JPH10275312A - Production of thin film magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable forming a recording core without burr at the time of forming the recording core of a sputtered magnetic film by ion milling. SOLUTION: A flattened film and a recording coil are formed by film-forming a recording gap 2 on a lower core 1. Then, a core material of an upper core 5 is film-formed by sputtering to 3 μm film thickness, SiO2 film 6 is film-formed to 2.5 μm, then a resist film 7 is applied onto the SiO2 film 6 and is subjected to optical exposure to form a pattern of the upper core 5 (b). After the SiO2 film 6 is etched by RIE(reactive ion etching),the resist film 7 is stripped to form the mask of the SiO2 film 6 (c). Being different from the resist film 7 in which film thickness varies from position to position, the mask has approximately equal film thickness over whole surface. By appropriately selecting the film thickness of the SiO2 film 6, burrs 5a are generated during proceeding of the ion milling of the upper core 5 (d), but if the film thickness of the SiO2 film 6 is made to be a suitable value, the upper core 5 made of the magnetic film in which finally burr 5a does not remain is formed (e).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a thin film magnetic head for a magnetic recording device such as a hard disk drive.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to increase the surface recording density of a magnetic recording apparatus such as a hard disk drive, a thin film magnetic head using a magnetoresistive element having a high magnetic field sensitivity (hereinafter, MR element) has been put to practical use. Has been enhanced. A practical MR element is based on an effect called anisotropic magnetoresistance effect, and generally shows a resistance change rate of about 2%. On the other hand, based on a completely different principle called the giant magnetoresistance effect (hereinafter referred to as GMR effect), devices exhibiting a resistance change rate of 5% or more in various configurations have been proposed.

As described above, with the improvement in the recording density of the magnetic recording apparatus, an element having a high reproduction output has been developed, while a recording head having a high recording capacity has been required.
In order to realize this, a structure and a material that can generate a high recording magnetic field with a narrow track width corresponding to the high Hc (holding force) of the medium are required. In terms of materials, materials having a high Bs (saturation magnetic flux density) such as FeCoNi and FeN have been developed.

Conventionally, a plating film such as NiFe has been used as a recording head material. However, in order to suppress eddy current loss corresponding to a high Bs material capable of obtaining a high saturation magnetization or high frequency recording, a high resistivity is used. As a material, a sputtered magnetic film such as CoZrNb has been used. When a recording core is formed from a sputtered magnetic film, a new process such as ion milling is required instead of conventional plating.

[0005]

When the recording core is formed by ion milling, a large burr 5a is generated near the tip of the recording head due to the reattachment of the ion milling, as shown in FIG. When the burr 5a occurs, the magnetic domain of the recording pole may be disturbed, or an unnecessary magnetization distribution may be generated, and the recording performance of the recording head may be reduced. Further, when forming the alumina protective film, the alumina protective film is less likely to be sputtered between the burrs 5a, and there is a possibility that poor polishing due to deterioration of the film quality may occur.
Therefore, a process that does not generate the burr 5a is required. Although the height of the burr 5a can be reduced by making the resist film thinner, the thickness of the resist film 7 on the slope portion of the flattening film 3 tends to become thinner as shown in FIG. It is difficult to reduce only the thickness of 7.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head capable of forming a recording core without burrs when forming a recording core with a sputtered magnetic film by ion milling.

[0007]

The above object of the present invention is attained by the following constitution. That is, a method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head including a lower recording core, a recording gap, a recording coil, a planarizing film covering the recording coil, and an upper recording core, wherein a mask layer is formed on the magnetic film for the upper recording core. , This is R
This is a method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head in which an upper recording core is formed by ion milling using a pattern as a mask after patterning by an IE method (reactive ion etching method). Further, by setting the thickness of the mask layer such that the mask layer hardly remains at the end of the ion milling, it is possible to suppress the generation of burrs formed during the ion milling.
The mask layer of the present invention only needs to be made of a material having a high reactive ion etching rate. For example, a SiO ₂ film, a TiO ₂ film, or the like is used.

[0008]

[Action] thickness of the mask layer, such as SiO ₂ film according to the present invention may be the same thickness with an upper, inclined surface portion, the bottom portion of the planarizing film. Therefore, the film thickness can be reduced by using the SiO ₂ film or the like as a mask as compared with the case where ion milling is performed using only the resist film as a whole. By making this film thickness such that it disappears by etching at the end of ion milling of the magnetic film, burrs of the recording core are also etched by re-adhesion at the end of etching, so that a recording core without burrs can be formed .

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a magnetic head according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a manufacturing procedure thereof. Hereinafter, the procedure of manufacturing the magnetic head will be described step by step. First, the lower core 1 made of a magnetic film is formed by a method such as plating or ion milling. A recording gap 2 is formed thereon, and then a flattening film 3 is formed. Next, the recording coil 4 is formed by plating. On top of this, a film constituting a part of the flattening film 3 is formed to flatten the upper part of the recording coil 4.

Next, a core material of the upper core 5 is formed by sputtering to a thickness of, for example, 3 μm. Then, the SiO ₂ film 6
Is formed, for example, in a thickness of 2.5 μm. FIG. 2A shows this state as viewed from the ABS. Next, a resist film 7 is applied on the SiO ₂ film 6 and optically exposed to form a pattern of the upper core 5 (FIG. 2B).

Next, when the resist film 7 is removed after etching the SiO ₂ film 6 using RIE, a mask of the SiO ₂ film 6 can be formed as shown in FIG. This mask has substantially the same thickness over the entire surface, unlike the resist film 7 whose thickness varies depending on the location.

Next, the sputtered magnetic film of the upper core 5 is etched by ion milling using the SiO ₂ film 6 as a mask. SiO ₂ film 6 after completion of the etching by choosing the thickness of the SiO ₂ film 6 suitably does not remain etched. While ion milling is in progress, burrs 5a are generated as shown in FIG. 2 (d). However, if the thickness of the SiO ₂ film 6 is made appropriate, burrs 5a as shown in FIG. Ultimately, no burr 5a remains because 5a is etched.

[0013]

According to the present invention, when forming the upper core of a thin film magnetic head made of a sputtered film, the upper core can be formed without generating burrs due to reattachment of ion milling. It is possible to form a highly reliable magnetic head having excellent characteristics and improved protective film quality.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a manufacturing process of the thin-film magnetic head according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing burrs formed on an upper core by ion milling in a manufacturing process of a thin-film magnetic head according to a conventional technique.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a problem caused by a method of preventing formation of burrs by ion milling in a conventional thin film magnetic head manufacturing process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Lower core 2 Recording gap 3 Flattening film 4 Recording coil 5 Upper core 6 SiO2 film 7 Resist film

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head comprising a lower recording core, a recording gap, a recording coil, a planarizing film covering the recording coil, and an upper recording core, wherein a mask layer is formed on the magnetic film for the upper recording core. And forming an upper recording core by ion milling using the resultant as a mask and forming an upper recording core. 2. The thin-film magnetic head according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the mask layer is such that the mask layer hardly remains at the end of the ion milling to suppress the generation of burrs formed during the ion milling. Manufacturing method.