JPH11120511A - Thin film magnetic head and magnetic disk device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent corrosion in a magnetic film, to obtain high reliability, high density and miniaturization and to obtain an excellent recording/reproducing characteristic by making the material quality of the magnetic film of an electromagnetic conversion element on a position becoming a floating surface of a slider an Ni-Fe alloy and constituting a magnetic film main body excepting it with specified material improving a magnetic characteristic. SOLUTION: Respective magnetic films constituting the electromagnetic conversion element are formed on an underlying insulation film 1-1 such as alumina, provided on a ceramic substrate l, and a whole each element group is covered with a protection film 13 such as alumina. A range from the position becoming the floating surface 15 of the slider by being ground to be placed to a several nm to several μm slider side is formed by high corrosion-resistance magnetic material such as an Ni-Fe alloy. Further, the material of respective magnetic layers of the inside covered with the protection film 13 are formed by a metallic or alloy film containing one or above of Co, Mn, Nb, Mo, etc., with an excellent magnetic characteristic. Thus, the corrosion of the exposure part of respective magnetic films of the floating surface 15 is prevented at a low cost, and information is recorded/reproduced efficiently and with a less floating amount loss.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thin-film magnetic head and a magnetic disk drive using a thin-film magnetic material, and more particularly to an improvement in recording / reproducing characteristics for achieving high density and miniaturization of a magnetic disk drive. The present invention relates to a thin-film magnetic head having excellent corrosion resistance and a magnetic disk drive having the thin-film magnetic head for realizing high reliability, high density and miniaturization.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been a remarkable progress in magnetic recording technology. In order to realize a higher density and smaller size of a magnetic recording device, recording on a recording magnetic medium is performed by an electromagnetic induction type element, and reproduction is performed magnetically. The magnetic recording / reproducing method using a resistance effect type element is becoming mainstream. However, in order to realize high density and miniaturization by using these elements, the material of the element is also limited in the magnetic properties of the conventionally used Ni-Fe alloy, and the magnetic properties are improved. For this purpose, various materials are combined. These materials have a problem that they are inferior in corrosion resistance to Ni-Fe alloys, and there are various techniques as a method for preventing corrosion of the magnetic film.

As a method of preventing corrosion, for example, a method of preventing corrosion without exposing a magnetic film to the outside is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 06-215.
The method disclosed in FIG. According to this method, an insulating film 17 is formed between the MR film 6 and the air bearing surface 15, and the MR film is not exposed to the outside to prevent corrosion. In addition, if the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 04-276367 is described with reference to the drawings, an inorganic protective film is formed on the floating surface 15 of the slider 18.
A method of preventing wear of the magnetic head by protecting the magnetic head and protecting the magnetic film from corrosion is adopted.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned prior art has the following problems. JP 06-2
15321, and the method disclosed in JP-A-04-276367, by interposing an insulating layer between the magnetic film and the slider floating surface, the floating amount when the slider is floating on the recording medium, the insulating layer Is the flying height, which reduces the efficiency in recording and reproduction.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a thin-film magnetic head capable of preventing corrosion of a magnetic film without deteriorating the recording / reproducing efficiency, and having high reliability, high density, and miniaturization. An object of the present invention is to provide an excellent magnetic disk drive.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for forming a plurality of electromagnetic transducers on a substrate by a thin film laminating method, the position being a floating surface of a slider in the future. The thin film magnetic head structure according to the above (1), wherein the material of the magnetic film of the conversion element is a Ni-Fe alloy, and the other magnetic film body is made of a material having good magnetic properties.

[0007] With this configuration, the magnetic film exposed on the surface of the slider flying surface is made of only the Ni-Fe alloy, so that the magnetic film is hardly corroded. Since it is made of a material with good magnetic properties, its magnetic properties are roughly determined by the material of the main body magnetic film, and the outermost surface is also made of a magnetic material of Ni-Fe alloy. The flying loss due to the layer is reduced, and the efficiency does not decrease during recording and reproduction.

In the magnetic disk drive of the present invention, when a plurality of electromagnetic transducers are aligned on a substrate by a thin film laminating method, the magnetic film of the transducer at a position which will become the floating surface of the slider in the future can be obtained. By providing the device with the thin-film magnetic head of the present invention described above in which the material is a Ni-Fe alloy and the other magnetic film main body is made of a material having good magnetic properties, excellent recording / reproducing characteristics are realized. It is characterized by.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a thin-film magnetic head according to an embodiment of the present invention. On a ceramic substrate 1, a base insulating film 1-1 of alumina or the like is formed, then a lower shield film 2, a lower gap film 4 of alumina or the like is formed,
An MR composite film 6, which is an element, a magnetic domain control film 7 for controlling magnetic domains of the film, and an electrode 8 for extracting signals of the MR element
Are formed respectively. Next, an upper gap film 5 and an upper shield film 3 made of alumina or the like are formed. Further, the magnetic gap 9 of the recording head is formed of alumina or the like, and then the magnetic pole 12 of the recording head is formed. Also, a coil 10 for passing a current through the magnetic pole 12 and an organic insulating layer 11
To form

Further, a protective film 13 made of alumina or the like for protecting the above-mentioned element group is formed so as to cover the whole,
Finally, terminals 14 for inputting and outputting these recording / reproducing signals to / from the outside are formed, and the film forming process of the thin film magnetic head is completed.

Each of the films made of these magnetic materials is used in a range from a portion to be polished by the processing of the air bearing surface to a position several nm to several μm closer to the slider side than the position to become the air bearing surface 15 when forming the slider in the future. Is formed of a high corrosion-resistant magnetic material such as a Ni-Fe alloy, and the material of each magnetic film inside covered with the protective film 13 is changed to Co, Mn, Nb, Zr, Mo, Cr, W, P
A thin-film magnetic head structure formed of a metal or alloy film containing at least one of t, Ir, Cu, Pd, Ta, etc.

According to the thin-film magnetic head structure configured as described above, the material of the exposed portion of each magnetic film on the air bearing surface after the slider is formed is all Ni-Fe alloy, so that when the air bearing surface laps, Since no step is formed in the film after processing, recording / reproducing loss due to the flying height does not occur.

Further, the internal element that controls the recording and reproduction of each element can be selected from materials that emphasize magnetic properties without concern for corrosion of the magnetic film material. Also, each element of the slider formation and head gimbal assembly can be selected. Also in the manufacturing process, it is possible to set the optimum manufacturing process.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a magnetic disk drive according to an embodiment having a thin-film magnetic head according to the present invention.

The illustrated magnetic disk drive comprises a magnetic disk 203 as a disk-shaped magnetic recording medium for recording information in a recording area called a concentric track, and a thin-film magnetic head 204 according to the present invention. A thin-film magnetic head 204 for reading and writing information, and a magnetic disk 203 supporting the thin-film magnetic head 204
The actuator includes an actuator for moving the actuator to the above predetermined position, and a controller for controlling transmission and reception of data to be read and written by the thin-film magnetic head 204 and movement of the actuator.

Further, the configuration and operation will be described in detail. At least one rotatable magnetic disk 203 has a rotating shaft 202
And rotated by a drive motor. At least one thin-film magnetic head 204 is provided on the magnetic disk 203, and one or more thin-film magnetic heads 204 support the thin-film magnetic head 204 for reading and writing. At the same time as the magnetic disk 203 rotates, the thin-film magnetic head 204 moves on the disk surface to access a predetermined position where the target data is recorded. The thin-film magnetic head 204 is attached to the arm 205 by a gimbal. The gimbal has a slight elastic force, and brings the thin-film magnetic head 204 into close contact with the magnetic disk 203. The arm 205 is attached to the actuator 206.

As an actuator 206 as shown in the figure, for example, there is a voice coil motor (hereinafter referred to as VCM). The VCM includes a movable coil placed in a fixed magnetic field, and the moving direction and the moving speed of the coil are controlled by an electric signal provided from the control means 201. Therefore, the actuator unit according to the present embodiment includes, for example, the thin-film magnetic head 204, the gimbal, the arm 205, and the actuator 206.

During operation of the magnetic disk drive, the magnetic disk
The rotation of the 203 causes an air bearing between the thin-film magnetic head 204 and the disk surface, which causes the thin-film magnetic head 204 to float above the surface of the magnetic disk 203. Therefore, during the operation of the magnetic disk drive, this air bearing balances the slight elastic force of the gimbal, and the thin-film magnetic head 204 floats without touching the surface of the magnetic disk and keeping a constant distance from the magnetic disk 203. Will be maintained.

Normally, the control means 201 comprises a logic circuit,
It comprises a memory, a microprocessor and the like. The control means 201 transmits and receives control signals via each line, and controls various constituent means of the magnetic disk device. For example, the motor is controlled by a motor drive signal.

The actuator 206 is controlled by a head position control signal, a seek control signal, and the like to optimally move and position the selected thin-film magnetic head 204 to a target data track on the associated magnetic disk 203. .

The control means 201 controls the thin-film magnetic head 2
04 reads the information on the magnetic disk 203 and decodes the converted electric signal. Further, an electric signal for writing as information on the magnetic disk 203 is transmitted to the thin-film magnetic head 204. That is, the control unit 201 controls transmission and reception of information read or written by the thin-film magnetic head 204.

The above read and write signals can be transmitted directly from the thin film magnetic head 204. The control signals include, for example, an access control signal and a clock signal. Further, it goes without saying that the magnetic disk device has a plurality of magnetic disks, actuators, and the like, and the actuator may have a plurality of thin-film magnetic heads.

As described above, the thin-film magnetic head 204 of the present invention
As, when a plurality of electromagnetic transducers are aligned and formed on the substrate by a thin film lamination method, the material of the magnetic film of the transducer at the position to be the floating surface of the slider in the future is made of a Ni-Fe alloy, and the other By providing the thin film magnetic head of the present invention as described above, in which the magnetic film main body is made of a material having good magnetic characteristics, the magnetic disk device realizing excellent recording / reproducing characteristics can be provided.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, the corrosion of the magnetic film in each element can be prevented during the manufacturing process and after the manufacturing, and the efficiency of flying without loss of flying height can be prevented even during recording and reproduction. There is an effect that it is possible to provide a thin-film magnetic head capable of recording and reproducing, having a high production yield, high reliability, high density, small size, and low cost. In addition, by providing the device with the thin-film magnetic head of the present invention, excellent recording / reproducing characteristics can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a thin-film magnetic head of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a prior art thin film magnetic head.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a conventional magnetic head slider.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a magnetic disk drive showing one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Substrate 2 ... Lower shield film 3 ... Upper shield film 6 ... MR composite film 7 ... Magnetic domain control film 8 ... Electrode 10 ... Coil 12 ... Magnetic pole 13 ... Protective film 15 ... Floating surface 16 ... High corrosion resistant magnetic material 201 ... Control means 202 ... rotating shaft 203 ... magnetic disk 204 ... magnetic head 205 ... arm 206 ... actuator

Claims (2)

[Claims] A thin-film magnetic head in which a plurality of electromagnetic transducers for recording / reproducing are arranged on a substrate by a thin film laminating technique and are covered with an insulating film so as to cover those elements. At least up to the position exposed on the air bearing surface after being processed into the flying slider, it is formed of a highly corrosion-resistant magnetic material such as a Ni-Fe alloy, and the inner element body covered with the insulating film is made of Co, Mn, Nb, Zr, Mo, Cr, W, Pt, Ir, C
A thin-film magnetic head characterized in that u, Pd, Ta, and the like are formed of a magnetic material that emphasizes magnetic properties of at least one kind of metal or alloy. 2. A rotatable magnetic recording medium having an information recording surface, a drive motor for holding the magnetic recording medium at a high speed, control means for controlling the rotational drive of the drive motor, and A thin-film magnetic head having a slider attached to an electromagnetic transducer for writing or reading information and moving on a recording surface of the magnetic recording medium; and controlling information for the thin-film magnetic head to read or write information. 2. The magnetic disk drive according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic disk drive comprises: a circuit means for performing the operation; an actuator means for rapidly positioning the thin-film magnetic head at a predetermined position on the magnetic recording medium; and a control circuit for controlling the movement of the actuator. A magnetic disk device having a magnetic head.