JPH10302237A - Manufacture of magnetic head slider - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method to adequately bond, to a jig, a slider to be processed at the time of forming, with the dry etching process, a slider of the floating type magnetic head used for hard disk drive. SOLUTION: In this manufacturing method, after a slider or a row 1 in which the slider is provided in the form of array are adhered to a metal or ceramic base 2 at the time of processing the slider sections of a plurality of magnetic heads by one operation, an air bearing is formed by the dry etching method. A dry film resist 7 is used for bonding between the slider or row 1 and base 2 and the dry film resist 8 is diffused to the surface other than the surfaces to be etched of the row 1 by forming a groove previously to the base 2. Thereby, the magnetic head element provided at the side surface of row 1 can be protected from plasma damage at the time of etching process. As the dry etching method, ion milling and reactive ion etching(RIE) may be used.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic head used for a magnetic disk drive or a magnetic tape drive, and more particularly to a low flying height thin film magnetic head suitable for high density recording and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a flying magnetic head used in a magnetic disk drive, the spacing between the disk and the magnetic head, that is, the flying height, is constantly decreasing in order to minimize the so-called spacing loss as the recording density increases. Follow
In addition, it is required that the disk be constant from the outer circumference to the inner circumference. As a magnetic head slider that can meet such demands, a modified slider designed based on the fluid dynamics of air has been proposed and put into practical use. The odd-shaped slider is characterized by having a concave portion called a cavity so as to generate a pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure, and is also called a negative pressure slider. Such cavities are difficult to manufacture by conventional mechanical grinding and are generally made by photolithography and dry etching processes.

Here, a conventional method of forming a deformed slider is shown in FIG.
It will be explained by. First, the magnetic head is processed in a bar state called row 1 as shown in FIG. In this method, after being cut from the wafer of the thin film head, the air bearing surface is polished and processed so that the depth of the magnetic pole becomes appropriate. Since the productivity is inferior if this is processed one by one, it is general that ten or more to twenty and more are aligned, adhered to a support plate called the base 2 and processed. The base 2 also has a block shape other than the plate shape shown here, and is made of aluminum, stainless steel, ceramics, or the like. In particular, in the case of a block shape, it is often the case that a later cutting step is taken into consideration. As an adhesive between the row 1 and the base 2, a wax 3 for temporary fixing is used. The adhesive may be applied by rubbing the solid wax 3 on the base 2 which has been heated to a temperature higher than the softening point in advance, or by applying the wax 3 dissolved in an appropriate solvent.
Is applied on the base 2 by spin coating or the like,
Further, after heating to a temperature higher than the softening point, the row 1 is pressure-bonded and gradually cooled to bond. FIG. 4B shows the state of the bonding.

Next, a suitable resist 4 is coated on the row 1 and exposed and developed to obtain a resist mask 5 reflecting a cavity pattern as shown in FIG. The row 1 other than the mask is etched by a dry etching process such as an ion milling method to obtain a predetermined cavity shape. Finally, the head is cut into individual heads to complete the magnetic head 6 having the odd-shaped slider.

[0005]

However, when the row is fixed using the wax for temporary fixing as described above,
The heat generated during the etching process often softens the wax, causing the wax to soak up on the air bearing surface during processing, resulting in an incorrect cavity shape or, in extreme cases, the peeling of the row. there were. Further, the gas formed by vaporizing the wax reduces the etching rate, causing a variation. The softening point of the wax cannot be increased unnecessarily in consideration of the thermal effect on the thin film head at the time of sticking, and must be suppressed to a heat-resistant temperature of 100 ° C. to 120 ° C. or less of a normal thin film head. However, in order to obtain a practical etching rate in the dry etching step, the substrate temperature generally rises to nearly 100 ° C., and the above-mentioned “looseness” of the wax is an unavoidable problem. .

Further, although omitted in FIG.
Pads 9 for connection to the magnetic head element are formed on the side surface of the air bearing of the bar, and have a structure in which the rows cannot be closely adhered to each other. For this reason, the plasma flowing from the gap between the rows causes the pad 9
Is damaged or spattered from the opposite row,
That is, there was a problem that the re-sputtered layer 10 was deposited. This is illustrated in FIG. These phenomena impair the connectivity of the pads and cause problems in appearance quality, and solutions have been required.

The present invention solves these problems and provides a method for stably manufacturing a high-precision odd-shaped slider, and contributes to the realization of a high-density magnetic disk drive.

[0008]

In the present invention, a dry film resist, which is originally used as a patterning mask, is used as an adhesive instead of wax conventionally used in bonding a row and a base. The dry film resist itself has tackiness and, when supplied by a manufacturer, has a protective sheet on both sides. Therefore, if one of the protective films is peeled off and laminated while applying heat of about 100 ° C., it can be attached to an arbitrary substrate. Usually, after this exposure,
In the present invention, exposure is not performed because the protective film is used as an adhesive layer. The protective film remaining on the upper surface of the dry film resist is peeled off, and rows are aligned and pressed thereon, thereby bonding the base and the rows. At this time, if a base with a groove slightly wider than the width of the row is used, the dry film resist that wraps around the side of the groove acts to protect the side of the row dropped into the groove. I do. The row affixed to the base in this manner adheres very firmly, causing no problem in the dry etching process as well as in the subsequent resist lithography, exposure, and development performed photolithography processes. In addition to not only functioning as an adhesive layer but also allowing the temperature to rise to just below the heat resistant temperature of the thin film head, high-speed etching with high output is possible and the yield is improved. In addition, since the side surfaces of the row are also protected by the dry film resist, the conduction pads on the element surface are prevented from being damaged by plasma, and substances sputtered from the opposing row are deposited on the element surface. Can be prevented. On the other hand, after the etching process is completed,
By dipping in acetone or NMP, the row can be quickly peeled from the base.

According to the present invention, when a cavity for a deformed slider is etched, a slider to be processed, generally, a row and a base are bonded using a dry film resist, and a groove provided in the base is used to form a row. Is protected from the etching damage. This makes it possible to stably process the deformed slider while preventing damage to the elements of the magnetic head.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A method of manufacturing a magnetic head slider in which a medium facing surface of a magnetic head slider is processed into a predetermined air bearing shape by a dry etching method. A method of manufacturing a magnetic head slider, wherein the magnetic head slider is installed in a dry etching apparatus after being pasted through the substrate, and is etched.

[0011]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) An example of a method of manufacturing a magnetic head slider according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, a dry film resist 7 is attached to the base 2 as shown in FIG. The base 2 has a groove which is wider than the width of the row by twice the thickness of the dry film 7. The dry film resist here is FRA305- from DuPont MRC.
Although 38 (38 μm thickness) was used, a negative dry film resist can be used in the same manner. Further, the film thickness is not limited to 38 μm mentioned here. Attachment was performed with a roller heated to 100 ° C. while peeling off the protective film on the back surface using a laminator. After cooling, the protective film on the upper surface of the dry film resist 7 is peeled off, and the row 1 is placed while the entire base 2 is heated to 80 ° C. as shown in FIG. Drop the row into the groove provided in the base. At this time, the element surface 12 on the low side surface is covered by a part of the dry film resist 7 that has wrapped around the groove provided in the base 2. In addition, after a plurality of rows 1 are placed and aligned in a state where the base 2 is cooled, the base 2 can be heated and brought into close contact, and can be changed by devising a jig.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1 (c), the entire surface of the base 2 to which the row 1 is attached is irradiated with ultraviolet light to cross-link the portion of the dry film resist 7 where the row 1 is not attached. Since the crosslinked dry film resist has a higher strength than before crosslinkage, the effect of protecting the base in the subsequent ion milling step is enhanced. Further, since the adhesiveness of the dry film resist 7 is also lost, the handling becomes easy.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1D, a dry film resist 8 is again adhered by a laminator. The dry film resist 8 serves as a mask material for forming a cavity on the ABS surface, and can be shared with the dry film resist 7 used for bonding the row 1 and the base 2. Rather, it is appropriate to select the dry film resist 8 first from the requirements of accuracy and the like, and to use it for bonding.

Next, the dry film resist 8 is exposed through a predetermined reticle mask, and is further developed to be patterned as shown in FIG.

Next, this is set in an ion milling apparatus, etched by an argon ion beam, and then the dry film 8 is peeled off, so that a cavity is formed in the row 1 as shown in FIG.

Finally, the magnetic head 6 is completed by cutting the row into individual heads (FIG. 1 (g)). In the magnetic head slider manufactured as described above, no damage on the element surface was observed.

(Embodiment 2) Next, as another embodiment of a method of manufacturing a magnetic head slider according to the present invention, an example using a base having a cross section shown in FIG. 2A will be described. This is because the element surface to be protected is usually only one surface of the row, so one side of the groove is vertically cut to protect the element surface of the row, and the other is devised so that it can be easily aligned as a slope. Things. Figure 2
(B). Using such a base, a magnetic head slider was manufactured by the same process as the manufacturing method shown in Example 1, and good results were obtained, which were not different from those of Example 1.

(Embodiment 3) Next, as another embodiment of a method of manufacturing a magnetic head slider according to the present invention, an example using a base having a cross section shown in FIG. 3A will be described. Since the element surface to be protected is usually only one surface of the row, one side of the groove is vertically cut so as to protect the element surface of the row, and the other side is devised so as to be easily aligned as a slope. Things. Figure 3
(B). Using such a base, a magnetic head slider was manufactured by the same process as the manufacturing method shown in Example 1, and good results were obtained, which were not different from those of Example 1. However, when exposing a dry film resist (corresponding to 8 in FIG. 1) used as a mask for forming a cavity, it is necessary to devise an air bearing surface so that it is horizontal, and further focus on each row. there were. Here, only a non-contact type exposure apparatus such as a stepper can be used.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the step of processing the ABS surface of the odd-shaped slider by the dry etching method, it is faster and more defective than the case where the base is bonded to the base by the conventional method. Etching with a low incidence rate becomes possible, and a magnetic head with low cost and excellent reliability can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of a manufacturing process of a magnetic head slider according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing another example of the magnetic head slider according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing another example of the magnetic head slider according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a method for manufacturing a magnetic head slider according to a conventional method.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating element surface damage by a conventional method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 row 2 base 3 wax 4 resist 5 resist mask 6 magnetic head 7, 8 dry film resist 9 pad 10 re-sputtering layer 11 element surface

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing a magnetic head slider in which a medium facing surface of a magnetic head slider is processed into a predetermined air bearing shape by dry etching, wherein a slider to be processed is previously mounted on a predetermined base via a dry film resist. A method for manufacturing a magnetic head slider, wherein the magnetic head slider is installed in a dry etching apparatus after performing the etching. 2. The base has a groove into which a slider to be processed can be loaded, and at least one side surface other than the air bearing surface of the slider to be processed can be covered with a dry film resist wrapped around a side wall of the groove. 2. The method for manufacturing a magnetic head slider according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic head slider has a simple structure.