JPH08124116A - Production of thin-film magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable fine working of bearing surfaces of a slider by forming metal exposed parts at an arbitrary size in arbitrary positions of the bearing surfaces and melting these parts with irradiation of a laser beam after formation. CONSTITUTION: Insulating films 2 consisting of alumina, first ground surface films 3 consisting of titanium or iron-nickel and first magnetic films 4 consisting of 'Permalloy (R)' are formed on both sides of an electromagnetic conversion element 8 formed on a substrate l. Further, the metal exposed parts 9 successively laminated with second ground surface films 5 consisting of copper, second metallic films 6 consisting of) copper and protective films 7 consisting of alumina are formed in the state of exposing these parts on the bearing surfaces. The metal exposed parts 9 are irradiated with the laser beam to work the bearing surfaces to the arbitrary shape. The metal exposed parts 9 may be formed of the same material at the time of forming the electromagnetic conversion element 8 or may be formed of the same material at the time of forming terminal parts 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a magnetic head used in a magnetic disk drive or the like, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head including a step of finely processing a bearing surface facing a magnetic recording medium by laser light. It relates to a manufacturing method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-148721.

This conventional manufacturing method includes a first step of forming a thin film head element and a processing positioning pattern on a substrate, and a row for forming an air bearing surface of a slider so that the positioning pattern and the terminal pattern are not covered. The second step of adhering the protective plate to the element array at a right angle, the third step of cutting the substrate into element arrays parallel to the surface facing the medium, and the surface facing the medium according to the positioning pattern, and lapping processing And a fourth step of forming the air bearing portion of the surface facing the medium by machining or ion milling
, A sixth step of forming an air escape groove, and a seventh step of cutting the block into individual sliders. By this method, a tapered flat type double-body slider can be obtained as a thin-film magnetic head.

[0004] The term "ion milling" as used herein means that ions are generated by a filament or the like in an ion beam milling apparatus that is evacuated, and the ions collide with the substrate as an ion beam in a predetermined direction. Refers to how to process.

[0005]

However, the above-described conventional method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head has the following problems.

[0006] In recent years, downsizing and increasing the capacity of magnetic disk devices have been increasingly advanced. From a technical point of view of a magnetic head, this technical problem shows that the flying height has been reduced due to the high linear recording density, and therefore the flying height is constant in all regions from the innermost circumference to the outermost circumference of the medium. Is required to be formed. Negative pressure sliders and the like have been disclosed as shapes that achieve the technical problem of constant flying height.

However, when the air floating surface of the negative pressure slider or the like is formed by machining, it is physically very difficult to perform fine processing with a cutter or the like, and it is difficult to achieve the above-mentioned technical problems. It was virtually impossible.

On the other hand, when the air flying surface of the negative pressure slider or the like is formed by the above-described ion beam, the processing rate is low and the processing needs to be performed for a long time, and a large investment is required for the processing equipment. Cost was rising.

The main object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a predetermined distance on both sides of the electromagnetic conversion element with a thickness equivalent to that of the protective film and at a predetermined position on the bearing surface of the slider. Of the bearing surface of the slider by including a step of forming a metal exposed portion exposed in the size of the above and a step of forming the metal exposed portion and then irradiating it with laser light to melt and process the bearing surface. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head, which can be finely processed into an arbitrary shape in a short time and can reduce the manufacturing cost.

[0010]

According to a method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head of the present invention, a predetermined thickness is provided on both sides of an electromagnetic transducer at the same thickness as a protective film and at a predetermined position on a bearing surface. Forming a metal-exposed portion exposed to a size of, and irradiating laser light after forming the metal-exposed portion to melt and process the bearing surface. This metal exposed portion may be formed using the same metal material at the same time as the electromagnetic conversion element is formed, or may be formed using the same metal material at the same time as the terminal portion is formed, The same metal material as that of the electromagnetic transducer and the same metal material as that of the terminal portion may be sequentially laminated and formed.

[0011]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 15, a manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention is as follows.

First, after an insulating film 2 made of alumina is formed on the surface of a conductive ceramic substrate 1 made of alumina, titanium, carbide or the like, a first base film 3 made of titanium or iron-nickel is sputtered. It is formed using an apparatus.

Next, after applying a photoresist 20 on the first underlayer 3, exposure and development are performed, and the photoresist 20 is removed only in a portion where a lower magnetic film is to be formed.

After the first metal film 4 as a lower magnetic film made of permalloy is formed by electroplating or the like on the portion where the photoresist 20 has been removed, the remaining photoresist 20 is removed, and the first metal film 4 is further removed. The portion of the first base film 3 other than the film 4 is removed.

Subsequently, a second base film 5 made of copper is formed using a sputtering apparatus so as to cover the first metal film 4 and the insulating film 2, and then a photoresist 20 is applied again.
Exposure and development are performed, and the photoresist 20 is removed only at the portion where the coil portion is to be formed.

After the second metal film 6 made of copper as a terminal portion is formed on the portion where the photoresist 20 is removed by electroplating or the like, the remaining photoresist 20 is removed, and the second metal film is further removed. The portion of the second underlayer film 5 other than 6 is removed.

Next, after a protective film 7 made of alumina is formed on the entire surface by using a sputtering apparatus, the surface is wrapped in the direction of arrow A, and the second metal film 6 is used as a metal exposed portion 9 to form the protective film 7. Exposure to the surface.

By repeating the above-described method, the lower magnetic film and the upper magnetic film of the electromagnetic transducer 8 and the terminal portion 12 extended from the coil portion 11 are formed, and at the same time, the metal exposure layers laminated with the same metal material are formed. The part 9 can be formed.

Although the exposed metal portion 9 has a laminated structure made of permalloy and copper, it can be made of only permalloy, or can be made of only copper. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, if the metal exposed portion 9 is too close to the electromagnetic conversion element 8, it causes noise, so it is necessary to separate the metal exposed portion 9 by at least 10 μm.

After forming a large number of the electromagnetic transducers 8 and the metal exposed portions 9 on the substrate 1 in this manner, cutting is performed for each row.

Subsequently, the jig 10 for wrapping the substrate 1 cut in each row so that the bearing surface 1a faces upward.
And lap it to a predetermined size.

Thereafter, the bearing surface 1a of the slider is processed by irradiating a laser beam. In the present embodiment, the bearing surface 1a having an arbitrary size is formed at an arbitrary position in the protective film 7 made of alumina through which laser light is transmitted.
Since the exposed metal portion 8 is formed on the surface, a laser beam can be applied to this portion to perform a fine processing into an arbitrary shape in a short time.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, the electromagnetic conversion element is provided with a predetermined space on both sides and has a thickness equivalent to that of the protective film and an arbitrary size on the bearing surface of the slider. By including the step of forming the exposed metal exposed portion and the step of forming the exposed metal portion and then irradiating it with a laser beam to dissolve and process the bearing surface, the bearing surface of the slider can be easily irradiated with the laser beam. And it can be finely processed into any shape. As a result, the manufacturing cost of the thin film magnetic head can be reduced as compared with the conventional case.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a step of forming a metal exposed portion 9 in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a step of forming a metal exposed portion 9 in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a step of forming a metal exposed portion 9 in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a process of forming a metal exposed portion 9 in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a step of forming a metal exposed portion 9 in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a process of forming a metal exposed portion 9 in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a process of forming a metal exposed portion 9 in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an electromagnetic conversion element 8 and a metal exposed portion 9 in this embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view illustrating a manufacturing process of the slider in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a slider manufacturing process according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a manufacturing process of the slider according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a slider manufacturing process according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a manufacturing process of the slider according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory view illustrating a manufacturing process of the slider according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing a manufacturing process of a slider according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 1a Bearing surface 2 Insulating film 3 First base film 4 First metal film 5 Second base film 6 Second metal film 7 Protective film 8 Electromagnetic conversion element 9 Metal exposed part 10 Jig 11 Coil part 12 Terminal part

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head in which a magnetic film and an insulating film are sequentially laminated on a ceramic substrate, wherein the magnetic film and the insulating film have a thickness equal to that of the protective film at predetermined intervals on both sides of the electromagnetic transducer. Forming a metal exposed portion that is exposed in a predetermined size at a predetermined position on the bearing surface, and processing the bearing surface by dissolving by irradiating a laser beam after forming the metal exposed portion. A method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, comprising: 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the exposed metal portion is formed using the same metal material at the same time when the electromagnetic transducer is formed. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the metal exposed portion is formed using the same metal material at the same time as the terminal portion is formed. 4. The metal exposed portion is formed by sequentially laminating the same metal material as the electromagnetic transducer and the same metal material as the terminal portion.
A method for manufacturing the thin film magnetic head described. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the exposed metal portion is formed using permalloy. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the exposed metal portion is formed using copper. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the exposed metal portion is formed by sequentially laminating permalloy and copper. 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the exposed metal portions are formed on both sides of the electromagnetic transducer with an interval of at least 10 μm. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the protective film is formed using alumina that can transmit laser light.