JPH1116314A - Magnetic head and magnetic recording device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase sliding resistance and reduce sticking of a magnetic head by arranging a second protrusion with its surface used as a slider surface on a first protrusion on a slider bottom surface so as to make a two-stage slider, and providing a recess on the surface of the second protrusion. SOLUTION: A magnetic head applies a load toward the surface of a magnetic recording medium by load applying means 51 associated with a suspension mechanism 50. On a slider bottom surface 30 of the magnetic head, three first protrusions (pad portions) extending downward are formed, and circular or semicircular second protrusions having recesses 7a, 7b, 7c are formed on slider surfaces 6a, 6b, 6c, which are the surfaces of the first protrusions. The surfaces of the second protrusions are slider surfaces 8a, 8b, 8c. Thus, two-stage sliders 21, 22, 33 are constituted. By providing three or more of these two-stage sliders, unstable contact with the magnetic recording medium due to three-point support can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic recording device used for an external storage device of a computer system and a magnetic head used therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent expansion of information networks,
The amount of information has increased, and the demand for smaller and larger-capacity magnetic recording devices as external storage devices for computer systems has been increasing, and the density of magnetic recording media has actually increased rapidly year by year. .

Such a magnetic recording apparatus mainly includes a magnetic recording medium (magnetic disk) and an electromagnetic transducer (magnetic head) as main components, and a rotation control mechanism (such as a spindle motor) of the magnetic recording medium and an electromagnetic transducer. It is composed of a high-precision positioning mechanism for the device (such as a voice coil motor) and a processing circuit for recording / reproducing signals (such as a read / write amplifier). The magnetic recording medium is provided with a number of tracks concentrically or spirally, and information is recorded on the tracks. Therefore, in order to improve the recording density, it is necessary to increase the information recording density (linear recording density) in the circumferential direction in the track. The linear recording density is determined by the characteristics of the magnetic film of the magnetic recording medium (coercive force, film thickness, magnetic layer particle size, etc.), electromagnetic conversion characteristics (frequency characteristics, gap length, etc.) and the magnetic film of the magnetic recording medium and the electromagnetic transducer. It depends on the interval. In recent years, the distance between the electromagnetic transducer and the magnetic recording medium (hereinafter referred to as a flying height) has been rapidly reduced, and is usually 0.05 to 0.1 μm. Therefore, as a magnetic recording device, the flying height should be reduced in order to increase the recording density, and furthermore, the contact recording should be capable of recording and reproducing in a state where the magnetic recording medium and the electromagnetic transducer are always in contact. This is an important technical issue. Hereinafter, a magnetic disk device will be described as a magnetic recording device.

In the conventional magnetic disk drive, the flying height is made extremely small in order to increase the recording density of the magnetic disk as described above, or a contact state in which the magnetic disk surface directly contacts the slider surface of the magnetic head. It is necessary to enable recording and reproduction. Therefore, it is required to reduce the surface roughness of the surface of the magnetic disk. However, when the surface of the magnetic disk is flattened, the frictional force when the surface of the magnetic disk comes into contact with the slider surface of the magnetic head is generally increased. The element portion that performs recording / reproduction of the magnetic head becomes worn, making it impossible to perform recording / reproduction, and the protection film formed on the slider surface of the magnetic head is worn, so that the element portion is easily discharged or corroded. Or become.
Further, the problem of magnetic head attraction becomes serious. In particular, in the contact state, there is a problem that the wear of the head is extremely large, and it is essential to study the shape of the slider of the magnetic head.

As a technique related to the above, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 4-21637 discloses a technique for roughening a slider surface of a magnetic head used in combination with a magnetic disk having a flat surface shape.
No. 7 is described.

The techniques described in JP-A-6-89421 and JP-A-4-324109 aim at avoiding the attracting phenomenon by increasing the surface roughness of a slider surface of a magnetic head. is there.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-216 is disclosed.
In the prior art described in Japanese Patent No. 377, the contact surface pressure at the contact point is increased due to the rough slider surface, the protrusions of the rough surface portion of the slider surface are worn, and the surface roughness is reduced by repeating the contact. As a result, there is a problem that the frictional force between the magnetic disk and the magnetic head increases.

[0008] Further, the prior art described in the above-mentioned JP-A-6-89421 and JP-A-4-324109,
This increases wear of the slider surface of the magnetic head, and eventually causes a problem of increasing frictional force.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic head capable of extremely reducing the wear on the slider surface and reducing the frictional force and the attraction force.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable magnetic recording apparatus which is suitable for high recording density, has high sliding resistance, and has little magnetic head attraction.

[0011]

In order to achieve the first object, a magnetic head according to the present invention has a first convex portion disposed on a bottom surface of a slider, and a surface is provided on the first convex portion. Are arranged as a slider surface to form a two-stage slider, and a concave portion is provided on the surface of the second convex portion.

It is preferable to provide three or more such two-stage sliders. This is because if the number is less than 2, the floating of the magnetic head becomes unstable. If the number of two-stage sliders is too large, the frictional force increases.
5 or less are more preferable.

The total area of the slider surface of the second convex portion (excluding the concave portion) is 200 μm ² or more and 5,000 μm.
m ² or less. If it is less than 200 μm ² , the strength is not sufficient, and if it exceeds 5,000 μm ² , the frictional force increases.

The shape of the slider surface of the second convex portion is circular,
It is preferable to make the shape semicircular, polygonal, or the like. The outer dimension of the slider surface of the second convex portion (diameter for a circular shape, length of the longest diagonal for a polygonal shape) is 70 μm or less.
It is preferably at least μm. By doing so, the contact area can be reduced, and the frictional force can be reduced. The difference between the outer dimension of the slider surface and the inner dimension (outer dimension of the recess) is 2.
The thickness is preferably 5 μm or more from the viewpoint of increasing the strength.

It is preferable that the height of the second projection is 30 nm or less and 5 nm or more. Avoiding the magnetic recording medium surface and the slider surface of the magnetic head from violently contacting each other, stabilizing the contact with the magnetic head, and making it easy to supply the lubricant accumulated in the concave portion and the peripheral portion of the slider surface to the slider surface. This is because wear on the slider surface can be suppressed. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a magnetic recording apparatus comprising: a magnetic recording medium for recording information; a rotation control mechanism for the magnetic recording medium; a positioning mechanism for a magnetic head; And any one of the above magnetic heads is arranged to face the magnetic recording medium.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a magnetic head according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of a slider surface thereof. In this case, the traveling direction of the magnetic recording medium with respect to the magnetic head is the direction of arrow 40 in the figure, and therefore, the rightward direction in the figure is the inflow of airflow of the magnetic head formed by the traveling of the magnetic recording medium. One end of the electromagnetic transducer 9 on the end side 41 is the outflow end side 42 of the air flow.

This magnetic head comprises a magnetic head slider (hereinafter, referred to as a magnetic head slider member) 12 and an electromagnetic transducer (read / write element) 9 for recording and reproducing information. The electromagnetic transducer 9 is integrally formed with the magnetic head slider member 12 as a composite electromagnetic transducer composed of an inductive electromagnetic transducer and a magnetoresistive element. Although one electromagnetic conversion element 9 is shown in the figure, a plurality of electromagnetic conversion elements may be provided. The magnetic head is maintained at a predetermined position on or above the surface of the magnetic recording medium.
(Details are not shown), and a load is applied to the surface of the magnetic recording medium by load applying means 51 associated with the suspension mechanism 50.

The magnetic head slider member 12 is preferably formed from an aluminum titanium carbide (Al ₂ O ₃ —TiC) material. Slider bottom surface 30 of magnetic head
Are formed with three first convex portions (pad portions) extending downward, and the slider surface 6 which is the surface of the first convex portions
On the a, 6b, and 6c, an annular or semicircular second convex portion (bump portion) having concave portions 7a, 7b, and 7c is further formed. The surfaces of the second projections are slider surfaces 8a, 8b,
8c, where two-stage sliders 21, 22, and 23 are configured. The number of the two-stage sliders 21, 22, 23 is 3
By setting the number to be three or more, unstable contact with the magnetic recording medium by three-point support can be prevented. In addition, FIG.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the two-stage type sliders 21 and 22 of the magnetic head taken along AA ′, and reference numeral 20 denotes a rolling axis.

FIG. 3B shows a two-stage slider 22.
FIG. Pad diameter and pad height forming the first convex portion (pad portion), second convex portion (bump portion)
Is determined by determining the dimensions of the bump diameter and the bump height and the recess diameter and the recess depth forming the groove.
It can be a step-shaped slider. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a floating state on the magnetic recording medium 1 in the pitching direction of the magnetic head.

In the above embodiment, the annular or semicircular second convex portion provided with the concave portion is shown, but FIGS. 6 (a), (b),
The slider surface 8 having a polygonal shape such as a hexagonal shape, a rhombus shape, and a quadrangular shape as shown in FIG. In this case, the relationship with the running direction of the magnetic recording medium is desirably formed so as to be the same as the direction of arrow 40 in the figure. The shape of the concave portion does not need to be the same as the shape of the outside.

An example of a method for producing such a two-stage slider will be described with reference to FIG. First, 5 nm thick silicon (S) is formed on the surface of the slider member 12 of the magnetic head made of alumina titanium carbide (Al ₂ O ₃ —TiC).
i) A film 11 is formed, and then a carbon (C) film 10 having a thickness of 15 nm, which is a protective film, is formed by a sputtering method (FIG. 7A).

Next, a mask 13 for forming a desired concave portion and a slider surface of a first convex portion is provided on the carbon film 10 by a usual photolithography method, and a portion 14 of carbon is formed by oxygen plasma. (See FIG. 7)
(B)).

After etching to a desired film thickness, the mask 1
3 is removed, a second mask 15 is provided, and etching is performed again using oxygen. This etching is performed on the silicon film 11.
May be stopped before the silicon film 11 is reached. However, since the etching rate is different when the silicon film 11 is reached, the etching amount can be easily controlled (FIG. 7C).

Further, the second mask 15 is removed, and the concave portions 7 are formed.
(FIG. 7D).

In this way, by changing the mask shape, a two-stage slider having a concave portion of a desired shape and a slider surface of a desired shape is obtained. Also, the surface area of the slider surface can be set arbitrarily. By changing the thickness of the carbon film, the height of the two-stage slider on the slider surface shown in FIG. 3B can be set arbitrarily. In the present embodiment, the case where the carbon film was formed as the protective film was described. However, even when the protective film was not formed, the gas type of the etching was changed,
A similar shape can be created by etching with an ion beam. Thus, the magnetic head shown in the present invention is:
After a mask is formed on the ABS (air bearing surface) protective film surface formed on the slider surface by photolithography, the protective film can be easily manufactured by etching the protective film in a gas phase or liquid. It is.
Other methods may be used as a method for forming a mask and a method for etching.

With this magnetic head, the lubricant applied to the surface of the magnetic recording medium can be stored around and around the annular, semi-circular or polygonal slider surface having the concave portion. It is always supplied to the slider surface to promote the lubrication effect, and it is possible to prevent the slider surface of the second convex portion from being worn.

The total area of the protrusions on the slider surface of the second protrusions (total area not including the recesses) is at least 200 μm ² ,
By setting the thickness to be not more than 00 μm ^2, the true contact area at the time of contact between the surface of the magnetic recording medium and the slider surface of the magnetic head can be reduced, and the frictional force can be reduced. Further, by reducing the contact area, the attraction force can be reduced.

The slider surfaces 8a, 8a of the second convex portions
By setting the outer dimensions of b and 8c (diameter for a circular shape, length of the longest diagonal line for a polygonal shape) to 70 μm or less and 10 μm or more, the contact area can be reduced and the frictional force can be reduced. . The difference between the outer dimension and the inner dimension (outer dimension of the concave portion) of the slider surface should be at least 2.5 μm in order to increase the strength. preferable.

On the other hand, by setting the height of the second projection (the height of the bump in FIG. 3B) to 30 nm or less and 5 nm or more, the magnetic recording medium surface and the slider surface of the magnetic head can be in intense contact. By avoiding this, stabilization against contact with the magnetic head can be achieved, and lubricant accumulated in the concave portion and peripheral portion of the slider surface can be easily supplied to the slider surface, and wear on the slider surface can be suppressed.

In the magnetic head shown in FIG. 2, the inflow end 41 has one left and right one each with respect to the rolling shaft 20 passing through the two-stage type slider 23 provided at the center of the outflow end 42. Two two-stage sliders 21 and 22 are arranged, and the shape and the mass of the magnetic head as a whole are symmetrical.

In this embodiment, the appearance of the slider member 12 is rectangular when viewed in a plan view. However, in order to further reduce the weight and the like, the slider member 12 is shown by a two-dot chain line in FIGS. It is preferable to have a triangular external shape.

The positions of the two-stage sliders 21, 22, and 23 are arranged at the optimum positions such that the floating posture in the case of the near contact as shown in FIG. 4 has an angle of attack comparable to that of the taper flat type slider. Thereby, it is possible to stably float.

When such a two-stage slider 23 is formed in the vicinity of the electromagnetic transducer 9, the lubricant is always supplied to the electromagnetic transducer 9, so that the wear near the electromagnetic transducer 9 is reduced. Can be prevented, and T.T., which is a problem in a magnetic head having an MR (magnetoresistive effect) element, can be prevented.
A. (Thermal asperity) phenomenon can be prevented. T. A. The phenomenon is a phenomenon that occurs at the moment when the MR element of the reproducing magnetic head collides with a minute projection formed on the surface of the magnetic disk. Fluctuates rapidly, causing waveform fluctuations and reading errors. In the magnetic head of this embodiment, the frictional force between the MR element surface and the magnetic recording medium surface is low, and the T.C. A. The occurrence of the phenomenon can be prevented.

Next, FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of the magnetic recording apparatus of the present invention. A magnetic recording medium 1 on which aluminum or glass is used as a substrate material and a magnetic film is formed on the surface thereof to record information magnetically is a spindle motor 3
Is driven to rotate. The spindle motor 3 includes a motor shaft made of stainless steel or the like, and a hub made of aluminum or the like that rotates accurately through motor bearings press-fitted in the upper and lower directions. The hub is preloaded by a spring in the axial direction. Configuration.
A permanent magnet is fixed to the motor coil fixed between the motor bearings of the motor shaft and the inner surface of the hub facing the motor coil, and the hub is rotated by energizing the motor coil. The magnetic recording medium 1 is inserted into the hub, and the magnetic recording medium 1 is fastened to the hub using a ring-shaped clamp ring made of aluminum, stainless steel, iron, or the like.

A magnetic head 2 having an electromagnetic coil for converting between an electric signal for magnetically writing or reading information and a magnetic field has a diameter of 0.1 μm or less on the surface of a magnetic recording medium 1 which is rotationally driven. Floating and positioned in the state of the near contact or contact. The magnetic head 2 is supported by a head arm of a carriage made of aluminum or the like. The voice coil motor 4 for positioning the magnetic head 2 is configured by a coil wound with an aluminum wire or a copper wire having an insulating film, a permanent magnet magnet, or the like.

A signal at the time of reading / writing of the magnetic head 2 passes through a head arm of a carriage by an electromagnetic conversion coil provided on the magnetic head 2, and a read / write amplifier for controlling a signal at the time of reading / writing by an FPC (flexible printed circuit board). And transmitted to the outside of the head-disk assembly (HDA) by a hermetically sealed connector provided by bonding to a base made of aluminum, stainless steel, iron, or the like located on the lower surface of the read / write amplifier 5. It has become so. This hermetically-sealed connector is transmitted to a circuit board for controlling a magnetic recording device provided outside the HDA.

By using the above-described magnetic head as the magnetic head 2 of this magnetic recording apparatus, the magnetic head has a small amount of attraction, a high sliding resistance, a high recording density, and a high reliability. It could be a magnetic recording device.

[0039]

As described above, according to the magnetic head of the present invention, it was possible to suppress the wear of the slider surface, reduce the frictional force, and reduce the sticking phenomenon. Further, by using this magnetic head and combining it with a magnetic recording medium having a small surface roughness, a magnetic recording apparatus suitable for high recording density and having excellent performance in high sliding reliability was obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a magnetic head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a slider surface of the magnetic head shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view showing A of a two-stage slider of the magnetic head shown in FIG. 1;
A ′ line sectional view and AB line sectional view.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a floating state of the magnetic head shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a magnetic recording apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a slider surface of the two-stage slider.

FIG. 7 is a manufacturing process diagram of the magnetic head of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 magnetic recording medium 2 magnetic head 3 spindle motor 4 voice coil motor 5 read / write amplifier 6, 6a, 6b, 6c slider surface 7, 7a, 7b, 7c concave portion 8, 8a, 8b, 8c Slider surface 9 ... Electromagnetic transducer 10 ... Carbon film 11 ... Silicon film 12 ... Slider member 13 ... Mask 14 ... Part of carbon 15 ... Second mask 20 ... Rolling shaft 21,22,23 ... Two-step slider 30 ... Slider bottom surface 40 ... Arrow 41 ... Inflow end side (of air flow) 42 ... Outflow end side (of air flow) 50 ... Suspension mechanism 51 ... Load applying means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic head having an electromagnetic transducer for recording and reproducing information on and from a magnetic recording medium, wherein a first convex portion is arranged on a bottom surface of a slider of the magnetic head.
A magnetic head, comprising: a second convex portion having a surface as a slider surface, disposed on the convex portion, and a concave portion provided on the surface of the second convex portion. 2. The total area of the slider surface of the second projection is:
200 [mu] m ² or more, a magnetic head according to claim 1, wherein a is 5,000 .mu.m ² or less. 3. A magnetic recording medium for recording information, a magnetic head arranged to face the magnetic recording medium for writing information on or reading information from the magnetic recording medium; 3. A magnetic recording device comprising a rotation control mechanism, a positioning mechanism for the magnetic head, and a circuit for processing a recording / reproducing signal, wherein the magnetic head is the magnetic head according to claim 1 or 2.