JPH0981922A - Magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable even a small-sized magnetic head to easily impart identifica tion signs having identifyable sizes and the number of required characters by providing identification signs on the surface of a slider part facing the surface of a magnetic recording medium. SOLUTION: This magnetic head is constituted of a slider part 11 and an elastic supporting member not shown in the figure. The slider part 11 is provided with an element part 35 performing the recording and reproducing of the signal to and from the disk shaped magnetic recording medium not shown in the figure and has a function to float by the air flow induced by the revolution of the magnetic recording medium. The elastic supporting member has the degree of freedom of the first direction along which a prescribed load is applied by supporting the slider part 11 and a second direction different from the first direction. Identification signs 50 are provided so that this magnetic head is distinguished from other magnetic heads and are provided on the surface of the recessed part 70 of the slider part 11 being the surface facing the surface of the magnetic recording medium.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic head for recording / reproducing a signal on / from a magnetic recording medium used in, for example, a large-capacity storage device for an information processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An information processing apparatus uses a storage device of a type which records and reproduces a signal on a disk-shaped magnetic recording medium as a mass storage device. This type of disk-shaped magnetic recording medium is, for example, a hard disk. When this disk-shaped magnetic recording medium is called a magnetic disk, a magnetic head records a signal on the magnetic disk and reproduces a signal from the magnetic disk. In this type of thin film magnetic head, the initial performance and reliability of the magnetic head can be grasped in the manufacturing process on a wafer-by-wafer and process-by-process basis.

Therefore, in order to improve the performance and reliability of the magnetic head, it is possible to quickly and accurately grasp process information, facility information, rod information, initial performance and reliability information when the magnetic head is manufactured. Is desired.

Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 7, a serial number 5 is given to the back surface 2 side of the slider portion 1 of the magnetic head. This back surface 2 is on the opposite side of the front surface 3, and this front surface 3 is provided with an element portion 4 such as a head chip. The element portion 4 is formed of a thin film and is adapted to record a signal from the magnetic disk and reproduce a signal from the magnetic disk. By doing so, when the slider section 1 is completed, the serial number of the slider section 1 of each magnetic head can be given to the side surface of the slider leading section.

A conventional method of assigning such a serial number 5 is shown in FIGS. A predetermined number of element portions 4 are formed on the front surface 6 of the wafer W in FIG. 8, and a serial number 5 is drawn on the back surface 7 of the wafer W at a position corresponding to each element portion 4 as shown in FIG. I am trying to do it. Serial number 5 is element part 4
The drawing is performed on the back surface 7 side of the wafer W at the same pitch as. The serial number is usually drawn directly with a laser beam. Drawing is performed on the back surface 7 of the wafer W before the thin film magnetic head is formed, based on the orientation flat reference,
It may be performed after the element portion 4 is formed on the front surface 6 side of the wafer W. The case of being based on the orientation flat means that both sides are processed on the basis of the dimensional position from the notch (orientation flat) for confirming the direction of the wafer.

After a large number of serial numbers 5 have been imprinted on the wafer W in this manner, the wafer W is cut along the cutting line 8 as shown in FIG. As a result, a large number of thin blocks 9 are obtained as shown in FIG. This block 9 is subjected to predetermined polishing in a grinding process (polishing step). The element portion 4 described above is formed on the front surface 9a of the block 9, and the serial number 5 is formed on the rear surface 9b of FIG.
It is in a state of being provided as shown in 0 (c). Then, by cutting the block 9 along the cutting line 9c of the block 9 in FIG. 10C, the slider portion 1 as shown in FIG. 7 can be manufactured. The slider unit 1 of FIG. 7 has two air sliding surfaces (also referred to as air lubrication surfaces: AIR Bearing Surface: AB).
S).

[0007]

As described above, the back surface 2 of the slider portion 1 in FIG. 7 is provided with the serial number 5, but the serial number 5 is of course large enough to be easily identified later. It is necessary to have a certain number of characters that have a certain height and indicate the coordinates on the original wafer W and the rod number. However, since there is a demand for downsizing of the magnetic head, that is, downsizing of the slider section 1 in order to reduce the size of the magnetic recording apparatus and improve the seismic performance, the area of the back surface 2 of the conventional slider section 1 is reduced. It becomes so small that it is impossible to give the serial number 5 of the conventional size and the required number of characters to the back surface 2. Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and provides a magnetic head that can be provided with an identification means having a size and a necessary number of characters that can be easily identified even in a slider part of a small magnetic head. The purpose is to do.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided the above-mentioned object of providing an air flow induced by rotation of a magnetic recording medium, comprising an element portion for recording and reproducing a signal from a disk-shaped magnetic recording medium. A magnetic head having a slider part having a function of floating by the above, and an elastic support member having a degree of freedom in a first direction for supporting the slider part and applying a predetermined load and a second direction different from the first direction. This is achieved by a magnetic head having identification means for distinguishing the magnetic head from other magnetic heads at the portion of the slider portion facing the surface of the magnetic recording medium. In the present invention, the identification means for distinguishing the magnetic head from other magnetic heads is
Since the slider portion is provided at the portion facing the surface of the magnetic recording medium, a large area can be secured unlike the conventional case where the identification means is formed on the back surface (end surface) of the slider portion. In particular, the present invention is advantageous when the identification means is attached to the slider portion having a small size.

[0009]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the embodiments described below are preferred specific examples of the present invention,
Although various technically preferable limitations are given, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these modes unless otherwise specified to limit the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of a magnetic disk device including a magnetic head of the present invention. This magnetic disk device has a main body 10, a magnetic head H, a magnetic disk 16 disposed on the main body 10 side, an arm 13, an arm drive unit 14, and the like.

The magnetic disk 16 has a main body 10
The spindle motor 15 continuously rotates in the direction of the arrow. The magnetic head H includes the elastic support member 12
And a slider portion (also referred to as a head slider portion) 11
have. The slider portion 11 is supported by an elastic support member 12, and the elastic support member 12 is attached to the arm 13. The arm 13 can be moved in the direction of arrow A (radial direction of the magnetic disk 16) by the arm drive unit 14. A voice coil motor (VCM), for example, can be used as the arm driving unit 14.

The slider section 11 comprises an element section 20 for recording / reproducing a signal from the magnetic disk 16. The slider portion 11 has a function of levitating by the airflow induced by the rotation of the magnetic disk 16. That is, when the spindle motor 15 is driven, the magnetic disk 16
Starts to rotate, and the slider portion 11 moves to the magnetic disk 16
The element portion 20 can magnetically record an information signal on the magnetic disk 16 or reproduce a magnetic information signal of the magnetic disk 16 by sliding or floating on the magnetic disk 16. . The elastic support member 12 has a first direction (downward in the plane of FIG. 1) X1 direction in which a load such as the slider portion 11 is applied, and a second direction X2 direction (in the plane of FIG. 1) different from the first direction X1 direction. This is a suspension with a total of two axes of freedom (upward).

By the way, the size of the slider section 11 currently used is roughly a mini slider (Mini-S).
The length L = 4 mm, the width W = 3.2 mm, the thickness T = 0.86 mm, and the micro slider (Mi
In cro-Slider), its length L = 2.5m
m, width W = 2.2 mm, and thickness T = 0.58 mm.
In addition, in Nano-Slider,
Its length L = 2 mm, width W = 1.6 mm, thickness T = 0.
It is 43 mm and is a Pico-Slid
er), its length L = 1.2 mm, width W = 1.0 m
m and thickness T = 0.3 mm.

The embodiment of the present invention is particularly applicable to a smaller slider size including a pico-slider, which is difficult to deal with by the conventional technique of assigning a serial number. FIG. 2 shows a wafer W for manufacturing the slider portion of the magnetic head of the present invention.
Is shown. As shown by enlarging a part of the front surface 31 of the wafer W, a predetermined number of element portions 35 are formed in a vertical and horizontal arrangement. The back surface 32 of the wafer W is shown in FIG. 3, and unlike the prior art, the back surface 32 of the wafer W is not stamped with anything such as a serial number. The wafer W of FIG. 4 has a predetermined number of cutting lines 3 as shown in FIG.
Cut along line 3. This produces the block 40 of FIG. 4 (b). The block 40 is subjected to predetermined polishing in a grinding process (polishing process).
On the surface 41 of the block 40, the element unit 35 shown in FIG. 2 described above is arranged. On the other hand, the back side 42 of the block 40
There is no marking or formation on it.

Next, as shown in FIG.
A predetermined masking portion 44 is formed on the upper surface 43 of 0.
The masking portion 44 has, for example, a substantially H shape, and is a portion corresponding to an air sliding surface (also referred to as an air lubrication surface: ABS) 60 described later. This masking portion 44 is formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4D, the peripheral portion of the masking portion 44 is etched by performing the dry etching process of the block 40 in an atmosphere of argon ions or the like. Further, a masking portion for the identification mark 50 is formed and dry etching is performed to form the identification mark 50. Then, as shown in FIG. 4E, the masking portion 44 and the masking portion for the identification mark 50 are peeled off, and the processing of the block 40 is completed.

Next, the block 40 is cut as shown by a cutting line 55 in FIG. 4 (e) to complete the slider portion 11 shown in FIG. By going through the manufacturing process of FIG. 4, the slider portion 11 is provided with air sliding surfaces (ABS) 60, 60 on both sides in the longitudinal direction. Moreover, the air sliding surfaces 60, 60 have the connecting portion 61. The connecting portion 61 has a function of generating a negative pressure due to the floating design of the slider portion 11. The identification symbol 50 is arranged on the bottom surface of the recess 70 at a position between the air sliding surfaces 60, 60. The element portion 35 is of course disposed on one portion of the slider portion 11. By creating the slider unit 11 as shown in FIG. 5 in this way, even if it is a small slider unit of the pico-slider class, an identification symbol 50 having a character of a size that can be easily identified and a required number of characters is provided. Can be formed on the bottom surface of the recess 70 of the slider portion 11 having a relatively large area. The recess 70 of the slider portion 11 and the air sliding surfaces 60, 60
1 is a surface side facing the surface of the magnetic disk 16 in FIG. 1, and the air sliding surfaces 60, 60 slide on the magnetic disk 16 and move the slider portion 11 by the air flow induced by the rotation of the magnetic disk 16. This is the part that has the function of floating.

The embodiment of FIG. 6 is slightly different from the embodiment of FIG. 5, and the slider portion 111 of FIG.
And an air sliding surface 16 facing the magnetic disk
An identification symbol 150 is drawn in the recess 170 between 0 and 160. Unlike the embodiment of FIG. 5, this embodiment does not have the connecting portion 61 of FIG. 5, so that the identification mark 150 can be formed along the longitudinal direction of the air sliding surface 160. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to draw a larger number of characters and to increase the size of each character.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. In FIG. 4D, the identification symbol 50
Is formed by a dry etching method, but not limited to this, only the identification signal 50 may be drawn by laser light. In this case, as the laser light, for example, an excimer laser, a CO ₂ laser, a YAG laser or the like is used.

As described above, according to the present invention, even for a slider portion as small as a pico slider,
An identification symbol having a size and a required number of characters that can be easily identified can be surely provided, and thus the initial performance and reliability of the magnetic head can be evaluated and grasped surely. Further, since the size of the character of the identification symbol can be increased as compared with the conventional case, the character can be easily identified. In other words, when the identification mark is read in the finished state of the magnetic head, the magnetic disk is used as in the embodiment of the present invention, rather than the identification mark is provided on the back surface side of the slider portion 1 as in the conventional case. It is easier to read if they are formed on the surface sides of the slider parts facing each other. In addition, it is required to reduce the flying height of the magnetic head. With the reduction of the flying height of the magnetic head, the slider portion of the conventional two-rail taper flat shape slider section or negative pressure type slider section is also required. It is being created by etching technology. For this reason, this identification symbol can reduce the number of steps by performing the processing in the same etching process, and eventually contributes to supplying an inexpensive head.

The identification symbol in the embodiment of the present invention is
In the illustrated example, a combination of symbols such as alphabets and numbers is used, but the present invention is not limited to this, and other symbols can of course be used.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Even in the slider portion of a small magnetic head, it is possible to provide an identifying means having a size that allows easy identification and a required number of characters.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a magnetic disk device including a magnetic head of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a surface of a wafer for forming the slider portion of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view showing the back surface of the wafer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a process of cutting a wafer, masking it, giving an identification mark, performing dry etching, and then peeling off the masking portion.

5 is a perspective view showing a surface (sliding side surface) of a slider disk which faces one side of a slider, showing one slider section obtained by cutting the block of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a slider unit of another embodiment different from the slider unit of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a surface side of a slider portion of a conventional magnetic head facing a magnetic disk.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a surface of a wafer for forming a conventional slider portion.

FIG. 9 is a view showing the back surface of a conventional wafer.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a process of cutting a conventional wafer and making a slider portion shown in FIG. 7;

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Slider Part 12 Elastic Support Member 13 Arm 14 Arm Drive Part 16 Magnetic Disk (Magnetic Recording Medium) 35 Element Part 50 Identification Symbol (Identifying Means) 60 Air Sliding Surface 70 Recessed Part (of Slider Part Relating to Surface of Magnetic Recording Medium) Part) H magnetic head

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A slider part having an element part for recording / reproducing a signal from a disk-shaped magnetic recording medium and having a function of levitating by an air flow induced by rotation of the magnetic recording medium, and a slider part supporting the slider part. The first load is applied by the first
In a magnetic head having a direction and an elastic support member having a second degree of freedom different from the first direction, an identification means for distinguishing the magnetic head from other magnetic heads is provided. A magnetic head, characterized in that it is provided at a portion of a slider portion facing to. 2. The magnetic head according to claim 1, wherein the identification means is an identification symbol and is processed by dry etching. 3. The magnetic head according to claim 2, wherein the dry etching process of the identifying means is performed in the same process as the dry etching process of the air sliding surface formed on the slider portion. 4. The magnetic head according to claim 1, wherein the identification means is an identification symbol and is formed by laser processing. 5. The magnetic head according to claim 3, wherein the identifying means is formed in a portion between the air sliding surfaces.