JPS6111914A - Production of thin film magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To flatten a coil forming surface so that a fine thin film coil can be formed with good accuracy by forming a resin insulating layer for correcting a step having the thickness approximately equal to the thickness of a lower magnetic pole layer in the region on a substrate corresponding to the region intended for forming the thin film coil except the part above the lower magnetic layer and forming further a resin insulating layer thereon. CONSTITUTION:A resist film 23 is formed by a spin coating method using a resist material, etc. for thickness on the lower magnetic pole layer 13 except the top end part of the magnetic pole and the resin insulating layer for correcting the step consisting of the 1st and 2nd resin insulating layers 21, 22. The film 23 is patterned to a prescribed pattern by a photolithography method. The resin insulating layer made into the 3-layered construction having the flat surface for forming the thin is thus easily formed. The thin film coil is thus formed with good accuracy if the thin film coil 25 consisting of a copper (Cu) conductive film is formed by a so-called mask plating method on the 3rd resin insulating layer 24 having the flat surface for forming the thin film coil.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a magnetic head used for mounting a magnetic disk drive, etc., and particularly to a method for manufacturing a resin insulating layer for forming a thin film coil of a thin film magnetic head. The present invention relates to a method for fabricating paper that enables precise pattern formation of fine thin film coils on the resin insulating layer.

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, contributing to recording. Various types of compact thin-film magnetic heads that have a steep head magnetic field distribution at the tip of the magnetic pole and enable high-density recording have already been proposed and are being put into practical use.

The above-mentioned thin film magnetic head generally has the following characteristics, as shown in the plan view of FIG. 10(a) and the main part sectional view of FIG. For example, A
M2O3・Ti with insulator layer 2 made of #203
The upper part of the non-magnetic substrate 1 is made of C, etc., and Ni is made of Ni. The lower magnetic pole layer 3 is omitted, and a resin insulating layer 5 made of a resist film or the like is provided in a predetermined area on the insulating layer 2 including the top of the lower magnetic pole layer 3 via a gap layer 4 made of M2O3.・It has been done.

Further, a thin film coil 6 made of copper (Cu) or the like is provided on the upper surface of the resin insulating layer 5, and on the resin insulating layer 5 including this thin film coil 6, a resin insulating layer 7 again made of a resist film or the like is provided. is provided, and an upper magnetic pole layer 8 is further disposed on the upper surface thereof, so that the magnetic pole consisting of the lower magnetic pole layer 3 and the upper magnetic pole layer 8 sandwiches the thin film coil 6 and the gap layer 4 in a U-shape. It is configured.

In such a thin film magnetic head, planarization of the insulating layer 5 is extremely important in order to form the thin film coil 6 on the resin insulating layer 5 including the lower magnetic pole layer 3 with high pattern accuracy. However, it is difficult to flatten the resin insulating layer 5 due to the difference in thickness of the lower magnetic pole layer 3, making it difficult to form fine thin film coils as thin film magnetic heads become smaller. There is a need for a method for easily flattening the resin insulating layer 5, which serves as a surface.

[Conventional technology]

The conventional method of forming a thin film coil of the thin film magnetic bond described above is shown in FIGS. 11 (a), (b) to 13 (
a).

This will be explained using (b). Note that FIG. 81 is a plan view, and FIG.

First, as shown in FIGS. 11(a) and (b), for example, A
M2O is placed on a non-magnetic substrate 11 made of l2O3, TiC, etc.
After forming an insulating layer 12 made of 3 or 5i02 by sputtering, Ni
The lower magnetic pole layer 13 made of -Fe is formed by a photolithography process and a plating method.

Next, on the substrate 11 on which the bottom pole layer 13 is formed, Al
A gap layer 14 made of 2O3, 5i02, etc. is deposited by sputtering or the like, and a resist film 15 is further formed thereon by a spin code method using a resist agent that is easy to planarize.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 12(a) and 12(b), the resist 1jl15 is patterned into a predetermined pattern by a photolithography process. At this time, a connection hole 18 with the upper magnetic pole layer reaching the lower magnetic pole layer 13 is also provided approximately in the center of the resist film 15 pattern. Thereafter, the resist film 15 pattern is thermally cured to form a first resin insulating layer 16 in a predetermined region on the gap layer 14 except for the portion of the lower magnetic pole layer 13 that will become the magnetic pole tip.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 13(al) and 13(b), a second resin insulating layer 17 is placed on the first resin insulating layer 16 to further alleviate the influence of the step caused by the thickness of the lower magnetic pole layer 13.
into the same pattern shape as the first resin insulating layer 16,
The thin film coil 19 is formed using a similar formation method, and the thin film coil 19 is formed on the upper surface by making full use of a photolithography process and a plating method.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the method of forming the thin film coil of the conventional thin film magnetic head as described above, the thickness of the lower magnetic pole layer 13 is 3 μm.
When the thickness exceeds about m, it is inevitable that steps will occur in the resin insulating layer on which the thin film coil is to be formed, as shown in the figure.

Therefore, a method to alleviate the effect of the step by making the resin insulating layer have a two-layer structure as described above has been used, but there is still a problem in that the flattening becomes uneven and it is not possible to form a thin film coil with high precision. . In particular, there was a drawback that it was difficult to form fine thin film coils with high pattern accuracy.

[Means for solving the immediate problem]

The present invention provides a method for flatly forming a resin insulating layer on which a thin film coil of a thin film magnetic head is formed, which solves the above-mentioned problems. In the method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head, in which a gap layer and a resin insulating layer are sequentially laminated and then a thin film coil is formed on the resin insulating layer, when forming the resin insulating layer, the gap layer is included. After depositing at least one resin layer having approximately the same thickness as the lower magnetic pole layer in a predetermined region on the substrate, selectively removing only a portion of the resin layer corresponding to the lower magnetic pole layer. Further, a heat curing treatment is performed to form a resin insulating layer for level difference correction, and then a resin insulating layer for forming a WIII coil is covered on the resin insulating layer for level difference correction including a region corresponding to the lower magnetic pole layer. The problem is solved by a method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention, which is formed by depositing the magnetic head.

[Effect]

That is, on the substrate on which the lower magnetic pole layer is formed, a layer for level difference correction consisting of at least one layer having approximately the same thickness as the lower magnetic pole layer is placed in an area corresponding to the area where the thin film coil is to be formed except on the lower magnetic pole layer. A resin insulating layer is formed by a spin code method and a photolithography process, and a resin insulating layer is further formed on the step correction resin insulating layer including on the lower magnetic pole layer, thereby forming a thin film coil on the resin insulating layer. The coil forming surface is flattened so that fine thin film coils can be formed on the thin film coil forming surface with high precision.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1(b) to FIG. 5(a) and (bJ are diagrams showing an embodiment of the method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention in the order of steps, and each figure (a) is a plan view, Each figure) is a sectional view of the main part along the BB' cutting line shown in each figure (a).

First, as shown in FIG. 1 (al, (b)), for example, Al
On a nonmagnetic substrate 11 made of 2O3・TiC, etc., Al2
After forming an insulating layer 12 made of O3 or 5iD2 by sputtering, Ni is deposited on the insulating layer 12.
The lower magnetic pole layer 13 made of -Fe is formed by a photolithography process and a plating method.

Next, Al
A gap layer 14 made of 2O3, 5i02, etc. is formed by sputtering or the like, and then a 1 m resist layer is formed on the gap layer 14 by a spin code method using a resist agent that is easy to planarize. form 15.

Next, as shown in the second WJ (a) and (b), the resist film 15 is removed by a photolithography process to remove the resist l-11!15 portion on the lower magnetic pole layer 13, and patterning into a predetermined pattern including removing the resist film 21 around the part that will become the part,
Subsequently, the resist film 15 pattern is thermally cured to form a first resin insulating layer 21 around the lower magnetic pole layer 13.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b), a second resin insulating layer is further formed on the first resin insulating layer 21 by a pattern forming method similar to that for forming the first resin insulating layer 21 described above. 22 is formed to be substantially flush with the lower magnetic pole N13.

Thereafter, as shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b), the top of the lower magnetic pole layer 13 excluding the tip portion of the magnetic pole and the first. On the step correction resin insulating layer consisting of the second resin insulating layer 21 and 22,
Furthermore, a resist l1li23 is formed using a resist agent or the like by a spin code method, and the resist 11123 is patterned into a predetermined pattern by a photolithography process. At this time, a connection hole 18 with the upper magnetic pole layer reaching the lower magnetic pole layer 13 is also provided approximately in the center of the resist film 23 . Subsequently, a thermosetting treatment is performed to form the third resin insulating layer 24. In this way, a three-layer resin insulating layer having a flat thin film coil forming surface can be easily formed.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5(a) and (bl), on the third resin insulating layer 24 having the flat thin film coil forming surface,
If the thin film coil 25 made of a copper (Cu) conductive film is formed by a so-called mask plating method that makes full use of a photolithography process and a plating method, it becomes possible to form a fine thin film coil with high precision.

Further, FIGS. 6(a), (b) to 5(a), (b)
) are diagrams illustrating another embodiment of the method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention in the order of steps, each figure (a) is a plan view, and each figure (a) is a B-B shown in each figure (a). ' It is a sectional view of the main part along the cutting line.

First, as shown in FIGS. 6(a) and 6(b), an insulator layer 12 made of M2O3 or the like, a lower magnetic pole layer 1 made of Ni-Fe, etc.
A gap layer 14 made of M2O3 etc. is deposited on the non-magnetic substrate 11 made of M2O3・Tic etc. on which 3 is formed by sputtering method etc., and then a resin material etc. which is easy to flatten is further used on top of the gap layer 14 by spin code method. A resin film 35 is formed.

Subsequently, after heat curing the resin film 35, the resin layer 35
The upper part is made of aluminum (Aj), etc., which is opened in a region corresponding to the upper part of the lower magnetic pole layer 3 and is back-shaped in a predetermined pattern to expose the periphery of the part that will become the magnetic pole tip of the lower magnetic pole layer 13. A metal mask pattern 36 is formed.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 7+a) and (b), the resin II is exposed using the metal mask pattern 36 as a mask.
I! 35 portion is etched away using an oxygen (02) plasma etching method, and the metal mask pattern 36 is also selectively removed to form a step around the bottom pole layer 13 that is substantially flush with the top of the bottom pole layer 13. A first resin insulating layer 37 for correction is formed.

Thereafter, as shown in FIGS. 8(a) and 8(b), a resin layer 38 is further coated on the lower magnetic pole layer 13 excluding the magnetic pole tip portion and on the first resin insulating layer 37 by a spin code method. After thermosetting, a metal mask pattern 39 made of AI or the like is formed on the resin layer 38 to cover only the coil forming area.

Subsequently, using the metal mask pattern 39 as a mask, the exposed portion of the resin 1!1ili 38 is removed by etching using the 02 plasma etching method. At this time, the resin 1
A connection hole 18 with the upper magnetic layer reaching the lower magnetic layer 13 is also provided approximately in the center of 113B. After that, the metal mask pattern 39 is selectively removed to form a second thin film coil.
A resin insulating layer 40 is formed.

In this way, it is possible to easily form a two-layer resin insulating layer having a flat thin film coil forming surface as shown in FIGS. 9(a) and 9(b).

Therefore, as in the first embodiment, a thin film coil is formed with high accuracy on the second resin insulating layer 40 having the flat thin film coil formation surface by the so-called mask plating method, which makes full use of the photolithography process and the metallization method. It becomes possible to do so.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, the method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention has the excellent advantage that the resin insulating layer, which is the thin film coil forming surface on the lower magnetic pole layer, can be easily flattened. have.

Therefore, the thin film coil formed on the resin insulating layer can be made finer and more precise, which is extremely advantageous when applied to the production of this type of thin film magnetic head.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1(a) and 5(b) to 5(a) and (b) are diagrams showing an embodiment of the method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention in the order of steps, and each diagram (a) is a plane view. 9) is a cross-sectional view of the main part taken along the BB' cutting line shown in each figure (a).
, Fig. 6(a), (b) to Fig. 9(a), (b)
2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating another embodiment of the method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head according to the present invention in the order of steps, each figure ta+ is a plan view, and each figure (in each figure) is along the BB' cutting line shown in each figure (a). 10(Jl) is a plan view for explaining the structure of the thin film magnetic head, and FIG. Cross-sectional views of main parts, Fig. 11 (al, (b) to Fig. 13 (a), (b)
) are diagrams for explaining the conventional thin-film magnetic head manufacturing method step by step, each diagram (a) is a plan view, and each diagram (b) is a diagram along the BB' cutting line shown in each diagram (a). FIG. In the figure, 11 is a non-magnetic substrate, 12 is an insulating layer, 13 is a bottom pole layer, 14 is a gap layer, 15.23 is a resist film,
18 is a connection hole, 21.37 is a first resin insulation layer, 22.4
0 indicates a second resin insulating layer, 24 a third resin insulating layer, 25 a thin film coil, 35.38 a resin layer, and 36.39 a metal mask pattern, respectively. Figure 1 (Q) 1j @ 2 m (Q) Figure 3 (Q) Figure 4 (G) Figure 5 (Q) Figure 6 (Q) Figure 7 (0) Figure 8 (Q) , Figure 9 (G) Figure 10 (Q) Illll Haze (q) Figure 12 (Q) '13 wJ (01 Figure 13 (1))

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head in which a gap layer and a resin insulating layer are sequentially laminated in a predetermined region on a substrate on which a lower magnetic pole layer is formed, and then a thin film coil is formed on the resin insulating layer, the resin insulating layer When forming, after forming at least one resin layer having approximately the same thickness as the bottom pole layer in a predetermined area on the substrate including the gap layer, a layer corresponding to the bottom pole layer of the resin layer is formed. Only the resin layer portion is selectively removed, and further heat curing treatment is performed to form a step correction resin insulating layer, and then on the step difference correction resin insulating layer including the region corresponding to the lower magnetic pole layer, A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, comprising depositing a resin insulating layer for forming a thin-film coil.