JPS60229217A - Manufacture for thin film magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain flat finish to a slider face with high accuracy by forming a nonmagnetic insulation layer and a protection film provided in a form surrounding the slider face of the base side and upper/lower magnetic pole layers with the same wear resistance material. CONSTITUTION:The insulation layer 25 having the lower magnetic pole layer 23, a gap forming layer 24, a thin film coil 26, an insulation layer 27, the upper magnetic pole layer 28 and the protection layer 29 made of the same material as the layer 22 are formed sequentially on a face of the nonmagnetic insulation layer 22 of wear resistance coated thickly on the base 21. Then exposed faces of each layer are polished flat and after a mask pattern 31 is coated, the coated part is removed by the share of thickness A by etching, and after the insulation layer 32 made of the same material as that of the layer 22 is formed, the layer 32 is polished flat so as to form a slider face 33. Then the surface is constituted with the wear resistance layer except the magnetic layers 23, 28, on excessive partial ditch due to polishment is produced because of the difference between the hardness of materials and the polish speeds, and the magnetic head having a slide face with excellent flat finish accuracy is manufactured.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] fa) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, and in particular to a method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head for horizontal magnetic recording or perpendicular magnetic recording. The present invention relates to a manufacturing method that makes it possible to form these on the same plane with high precision.

(Middle) Technical Background In recent years, magnetic heads used in magnetic disk drives, etc. have been designed to achieve higher recording densities and faster transfer speeds for magnetic disk recording media, and their shapes have become smaller and more precise. Compact thin-film magnetic heads, which have a narrow head magnetic field distribution at the tip of the magnetic pole that contributes to recording and enable high-density recording, are being put into practical use, and various types have already been proposed. .

(C) Prior art and problems By the way, the conventional thin film magnetic head described above has a structure as shown in the top view of FIG. 1 and the main part sectional view of FIG. For example, a lower magnetic pole layer 3 made of permalloy (Ni-Pe alloy) is deposited on a substrate 1 made of ceramic or the like via a nonmagnetic insulating layer 2 made of Al2O2 or Si20 by sputtering method or the like.
A predetermined pattern (not shown) is formed by a photolithography process.

Next, an insulating layer 5 including a gap forming layer 4 made of 5i02 or the like is deposited on the bottom pole layer 3, and the upper surface thereof is covered with w4(
After depositing a conductor such as Cu) by sputtering or the like, the conductor is formed into a thin film coil 6 by a photolithography process. Next, an insulating layer 7 and an upper magnetic pole layer 8 are sequentially laminated on the insulating layer 5 including the thin film coil 6 as shown in the figure, and the upper magnetic pole layer 8 is further patterned into a predetermined pattern shape by a photolithography process. .

Next, the entire substrate including the upper magnetic pole layer 8 is coated with a thick protective film 1119 made of Al2O6° or 5 in2 by sputtering or the like, and then the slider surface facing the magnetic recording medium, that is, the upper and lower magnetic pole layers 3 and 8 By polishing the slider surface 10 from which the tip surface protrudes into a planar shape, the lower magnetic pole layer 3 and the upper magnetic pole layer 8 form a U-shaped magnetic circuit with the gap forming layer 4 in between. The head is being completed.

However, in the step of polishing the slider surface 10, in which the tip surfaces of the upper and lower magnetic pole layers 3.8 are exposed, into a flat surface, the non-magnetic insulating layer 2 and the protective film 9 forming a part of the slider surface 10 are polished. The hardness is smaller than that of the other substrate l made of ceramic or the like constituting the slider surface 10,
Also, due to the high IS speed, as shown in FIG.
The disadvantage was that the surface was excessively polished, resulting in a concave shape.

Such a finishing phenomenon can be caused by the non-magnetic insulating layer 2 and the preservation i! In addition to being surrounded by the i-film 9, the tip surface of the lower magnetic pole layer 3.8 is also finished in a concave shape, so that when such a thin-film magnetic head is floated above a magnetic disk medium, the magnetic head is This has the disadvantage that the effective flying height of the disk increases, leading to deterioration of recording and reproducing characteristics.

(d) Purpose of the Invention In order to eliminate the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, the present invention provides a structure in which a non-magnetic insulating layer and a protective film provided surrounding the slider surface on the substrate side of a thin-film magnetic head and the upper and lower magnetic pole layers have the same resistance. The slider surface is formed using a non-magnetic insulating material that is abrasive or a non-magnetic insulating material that has the same level of abrasion resistance, and eliminates partial unevenness due to differences in material hardness when polishing the slider surface. The object of the present invention is to provide a novel method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head that improves the accuracy of planar finishing.

+81 Structure and object of the invention According to the present invention, a step of depositing and forming a wear-resistant first non-magnetic insulating layer on a substrate, and a step of depositing a wear-resistant first non-magnetic insulating layer on a substrate on which the first non-magnetic insulating layer is formed. magnetic pole, the second magnetic pole. A step of forming a thin film magnetic head portion composed of a third nonmagnetic insulating layer and a V# film cocoil, and a step of forming a thin film magnetic head portion made of the same material as the first nonmagnetic insulating layer or having the same degree of wear resistance as the first nonmagnetic insulating layer on the thin film magnetic head. a step of coating a protective film made of a non-magnetic insulating material,
After carrying out the step of planar polishing the slider surface facing the magnetic recording medium, an etching prevention mask pattern is further formed on a surface other than the substrate surface portion constituting the slider surface, and the substrate surface portion is polished to a predetermined thickness. Remove the etching by
Next, the etching prevention mask pattern is removed, and a fourth nonmagnetic insulating layer made of the same material as the first nonmagnetic insulating layer or having the same wear resistance is applied to the etching removed surface and the mask pattern removed surface. The fourth nonmagnetic insulating layer is deposited to a thickness equivalent to at least the etching removal of the substrate surface portion, and then the fourth nonmagnetic insulating layer is polished to form a slider surface exposing the magnetic pole tip. This is achieved by providing a method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head.

(f) Embodiments of the invention Embodiments of the invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 4 to 7 are sectional views of main parts showing an embodiment of the method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention in the order of steps. First, as shown in FIG. 4, for example, alumina titanium carbide <At2o,
- A wear-resistant first nonmagnetic insulating layer 22 made of At2O3 is deposited thickly on a substrate 21 made of TiC by sputtering or the like.

Next, permalloy (N
5402. Alternatively, a second nonmagnetic insulating layer 25 including a gap forming layer 24 made of M2O3 or the like, a thin film coil 26 made of a conductor such as copper (Cu), a third nonmagnetic insulating layer 27 and permalloy (Ni-Fe) on the top surface thereof. alloy)
The upper magnetic pole layer 28 consisting of the following materials is sequentially laminated as shown in the figure by a sputtering process and a photolithography process.

The entire substrate including the upper magnetic pole layer 28 is coated with a wear-resistant protective film 29 made of Al2O3, which is the same material as the first nonmagnetic insulating layer 22, by sputtering or the like. Next, the surface that is to be the slider surface facing the magnetic recording medium, that is, the upper and lower magnetic pole layers 28 and 23.
and the first and second non-magnetic insulators 122.25,
Furthermore, the surface from which the protective film 29 and the like come out is polished to a flat surface.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG.
8. On each surface of 23 and a part of the first nonmagnetic insulating layer 22, a resist film or a mask pattern 3 for preventing etching made of T++Cr, A#, etc. is deposited. Next, the substrate 21 is sprayed out from the mask pattern 31.
The surface and a part of the surface of the first nonmagnetic insulating layer 22 are etched away by a predetermined thickness A by reactive sputter etching, ion etching, or the like.

After that, while removing the mask pattern 31,
A sixth layer is formed on the mask pattern removed surface and the etching removed surface.
As shown in the figure, the wear-resistant first layer is made of A'2o3.
Non-magnetic v? A fourth non-magnetic insulating layer 32 made of the same material as the third layer or having the same wear resistance is formed by sputtering or the like to have the same thickness as the thickness A of the etched portion of the surface of the substrate 21, or slightly more. Forms a thick coating.

Then, the fourth nonmagnetic insulating layer 32 is polished to form a slider surface 33 where the tips of the upper and lower magnetic pole layers 28 and 23 are hazy. As shown in FIG. 7, the formed slider surface is entirely made of a wear-resistant non-magnetic insulating material consisting of Al2O, except for the tip surface portions of the upper and lower magnetic pole layers 28 and 23. Therefore, excessive polishing dents do not occur locally due to differences in hardness of materials or differences in polishing speeds, as in the past.

Therefore, it is possible to easily obtain a thin film magnetic head having a slider surface 32 with good planar finishing accuracy.

In the above embodiments, an example in which alumina/titanium carbide (Al2O3/Tic) was used for the substrate was explained, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a substrate made of photoceram or the like may be used. Needless to say, it is also applicable when using.

In addition, the first and fourth nonmagnetic insulating layers 22.32 and the protection II
I! 29 is not limited to a wear-resistant non-magnetic insulating material made of Al2O3, but the same effect can be obtained by using a non-magnetic insulating material made of silicon dioxide IP (S+02), etc. .

Further, the manufacturing method of the present invention is not limited to the manufacturing of the thin film magnetic head having the structure described above and shown in the drawings. It goes without saying that it can also be used in the production of magnetic hefds and the like.

(Phantom effect of the invention) As is clear from the above explanation, according to the method for manufacturing a Wi film magnetic head according to the present invention, the surface on which the slider surface is to be formed is Because they are all made of non-magnetic insulating materials with the same wear resistance,
Excessive polishing dents due to differences in hardness of materials or differences in polishing speed, as in the past, do not occur on the slider surface after polishing of the flat surface 51f, and a thin film magnetic head having a slider surface with good flat finish accuracy can be easily obtained. It becomes possible.

Therefore, the deterioration of recording/reproducing characteristics caused by the recesses on the slider surface is eliminated, and it is extremely advantageous for manufacturing such thin-film magnetic heads or single-pole thin-film magnetic heads for perpendicular magnetization recording/reproducing.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a top view for explaining the conventional thin film magnetic head manufacturing method, Figure 2 is a sectional view of the main part along the n-■' section line shown in Figure 1, and Figure 3 is a conventional thin film magnetic head. FIGS. 2 to 7 are cross-sectional views of main parts for explaining problems in the method of manufacturing a magnetic head. FIGS. . In the drawing, 21 is a substrate, 22 is a first non-magnetic insulating layer, 23 is a lower magnetic pole layer, 24 is a gap forming layer, 25 is a second non-magnetic insulating layer, 26 is a thin film coil, and 27 is a third non-magnetic insulating layer. A magnetic insulating layer, 28 a top pole layer, 29 a protective film, 30 a flat polished surface, 31 a mask pattern, 32 a fourth non-magnetic insulating layer, and 33 a slider surface. Figure 1 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] forming a wear-resistant first non-magnetic insulating layer on the substrate; forming a magnetic pole on the substrate on which the first non-magnetic insulating layer is formed; a step of forming a thin film magnetic head section composed of a third nonmagnetic insulating layer and a thin film coil; and a step of forming a thin film magnetic head section made of the same material as the first nonmagnetic insulating layer or having the same wear resistance as the first nonmagnetic insulating layer on the thin film magnetic head. After performing the step of coating a protective film made of a non-magnetic insulating material and the step of flat-polishing the slider surface facing the magnetic recording medium, etching prevention is further applied to surfaces other than the substrate surface portion constituting the slider surface. The substrate surface portion is etched away by a predetermined thickness, and then the etching prevention mask pattern is removed, and the first non-magnetic Same material as insulating layer,
Alternatively, a fourth non-magnetic insulating layer having the same level of wear resistance is deposited to a thickness equivalent to at least the etching removal of the substrate surface portion, and then the fourth non-magnetic insulating layer is planarly polished; A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head, comprising forming a slider surface with a magnetic pole tip exposed.