ₂ or the like by sputtering or the like, thin films such as the conducting portion 6, the coil 2, the core 3, the main magnetic pole 4 and the auxiliary magnetic pole 5 are formed during the thin film forming process. The head element section 7 is configured. Body 1
Has an elongated shape, the head element portion 7 is formed at one portion thereof, and the other end portion is attached to a support member (not shown) that supports the contact head. A spring portion 8 elastically supporting the head element portion 1 is provided between the support element and the support end.

In the conventional contact head constructed as described above, the main body 1 has a constant thickness, and the main body 1 has the coil 2, the main magnetic pole 4 and the auxiliary magnetic pole 5 embedded therein. is doing. Further, the spring portion 8 is the head element portion 7.
It is formed in the same process as the forming process. Then, when the contact head is mounted with the end of the main body 1 on the side of the spring portion 8 supported by the head supporting member, the main magnetic pole 4 of the head element portion 7 comes into contact with the magnetic recording medium (not shown), and the spring The section 8 applies a load to the head element section 7 when the magnetic recording medium and the head element section 7 contact each other, and
It has a function of keeping the posture of the head element unit 7 constant.

[0005]

However, in order to apply an appropriate biasing force to the head element portion 7 by the spring portion 8, the length of the spring portion 8 is, for example, 8 to 16 mm, and the head element portion 7 is Need to be larger than. In the conventional contact head manufacturing method, the head element portion 7 and the spring portion 8 are
Since and are integrally formed at the same time, it is necessary to secure a large area in one substrate in order to manufacture one contact head, and the number of contact heads that can be manufactured from one substrate is small. There are drawbacks. For example, the number of heads that can be formed on a 3-inch substrate is 700 to 1 for a microslider type (flying type) head.
000, whereas 1 for contact head
As few as 00 to 400. Therefore, the conventional contact head has a drawback that the manufacturing cost is higher than that of the floating head.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to increase the number of heads that can be manufactured on one substrate, reduce the manufacturing cost, and obtain uniform recording / reproducing characteristics. An object of the present invention is to provide a contact type thin film magnetic head and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0007]

A contact type thin film magnetic head according to the present invention has a thin film head element portion for contacting and recording with a recording medium for recording and reproducing and a contact surface on the back surface for contact with the recording medium. It is characterized in that it has a spring part which is provided so as to partially overlap and extends from the head element part, and which applies a predetermined contact load to the head element part.

In this case, it is preferable that the spring portion is formed on the back surface of the head element portion by sputtering. As a result, the alignment accuracy between the head element portion and the spring portion can be improved.

In the method (first method) of manufacturing a contact type thin film magnetic head according to the present invention, a plurality of head element parts including a main magnetic pole, an auxiliary magnetic pole, a coil and a core are formed on one wafer by a thin film forming method. A first step; and a second step in which each of the head element portions is individually divided and taken out in units of one or a plurality of pieces, and each of the head element portions is placed on a substrate, and a recording medium contact surface thereof is brought into contact with the substrate. A third step of arranging at an appropriate interval, a fourth step of depositing the first dummy layer on the entire surface and flattening the surface of the head element section flush with the surface of the head element section, and a material for the spring section on the entire surface. It is characterized by including a fifth step of depositing and a sixth step of dividing into a predetermined shape including the head element portion and the spring portion.

In this case, instead of the sixth step, a sixth step is performed in which the first dummy layer is divided by etching into a predetermined shape including a head element portion and a spring portion.
A step may be provided (second method).

In any of the first method and the second method, after the second dummy layer is formed on the substrate in the third step, the head elements are mounted on the substrate through the second dummy layer. In the sixth step, the first dummy layer is formed with a notch reaching the second dummy layer, and then the second dummy layer is removed by etching by immersing in an etching solution. By doing
It may be configured to be divided into the predetermined shape. Accordingly, the magnetic head including the head element portion and the spring portion can be easily separated from each other and separated from the substrate.

In this case, as in the second method, the first dummy layer may be removed by etching at the same time when the second dummy layer is removed by etching. Moreover, in the case of the first method, the first dummy layer is removed in a separate step after the division.

[0013]

According to the present invention, a large number of head element portions are densely formed on one wafer, and the head element portions are separated from each other and separated, and then a predetermined spring layer is formed between the head element portions on the substrate. Secure the length of and arrange roughly. And the first
After the dummy layer of is deposited to fill the space between the head element portions,
The constituent material of the spring layer is deposited on the back surface of the head element portion by sputtering or the like, and further cut into a predetermined shape. Therefore, when the head elements are formed on the wafer by the thin film forming method, the head elements can be densely arranged, so that the productivity can be dramatically improved. For example, 1000-150 at a time on a 3 inch board
It is possible to form zero head element units. In the present invention, a step of dividing the head element portion is added as compared with the conventional method, but in the manufacturing step of the head element portion, which is the longest step, it is possible to manufacture a large number of head element portions at the same time. Combined with the extremely short length, significantly increases head productivity.

Further, the spring portion is arranged with the head element portion in contact with the recording medium contact surface of the substrate, and the material of the spring portion is deposited by sputtering on the back surface thereof, and then cut into a predetermined shape. Since the spring portion is formed by forming the spring portion, the positional deviation between the spring portion and the head element portion does not occur as in the case of manufacturing by the conventional method.
In addition, by forming a second dummy layer that is removed with an etching solution between the substrate and the head element portion,
In the head separation step, each head can be separated by providing a notch reaching the second dummy layer and then simply immersing it in an etching solution.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a contact head 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. This contact head 1
Reference numeral 0 has a head element portion 11 and a spring portion 12 having a part thereof laminated on the back surface of the head element portion 11.
A portion of the head element portion 11 whose lower surface is slightly projected serves as a contact surface with the recording medium, and the main magnetic pole 4 is formed on the head element portion 11 so as to extend in the thickness direction of the head element portion 11. An auxiliary magnetic pole 5 is provided so as to be embedded in the head element portion 11 at a portion adjacent to the main magnetic pole 4. The core 3 is provided so as to connect the main magnetic pole 4 and the auxiliary magnetic pole 5. A coil 2 wound around the core 3 is embedded in the head element portion 11.
A conductive portion 6 serving as a lead wire lead-out portion for establishing electrical connection with the outside is provided in the peripheral portion of the coil 2.

The width of the spring portion 12 is the head element portion 11
The length is longer than the head element portion 11 and is laminated and fixed to the back surface of the head element portion 11. The fixation between the head element portion 11 and the spring portion 12 may be performed with an adhesive, or the spring portion 12 is formed by sputtering on the back surface of the head element portion 11 as in the manufacturing method described later. May be.

The width (depth in FIG. 1) of the head element portion 11 and the spring portion 12 is, for example, 0.5 mm. Further, the length of the head element portion 11 is, for example, 0.6 mm, and the length of the spring portion 12 is, for example, 13 mm. Further, the thickness of the head element portion 11 is, for example, 30 μm.
And the thickness of the spring portion 12 is, for example, 35 μm.
It is the following.

In the contact head thus constructed, the end portion 13 of the spring portion 12 is attached to a head supporting member (not shown), and the main magnetic pole 4 of the head element portion 11 is attached to the magnetic recording medium (not shown). Place it in contact with.
In this case, when the spring portion 12 is slightly bent and the head element portion 11 is pressed against the magnetic recording medium, an appropriate contact pressure can be obtained between the main magnetic pole 4 and the magnetic recording medium. This enables recording / reproduction on the magnetic recording medium.

In this embodiment, unlike the conventional contact head in which the spring portion 12 and the head element portion 11 are integrally molded in the same step, the spring portion 12 is replaced with the head element portion 11. It can be formed of different materials, and the shape such as its length can be set independently of the head element unit 11. Therefore, the contact pressure to be applied to the main magnetic pole 4 can be set arbitrarily and finely independently of the shape of the head element portion 11, whereby the contact head can be downsized, for example. it can.

Next, a method of manufacturing the contact head according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 2, for example, a chip of the head element portion 11 having the structure shown in FIG. 3 is formed on a wafer 20 such as a silicon wafer or a ceramic wafer having a diameter of, for example, 3 inches by using a general thin film forming technique. Many are formed. A solid line parallel to FIG. 2 indicates a cutting line 21. After the chip is formed on the wafer 20, the cutting line 21 cuts the strip to form a strip shape and the chips are arranged in a line. Make a piece 22. That is, a plurality of strips 22 are arranged on the wafer 20 in the direction of the strips (for convenience of illustration, 13 rows are shown in FIG. 2). Further, for example, 50 head element portions 11 are formed on one strip 22. In this case, each layer structure of the head element 11 and the cutting line 21 are set so that the head element 11 having the structure shown in FIG. 3 appears in the cross section of the short side of the strip 22 in which the head element portions 11 are arranged in a line. . The wafer 20 is 3 inches, and the width of the head element portion 11 is 0.5.
mm, and when the length is 0.6 mm, about 2500
The number of head element units 11 (650 in the illustrated example) can be built. In addition, as a specific cutting method, Ar
There are a laser cutting method such as a gas laser or an excimer laser, and a slicing machine using a thin blade.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the spring portion 1
The strips 22 are arranged on the formation substrate 23 of No. 2 at appropriate intervals with the magnetic recording medium contact surface of the main pole 4 facing downward. In FIG. 4, for convenience of illustration, three strips 22 are arranged. Then, the contact head is manufactured as shown in FIG. 4 by forming the spring portion 12 by the sputtering method.

FIGS. 5A to 5G are sectional views showing the method of forming the spring portion 12 in the order of steps. First, as shown in FIG. 5A, a Cu layer 24 as a second dummy layer is formed on a substrate 23 made of silicon, ceramics, stainless steel or the like. Then, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), strips 22 in which a plurality of head element portions 11 are arranged in a line are provided with an interval corresponding to the length of the spring portion 12 between the strips 22 and the main magnetic pole 4. The magnetic recording medium contact surface (a slightly protruding surface) is brought into contact with the Cu layer 24 and arranged in parallel with each other. Each strip 22 is fixed to the Cu layer 24 with an adhesive. When the strip pieces 22 are arranged, they are aligned at the same pitch using a positioning jig or the like. Further, at the time of this positioning, a step for positioning may be provided by selectively etching a predetermined position of the Cu layer 24 by a photolithography and etching process. This improves the positioning accuracy. Further, as the adhesive, it is preferable to use an epoxy type or Teflon type adhesive in order to make the thickness of the adhesive layer as thin as possible.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5C, a Cu layer 25 as a first dummy layer is formed by plating.
In this case, it is preferable to form a plating seed layer by forming Cu or the like on the entire surface by sputtering before the plating treatment.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5D, the surface of the plated Cu layer 25 is polished by means such as lapping or polishing to expose the back surface of the medium contact surface of the head element 11 (the strip 22). Flatten until.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5E, a conductive stud 6a having a predetermined shape is formed on the conductive portion 6 of the head element portion 11 by using a normal thin film forming and patterning technique.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5 (f), Al ₂ O ₃ and Si, which are constituent materials of the spring portion 12, are formed on the entire surface.
The spring portion film 26 is formed by sputtering O ₂ , SiN, ZrO _2, or the like.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5 (g), the surface of the spring portion film 26 is flattened by lapping or polishing to expose the conductive stud 6a.

This state is shown in FIG. This Figure 4
As shown in FIG. 4, the areas of the contact heads are divided so that the elongated spring portions 12 extend in the areas between the strips 22, and Cu is formed at the boundary (indicated by a solid line in FIG. 4).
Form a notch that reaches layer 24. After that, the substrate 23 is dipped in an etching solution using an acid (sulfuric acid or the like) that dissolves Cu to form C as the first dummy layer.
The u layer 25 and the Cu layer 24 as the second dummy layer are removed by an etching solution. This separates each contact head individually.

As described above, according to the method of this embodiment, the formation of the head element portion 11 which requires a complicated and long process is performed as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, it is performed by forming a large number of chips on one wafer, and then the spring portion 12 is formed on the back surface of the head element portion 11 by sputtering in the process shown in FIG. The productivity can be dramatically improved. Also in this case, since the head 26 is formed on the entire surface and the contact heads are notched to separate the heads, the alignment accuracy between the spring 12 and the head element 11 is extremely high. high. Since a layer such as Cu that is easily removed by etching is formed as a dummy layer, each head can be separated very easily.

Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the step of cutting the head element portion 12 manufactured as shown in FIG. 2 into strips is not limited to being performed after the completion of the head element portion 12, but after the formation of the main pole 4 and the head element portion. You may go before completing 11.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the head element section and the spring section are manufactured in different steps, the shape of the material and thickness of the spring section can be set independently of the head element section, and the contact pressure of the head element section can be arbitrarily set. It is possible to set or arbitrarily set the shape of the contact head that can obtain a predetermined contact pressure. Further, according to the method of the present invention, the productivity of the contact head can be dramatically improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a contact head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a schematic perspective view showing a wafer used for manufacturing the head element portion 11. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a cross section of a strip.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a spring portion forming substrate.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a step of forming a spring portion 12 in the order of steps.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a conventional contact head.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3; core 4; main magnetic pole 5; auxiliary magnetic pole 6; conductive portion 10; contact head 11; head element portion 12; spring portion 22; strip 23; substrate 24; Cu layer (second dummy layer) 25; Cu layer ( First dummy layer) 26; Spring portion film

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A head element portion having a thin film structure for recording and reproducing in contact with a recording medium, and a part of the head element portion is provided on the back surface of a contact surface in contact with the recording medium so as to extend from the head element portion. A contact type thin-film magnetic head, characterized in that it has a spring portion for applying a predetermined contact load to the head element portion at a portion thereof. 2. The contact type thin film magnetic head according to claim 1, wherein the spring portion is formed on the back surface of the head element portion by sputtering. 3. A first step of forming a plurality of head element portions including a main magnetic pole, an auxiliary magnetic pole, a coil and a core on one wafer by a thin film forming method, and each head element portion in one or a plurality of units. The second step that separates and takes out with
A third step of arranging each of the head element portions on a substrate so that the recording medium contact surface of the head element portion is in contact with the substrate and arranged at appropriate intervals;
A fourth step of depositing the first dummy layer on the entire surface and planarizing the head element portion flush with the surface of the head element portion, a fifth step of depositing a material for the spring portion on the entire surface, the head element portion and the spring And a sixth step of dividing the contact-type thin-film magnetic head into a predetermined shape including a portion. 4. A first step of forming a plurality of head element portions including a main magnetic pole, an auxiliary magnetic pole, a coil and a core on one wafer by a thin film forming method, and each head element portion in one or a plurality of units. The second step that separates and takes out with
A third step of arranging each of the head element portions on a substrate so that the recording medium contact surface of the head element portion is in contact with the substrate and arranged at appropriate intervals;
A fourth step of depositing the first dummy layer on the entire surface and planarizing the head element portion flush with the surface of the head element portion, a fifth step of depositing a material for the spring portion on the entire surface, the head element portion and the spring And a sixth step of dividing the first dummy layer by etching and dividing it into a predetermined shape including a portion. 5. In the third step, after forming a second dummy layer on the substrate, the head elements are arranged on the substrate via the second dummy layer. Item 5. A method of manufacturing a contact type thin film magnetic head according to Item 3 or 4. 6. In the sixth step, after forming a cut reaching the second dummy layer in the first dummy layer, the second dummy layer is removed by etching by immersing in an etching solution. 6. The method of manufacturing a contact type thin film magnetic head according to claim 5, wherein the contact type thin film magnetic head is divided into the predetermined shapes by.