JPH1040512A - Manufacture of thin film magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a product without any fluctuation of magnetic characteristics by forming a gap layer immediately before forming an upper magnetic pole layer to make clear the reference point of a gap depth. SOLUTION: A lower magnetic pole layer 3 is formed on a substrate 1 and an insulating layer 4 and a coil layer 6 are formed thereon repeatedly for the required number of layers. Thereafter, a gap layer 8 is formed and an upper magnetic pole layer 7 is formed thereon. Moreover, a lower magnetic pole layer 3 is formed on the substrate 1 and the insulating layer 4 and the coil layer 6 are formed thereon repeatedly for the required number of layers. Thereafter, a non-conductive and non-magnetic gap layer 8 is formed on the lower magnetic pole layer 3, power source is fed using the gap layer 8 as the lower conductive film to form the upper magnetic pole layer 7 by the electroplating.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: sequentially laminating an insulating layer and a coil layer on a lower magnetic layer formed on a substrate;
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head on which an upper magnetic layer is formed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a thin film magnetic head is formed on a substrate, the structure shown in FIG. 4A has been formed according to the process shown in FIG. The main part will be described. After forming the lower magnetic pole layer 23 (S21), an alumina film is formed as the gap layer 24 (S22). This gap layer 24
Form a plating base on top
A hole is formed by developing, and a current such as Cu is electroplated in a portion of the hole by applying a current between the plating base and the coil layer 2.
After forming resist 6 and removing the resist, unnecessary plating bases are removed by an ion mill for the required number of coil layers (S23 to S28). Then, the upper magnetic pole layer 27 was formed on the uppermost portion, the protective film was formed, and the terminals were formed (S29 to S35).

[0003]

In the above-described steps, since the electroplating method is used to form the coil layer 26, unnecessary plating bases are removed by an ion mill for the required number of coil layers. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4B, which is an enlargement of the portion A of FIG. 4A, the insulating layer of the portion B under the ion mill is also slightly removed in order to overetch an unnecessary plating base by the ion mill. The thin film magnetic head becomes smoother and thinner gradually, and the thickness of the thin film magnetic head gradually becomes thinner. There has been a problem that the variation increases.

[0004] The present invention solves these problems,
The gap layer is formed immediately before the formation of the upper magnetic pole layer, and the gap layer is not cut off when an unnecessary plating base is removed by an ion mill after the coil layer is formed by the electroplating method. The purpose of the present invention is to clarify and realize the manufacture of a product having no variation in magnetic characteristics.

[0005]

Means for solving the problem will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. 1 to 3, a substrate 1 is a substrate (for example, a wafer) for forming a thin-film magnetic head.

The lower magnetic pole layer 3 is a lower magnetic pole layer formed on the substrate 1. The insulating layer 4 is for insulating the coil layer 6. The coil layer 6 is a coil formed of a conductor.

The gap layer 8 is a conductive and non-magnetic gap layer formed on the coil layers 4 laminated. The upper magnetic pole layer 7 is an upper magnetic pole layer formed on the gap layer 8.

Next, a manufacturing method will be described. After forming the lower magnetic pole layer 3 on the substrate 1 and repeatedly forming the required number of insulating layers 4 and coil layers 6 thereon, the gap layer 8 is formed, and the upper magnetic pole layer 7 is formed thereon. Like that.

Further, a lower magnetic pole layer 3 is formed on a substrate 1,
After the required number of insulating layers 4 and coil layers 6 are repeatedly formed thereon, a conductive and non-magnetic gap layer 8 is formed on the lower magnetic pole layer 3, and the gap layer 8 is formed as an underlying conductive film. And the upper magnetic pole layer 7 is formed by electroplating.

At this time, the gap layer 8 is made of Ti, Ti
C and Ta are formed. Therefore, by forming the gap layer 8 immediately before the formation of the upper magnetic pole layer 7, the gap layer is not removed when an unnecessary plating base is removed by an ion mill after the conventional coil layer 6 is formed by the electroplating method. As a result, it is possible to clarify the reference point of the gap depth and realize the manufacture of a product having no variation in magnetic characteristics.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment and operation of the present invention will be sequentially described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a process explanatory view of the present invention and the prior art. Here, FIG. 1 (a) is a process explanatory view of the present invention,
Almost the same processes as those of the prior art process diagram shown in FIG. 1B are arranged in a horizontal direction so as to be easily understood.

FIG. 1 (a) shows a process explanatory view of the present invention. In FIG. 1A, S1 forms a lower magnetic pole layer. In this method, an insulating layer (Al ₂ O ₃ film) (not shown) is formed on the substrate 1 and a lower magnetic pole layer 3 of a NiFe film is further formed thereon, as shown in FIG.

In step S2, an insulating layer is formed. This forms an insulating layer 4 on the lower magnetic pole layer 3 of FIG. In step S3, a conductor layer is formed. This forms a coil layer 6 shown in FIG. To form the coil layer 6, an insulating layer is formed on the lower magnetic pole layer 3, a thin Ti film serving as a plating base is formed thereon, and a resist is coated, exposed, and developed on the coil layer 6 to make the coil layer 6 electric. Drill holes for plating. Then, the coil layer 6 such as Cu is electroplated in the hole by applying a current to the plating base, the resist is removed with a solvent, and the unnecessary plating base is removed with an ion mill to form one layer of the coil layer 6. To form.

In step S4, a required number of layers are stacked. This is S
Steps 2 and S3 are repeated for required coil layers. For example, in the case of FIG. 2A described later, two coil layers are repeated twice.

In step S5, an insulating layer is formed. Since the lamination of the coil layer 6 is completed, the insulating layer 4 is formed thereon. In step S6, a plated conductor layer is formed. this is,
As shown in FIG. 2A on the right side, a plated conductor layer (gap layer 8) is formed on the insulating layer 4 on the coil layer 6 which has been stacked.

In step S7, the back gap portion of the upper magnetic pole layer is etched. As shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C described on the right side, a hole is formed in the back gap portion 10 by applying, exposing, and developing a resist 9 and only the hole portion is formed by an ion mill. The gap layer 8 formed in S6 is removed.

In step S8, patterning is performed. In step S9, the upper magnetic pole layer is plated. In steps S8 and S9, as shown in (d) of FIG. 2 described on the right side, a hole is formed in a portion where the upper magnetic pole layer 7 is formed by applying, exposing and developing a resist, and the plated conductor layer formed in S6 is formed. (Gap layer 8) is energized to form a magnetic material (e.g., NiFe) in the hole by electroplating, and then the resist is removed with a solvent to form upper magnetic pole layer 7 as shown.

In step S10, unnecessary portions are removed. This removes unnecessary portions as shown in FIGS. 2F and 2G described on the right side. In step S11, a copper terminal is formed. This forms a copper terminal 10 as shown in FIG.

In step S12, a protective film is formed. this is,
As shown in FIG. 3I on the right side, a protective film 11 is formed on the entire surface. In step S13, the surface is flattened. This is, as shown in FIG. 3 (i) described on the right side, after forming the protective film 11 in S12, surface grinding is performed so that only the copper terminal 10 is exposed.

In step S14, a gold terminal is formed. this is,
As shown in (j) of FIG.
A gold terminal 12 is formed (evaporated) on the substrate. Through the above steps, the steps on the wafer of the thin-film magnetic head are completed. Here, in the present invention, since the gap layer 8 is formed immediately before the upper magnetic pole layer 7 is formed, the conventional gap layer is gradually removed when the plating base is removed by the ion mill after the coil layer 6 is electroplated. It is possible to eliminate the situation in which the machining depth is removed (that is, eliminate the situation in which the reference point of the gap depth in FIG. 4B becomes smooth), and eliminate the cause of the variation in the machining depth to accurately produce the machining depth. It becomes possible.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show explanatory views of a specific example of the present invention. FIG. 2A shows a state where the gap layer 8 is formed on the insulating layer 4 and the coil layer 6 which are stacked. As described with reference to FIG. 1A, the lower magnetic pole layer 3, the insulating layer 4 and the coil layer 6 are laminated on the substrate 1 by the steps S1 to S6 and covered with the insulating layer 4, In this state, a conductive gap layer (plated conductive layer) 8 is formed thereon. As described above, since the gap layer 8 between the lower magnetic pole layer 3 and the upper magnetic pole layer 7 is formed after the formation of the coil layer 6, the gap layer 8 is removed when the underlying conductive layer is removed by an ion mill during the formation of the coil layer 6. It is possible to eliminate the conventional partial removal of the gap layer, eliminate the conventional situation of smoothing the portion B in FIG. 4B, and eliminate variations in gap depth processing.

FIG. 2B shows a state in which a resist is applied, exposed and developed on the entire surface of FIG. (C) of FIG.
In the state of FIG.
This shows a state in which the resist has been removed after the zero gap layer 8 has been removed.

FIG. 2D shows a state in which the upper magnetic pole layer 7 has been formed. This is because, in the state shown in FIG. 2C, a hole is formed only in a portion where the upper magnetic pole layer 7 is to be electroplated by applying, exposing, and developing a resist on the entire surface, and electricity is supplied to the gap layer 8 so that the inside of the hole is charged This is a state where plating is performed and the resist is removed.

FIG. 2E is a view of FIG. 2D as viewed from above. Here, a state in which the upper magnetic pole layer 7 is formed on the lower magnetic pole layer 3 via the gap layer 8 and the lower magnetic pole layer 3 and the upper magnetic pole layer 7 are connected at the back gap portion 10 is shown.

FIG. 2F shows AA ′ of FIG. 2E.
FIG. From this sectional view, the lower magnetic pole layer 3
The gap layer 8 is formed on the upper magnetic pole layer 7
Is formed.

FIG. 2 (g) shows a state after unnecessary portions have been removed. FIG. 3H shows a state in which the copper terminal 10 has been formed following FIG. 2G. The state of the copper terminal 10 is shown in the lower right cross-sectional view.

FIG. 3I shows a state in which the protective film 11 is formed on the entire surface. This is obtained by forming the protective film 11 on the entire surface in the state shown in FIG. (J) of FIG.
The state where the gold terminal 12 was formed on the copper terminal 10 after the surface grinding was shown.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the configuration in which the gap layer 8 is formed immediately before the formation of the upper magnetic pole layer 7 is adopted, the gap layer becomes unnecessary when an unnecessary plating base is removed by an ion mill after the conventional coil layer 6 is formed by the electroplating method. It can be prevented from being scraped, the reference point of the gap depth is clarified, and a product having no variation in magnetic characteristics can be manufactured. Also, the gap layer 8
Is formed of a conductive non-magnetic substance, the gap layer 8 can also be used as a plating base (electroplating electrode) when the upper magnetic pole layer 7 is electroplated, thereby forming a plating base. The number of processes can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a process explanatory view of the present invention and a conventional technique.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view (part 1) of a specific example of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view (part 2) of a specific example of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: substrate (wafer) 3: lower magnetic pole layer 4: insulating layer 6: coil layer 7: upper magnetic pole layer 8: gap layer (plated conductor layer) 9: resist 10: back gap portion 11: copper terminal 12: gold terminal

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head comprising: sequentially laminating an insulating layer and a coil layer on a lower magnetic layer formed on a substrate, and forming an upper magnetic layer on the insulating layer and the coil layer. A method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, comprising: laminating sequentially, forming a gap layer on the lower magnetic pole layer and the uppermost insulating layer, and forming the upper magnetic pole layer thereon. 2. A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, comprising sequentially laminating an insulating layer and a coil layer on a lower magnetic layer formed on a substrate, and forming an upper magnetic layer thereon. After sequentially laminating, a conductive and non-magnetic gap layer is formed on the lower magnetic pole film and the uppermost insulating layer, and the upper magnetic pole layer is formed by electroplating by applying current to the gap layer as a base conductive film. A method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, comprising: 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said gap layer is formed of Ti, TiC, or Ta.