JPH0667310A - Holder for block working - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a holder structure for aligning and holding a slider block one by one in a line to expose by a photolithographic technology in the case of particularly producing a magnetic head slider as to the holder for block working, and to accurately position and hold a sample in every holding hole. CONSTITUTION:The holder 1 consists of a thin plate 1a provided with the holding holes 1a-1 which are continuously formed and arranged at prescribed intervals and for inserting the sample to be exposed by the photolithographic technology one by one through a slight gap, and an adhesive tape 1b attached on the rear of the holding hole and for firmly sticking the inserted sample.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a holder for processing a block, and more particularly to a holder structure for aligning and holding one by one in order to expose a slider block by a photolithography technique when manufacturing a magnetic head slider. .

A slider block is a rectangular parallelepiped block in which a plurality of thin film magnetic head elements are aligned and formed on a wafer substrate by a thin film process, and then thinly cut into a shape in which the thin film magnetic head elements are arranged in a line. The elongated slider blocks are further cut out into individual magnetic head sliders of a magnetic disk device.

Before the cutting process, in order to make the medium facing surface of the head slider float above the medium recording surface, a recess having a special fine pattern is formed in the medium facing surface by etching using a photolithography technique.

Prior to the processing, a plurality of slider blocks (hereinafter abbreviated as blocks) are aligned with a block processing holder (hereinafter abbreviated as a holder) and exposure is performed. Good positioning is required.

[0005]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in the plan view and side sectional view of FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b), a holder 11 is a rectangular thin plate 11a which is formed by holding rectangular holes penetrating at equal intervals by a photoetching technique. The hole 11a-1 is provided.

Each holding hole 11a-1 has a plurality of blocks 12
[Figure (a) shows two with diagonal lines] The size that can be inserted each,
Both of them are aligned and positioned by abutting two edges E and F of the holding hole 11a-1 which are orthogonal to each other. At this time, the holding holes 11a-1 are processed so that the distance between the positioned blocks 12 and the distance between the mask patterns in the exposure process match.

The block is inserted into the holder by inserting two blocks 12 into each holding hole 11a-1 of the holder 11 fixed on a stainless steel flat plate 13 having a thickness of several mm as shown in FIG. After sliding on the flat plate 13 together, the two edges E and F, which are the reference planes, are aligned and abutted against each other, and then fixed at both ends with an adhesive (not shown). There is.

[0008]

However, according to such a holder as described above, there is an advantage that a plurality of blocks inserted in the holding hole can be collectively exposed and processed in a large amount, but the block serves as a reference surface of the holding hole. If they are not in contact with each other or if there is a large error in the geometrical shape of the blocks, the cumulative error becomes large because a plurality of blocks are arranged, and the intervals between the blocks do not match the intervals between the mask patterns. There was a problem that the dents formed in 1 were misaligned, and many defective products were generated at one time.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a holder capable of accurately positioning and holding blocks one by one in a holding hole.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, in the holder of the present invention, holding holes for inserting each block exposed by the photolithography technique with a slight gap are provided at predetermined intervals. It is composed of a thin plate that continuously penetrates and is lined up, and an adhesive tape that is provided to fix the inserted block to the back surface of the holding hole.

[0011]

With this structure, the blocks can be easily fixed and held by inserting the blocks one by one into the holding holes and fixing the blocks to the adhesive tape.

Further, when the blocks are exposed, the mask patterns can be aligned one by one, so that it is possible to reduce the influence of the processing error of the reference surface of the holding hole and the shape and size error of the block itself.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The gist of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a holder according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are a plan view of a main part and a cross-sectional view taken along line CC of the block in a fixed state.

As shown in the figure, the holder 1 has a plurality of holding holes 1a-1 into which the blocks to be exposed on the thin plate 1a are inserted one by one with a slight gap, and the holding holes 1a-1 are continuously penetrated and arranged at regular intervals. The thin plate 1a has a long tape shape (or a strip shape) instead of a circular shape, and an adhesive tape 1b is adhered to the back surface of the thin plate 1a.

Therefore, the material of the thin plate 1a is preferably metal such as stainless steel or polyimide resin film,
The thin plate 1a is made slightly thinner than the block 2 so that the block 2 is slightly exposed. For example, block 2
If the thickness is 0.8 mm, the thickness of the thin plate 1a is about 0.85 mm. If it is difficult to wind it in a roll, make folds 1a-2 at appropriate intervals so that it can be easily bent.

Further, the holding hole 1a-1 has a vertical and horizontal width dimension of several tens of μm larger than the maximum dimension in which the tolerance of the block 2 is taken into consideration, and the holes are continuously formed at regular intervals by photoetching or a press die. Make a hole.

The block is inserted into the holder as shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), insert one block (slider block) 2 indicated by diagonal lines into each holding hole 1a-1 of the holder 1,
It is fixed to the adhesive tape 1b as it is.

Next, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of a holder of the second embodiment and its DD sectional view. The holder 1 of the second embodiment has a thin plate 1a instead of the adhesive tape of the first embodiment.
The block 2 (indicated by the diagonal line rising to the left) inserted in each holding hole 1a-1 of FIG. Several pieces are provided as appropriate), and they are integrally provided on one edge of each holding hole 1a-1.

When the block is inserted into the holding hole with the pressing spring, the pressing spring 1c is compressed while inserting the block 2 so that the surface of the holder 1 slides, and the reference generated by the repulsive force (spring force). It is held by the frictional force with the surface A. The reference surface B is pressed as much as possible while being inserted into the holding hole 1a-1.

In any of the above-mentioned embodiments, one holder 1 has a strip shape or a roll shape, and
It can accommodate 10 to several thousand blocks 2,
The roll-shaped holder is easy to carry.

With this structure, when the holder is provided with the adhesive tape on the back surface of the holding hole, the block is inserted into the holding hole and fixed to the adhesive tape as it is, so that the holder can be easily fixed and held. You can

When a holding spring is provided on one edge of the holding hole, the block can be elastically held in a state of being pressed against the two edges (reference planes) orthogonal to the holding hole by the spring force of the holding spring. The positioning accuracy is better than that of the embodiment, and the block is easier to remove than the adhesive tape.

Further, by winding the holder into a strip shape or a roll shape, it is possible to efficiently move the holding holes during the next exposure process to perform the exposure operation efficiently. Next,
A method of processing the air bearing surface of the block using the above holder will be described with reference to the process chart of FIG.

In FIG. 1A, a holder 1 holding a block 2 to be processed in a holding hole (not shown) is coated with a photoresist 3. The method of applying the photoresist 3 differs depending on its type.

(A) -1 Liquid photoresist 3-1 as shown in FIG.
In the case of No. 3, it is sprayed or applied, and in the case of the dry film 3-2 as shown in (a) -2, it is laminated by the laminating roller 6.

The tape-shaped holder 1 ejected from the holder feeding roller 4 is fed to the holder winding roller 5 and wound up. In the case of the liquid photoresist 3-1, a drying unit 7 for hot air or the like is required in front of the holder winding roller 5.

In FIG. 3B, the photoresist 3 applied to the air bearing surface of the block 2 is exposed. The exposure is performed by the exposure device 8 described later. Next, although not shown, the exposed photoresist is developed, fixed and dried. Then, the block on which the air bearing surface pattern is formed is removed from the holder and replaced with another jig, or the air bearing surface pattern is etched by the same holder.

Through the above steps, the block for which the air bearing surface processing has been completed is completed. Next, the exposure machine used for exposure is shown in FIG.
Description will be given with reference to side views and plan views schematically showing (a) and (b).

The exposure device 8 is, as shown in the drawing, a holder 1
Has a structure in which the X, Y, and θ stages 8a, 8b, and 8c move substantially in the center thereof in a constant arrow direction. The holder 1 is sandwiched by the coarse adjustment pressing roller 8d, and is driven in the guide groove (not shown) substantially equal to the longitudinal width of the holder 1 provided on the uppermost X stage 8a by driving the coarse adjustment pressing roller 8d. To move smoothly.

When the holding hole of the holder 1 is in the pattern of the photomask 8e, X, Y, θ stages 8a, 8b, 8c are used for X,
The Y direction (the X and Y directions are orthogonal to each other) and the rotation angle are finely adjusted to perform fine alignment between the mask pattern and the block fixed in the holding hole. This alignment can also be performed automatically using an image recognition device.

After the alignment of the mask pattern and the block is completed, exposure is performed and the mask pattern is transferred to a photoresist (not shown). After the transfer, the holder 1 is transferred to the next holding hole by the rough adjustment pressing roller 8d, and the exposure is sequentially repeated.

By sequentially repeating such an operation, each block can be accurately exposed. Since the blocks are exposed one by one, it is possible to reduce the influence of the block shape error.

In the above description, the holder, that is, the block side is X,
Although the fine adjustment is performed by the Y, θ stage, it goes without saying that the holder (block) may be fixed and the mask side may be finely adjusted by the X, Y, θ stage.

[0034]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,
The block can be accurately positioned and held in the holding hole, and it can be attached to the exposure machine to perform accurate exposure by progressive feeding, which is a very useful effect in the industry.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a holder according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part showing a fixed state of the block according to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of a holder according to a second embodiment of the present invention and a DD cross-sectional view thereof.

FIG. 4 is a process drawing showing machining of an air bearing surface of a block according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view and a plan view schematically showing the configuration of the exposure device used in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view and a side sectional view according to the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 is a holder (block processing holder) 1a is a thin plate 1a-1 is a holding hole 1c is a holding spring 1b is an adhesive tape 2 is a block (slider block)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A thin plate (1) in which holding holes (1a-1), into which each block (2) exposed by photolithography is inserted with a slight gap, are continuously penetrated and arranged in a row at a predetermined interval.
a) and the inserted block on the back surface of the holding hole (1a-1)
A block processing holder comprising: an adhesive tape (1b) provided to fix (2). 2. The holding hole (1a-1) according to claim 1, characterized in that a holding spring (1c) for pushing the inserted block (2) from one direction and elastically holding it is integrally provided at one edge. Holder for block processing. 3. The block processing holder according to claim 1, wherein the block processing holder (1) is wound in a roll shape.