JPS61287022A - Production of thin film magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the exposing of a resin which determines a gap depth on a floating surface by etching the 1st magnetic film with a mask material to obtain the 1st magnetic material then sticking an inorg. insulating film over the entire substrate surface so as to have approximately the same thickness as the thickness of the 1st magnetic material and removing the mask material and the inorg. insulator sticking onto said material. CONSTITUTION:The 1st magnetic film 20 is deposited on the substrate 1 and is then etched by a phosoresist mask 2' to form the 1st magnetic material 2. The inorg. insulating film 9 consisting of an alumina film, etc. is then deposited over the entire surface to have approximately the same thickness as the thickness of the material 2 and the mask 2' is removed to form a gap material 3 consisting of alumina, etc. over the entire surface. The surface formed with the gap material 3 is nearly flat. The insulating film 4 consisting of the photoresist, etc. to determine the gap depth is thereafter formed on the surface. Since the forming surface of the film 4 is nearly flat, the projection of the film toward the floating surface side from the point P to determine the gap depth on the 1st magnetic material 2 is thus obviated.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Field of application of the invention] The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a Wt film magnetic head.

In particular, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head having high reliability and suitable for a head with a small gap depth in a magnetic disk device or the like.

[Background of the invention] FIG. 3 shows an example of a typical conventional thin film magnetic head.

It is shown in Figure 4. Here, FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) show the manufacturing process of the thin film magnetic head, and FIG. 3(c) shows a plan view of the tip of the head. Also, the 4th @ is shown in Figure 3 Cb
) is a perspective schematic diagram.

In FIG. 3(a), a first magnetic material 2 such as permalloy is placed on a substrate 1 (ceramic such as alumina or titanium carbide, or a ceramic substrate whose surface is covered with an inorganic material such as alumina). is formed by plating etc., and furthermore,
A gap material 3 such as alumina is formed to form a magnetic gap.

Next, in FIG. 3(h), a first flattening resin 4 such as a photoresist is applied to eliminate the level difference that has occurred at the edge of the first magnetic body 2 and to facilitate formation in a subsequent process. The surface on which the head element is formed is made substantially flat. Then, a conductor coil 5 made of copper or the like is formed on this flat surface. Furthermore, the conductor coil 5
In order to eliminate the unevenness caused by this, a second flattening resin 6 such as photoresist is formed, and a second magnetic body 7 is formed on this.

Furthermore, input/output terminals to the head (not shown) and a protective film made of alumina or the like are formed to complete the thin film head element.

In the thin film head element, in order to obtain a desired gap depth Gd, the head tip is machined together with the substrate 1, and an air bearing surface 8 facing the recording medium is formed.

A plan view of the tip of the head formed in this manner is shown in FIG. 3(c). The first flattening resin 4, which determines the gap depth, approaches the air bearing surface 8 side by ΔL between the top of the first magnetic body 2 and the other portion 10. This occurs for the following reasons.

To explain using FIG. 3(b) and FIG. 4, the difference in level caused by the first magnetic material 2 and the fact that when the flattening resin 4 that determines the gap depth is formed, the edges become slopes. , a difference of ΔL occurs between the gap depth determining point P above the magnetic body 2 at the tip of the head and the edge Q of the flattening resin 4 at the lower surface of the step caused by the magnetic body 2. ΔL is approximately determined by the angle θ of the slope of the edge of the first flattening resin 4 that determines the one-step difference and the gap depth, and ΔL = h /lan
θ. In general, h is about 1 to 2μ, the slope of the edge of the flattened resin that determines the gap depth must be smooth due to the electrical characteristics of the head, and θ is about 40 to 50 degrees.
It is set to about 100%. Therefore, ΔL is 0.8 P-
It is about 2.4 μm job. On the other hand, the gap depth Gd is approximately 3 μ■, and Gd−ΔL≧0, but with the increase in recording density, the gap depth Gd is required to be miniaturized, and its value is 1 to 2 μm. It has become necessary to finish the work to a certain degree or even less. Under this requirement, in the method described above, Gd-ΔL≦0, and the resin that determines the gap depth is exposed on the air bearing surface 8.

This may oxidize the conductor coil of the head element and cause a head crash. As a method of not exposing the resin to the air bearing surface 8, as shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 58-98821, a concave portion is formed on the substrate surface in the shape of a first magnetic material, and a concave portion is formed by the thickness of the magnetic material. The first magnetic material film is deposited on the entire surface, the surface is made flat with photoresist, etc., and then etched by ion milling etc. to the substrate surface so as not to damage this flat surface, and the first magnetic material film is A possible method is to make the surface of the substrate and the surface of the substrate the same plane. However, according to this method, photoresist is coated to a certain thickness over the entire surface of the substrate, and when the photoresist is etched by ion milling or the like, variations in the etching amount occur due to variations in the resist thickness. It is a difficult process that requires careful management.

In addition, as a method for making the surface of the first magnetic material and the surface of the substrate on the same plane, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 179927/1983 discloses that after forming the first magnetic material, an insulating layer such as alumina is coated on the entire surface. , and then polishing the surface to obtain a flat surface. However, this method does not describe the exposure of the resin to the air bearing surface, and when one surface is polished, machining strain remains in the magnetic material, which adversely affects the magnetic properties. Further, since the thickness of the magnetic material is 1itit on the air bearing surface, a high precision of 0.1 to 0.2 .mu.m is required, but it is efficient to polish it to a predetermined thickness with high precision.

Also, in JP-A-57-113410.

A method is disclosed in which an I@edge layer is formed on the side of the first magnetic body to have approximately the same thickness as the first magnetic body, and the upper magnetic body is formed to have a substantially flat surface. This method describes a technique for determining the track width using a lower magnetic material in order to obtain a highly accurate track width, but does not describe a technique for preventing the resin from being exposed to the air bearing surface.

[Object of the Invention J The object of the present invention is to solve such conventional problems, prevent the resin that determines the gap depth from being exposed to the air bearing surface, and achieve a narrow gap depth and high reliability. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head that can achieve the following objectives.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, a first
a gap material, an insulator between the magnetic material and the conductor coil, a conductor coil, and an insulator between the conductor coil and the second magnetic material, and at least a gap depth of the insulator is formed. The insulator that determines the magnetic field is made of flattened resin, then a second magnetic material is formed to complete the magnetic circuit, which is open at one end and interlinks with the conductor coil, and finally a protective film of inorganic insulator is formed. In the method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head sealed with
A mask material such as a photoresist having a predetermined shape is formed on the magnetic film, and the first magnetic film is etched using the mask material to obtain a first magnetic material. Thereafter, alumina,
Inorganic insulator AW4 such as silica is adhered to the entire surface of the substrate to a thickness greater than the thickness of the first magnetic material immediately below the position where the gear tooth depth is determined by the leading edge of the resin, and then the mask material and the top thereof are It is characterized in that it includes a step of removing the attached inorganic insulator.

[Embodiments of the invention]

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

First, the present invention will be explained in detail.

In order to obtain a thin-film magnetic head with a small gap depth, the substrate surface after the first magnetic material is formed is made into a substantially flat surface or a magnetic The idea is to make the surrounding surfaces higher than the upper surface of the body. In other words, a new method for manufacturing a Wi film magnetic head using a lift-off process is realized.

FIG. 1 is a manufacturing process diagram of a thin film magnetic head showing an embodiment of the present invention.

(1) As shown in FIG. 1(a), a first magnetic [g2
A photoresist mask 2' is formed thereon by exposure and development into a predetermined shape in order to pattern the first magnetic film.

(11) As shown in FIG. 1(b), the first magnetic film 20 is etched into a predetermined shape using a photoresist mask 2' using an ion me-link or the like to form the first magnetic body 2. Next, while leaving the photoresist mask 2', an inorganic insulating film 9 such as an alumina film (preferably made of the same material as the protective film that is adhered after completion of element formation) is applied to the entire surface to a thickness that is approximately the same as that of the first magnetic material 2. It is coated like this.

(iii) As shown in FIG. 1(c), when the photoresist mask 2' is removed using a commercially available photoresist stripping solution with the photoresist mask 2' as a liftoff,
The inorganic insulating film 9 on the photoresist mask 2' is removed.

(1v) As shown in #Cd), a gap material 3 such as alumina is formed on the entire surface. The surface on which the gap material 3 is formed is a substantially flat surface because the inorganic insulating film 9 having substantially the same thickness as the first magnetic material 2 is formed over the entire peripheral surface of the first magnetic material 2. Then, an insulating film 4 made of photoresist or the like is formed to determine the gap depth. Thereafter, the conductor coil 5 and the insulating film 6 for flattening the unevenness of the conductor coil 5
, a second magnetic body 7 is formed. Furthermore, input/output terminals to the head (not shown) and a protective film such as alumina are formed.
The thin film head element is completed.

mt diagram (e) shows a schematic view of the head tip after the air bearing surface of the above-mentioned WIIII magnetic head has been processed. Here, as described above, the flattening resin that determines the gap depth has a substantially flat surface, so it is closer to the air bearing surface than the point P that determines the gap depth on the first magnetic body 2. I never go out.

The second @ is a manufacturing process diagram of a thin film magnetic head showing another embodiment of the present invention.

Another embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

(1) As shown in FIG. 2(a), on the substrate 1, a first
A photoresist mask 2' exposed and developed in a predetermined shape is formed on the magnetic film 20, and in order to pattern the magnetic film 20.

(11) As shown in FIG. 2(b), magnetic II! 20 is etched into a predetermined shape by ion milling or the like to form the first magnetic material 2. Next, an inorganic insulating film 9 such as an alumina film is coated on the entire surface with the photoresist mask 2' remaining. It is applied so that it is thicker than the thickness of the body 2.

(m > As shown in FIG. 2(c), the photoresist mask 2' is removed using a commercially available photoresist stripper. At this time, the photoresist mask 2' becomes a peel-off, and the photoresist mask 2'
The inorganic insulating film 9 on ' is also removed.

(1v) As shown in FIG. 2(d), a gap material 3 such as alumina is formed on the entire surface. Then, a flattening resin film 4 such as photoresist is formed to determine the gap depth. After that, the conductor coil 5, the flattening insulating film 6, and the second magnetic body 7
, and further includes an input/output terminal of the head (not shown),
Preservation of alumina etc.! A film is formed to complete the thin film head element.

FIG. 2(e) shows a schematic diagram of the tip of the thin film magnetic head described above. The formation surface of the flattening resin film 4 that determines the gap depth is higher on the periphery than on the first magnetic body 2, and this flattening resin film 4 determines the gap depth on the magnetic body 2. The point P can be configured to protrude from the edge Q of the flattening resin WA4 around the magnetic body 2 toward the air bearing surface side. Therefore, the flattening resin film 4 is not exposed on the air bearing surface.

In the two embodiments described above, the insulating film (flattening resin film) under the conductor coil 5 is used as the insulating film that determines the gap depth.
4 is used, but insulation III (
A flattening resin film) 6 may also be used. In this case, the insulating film 4 does not need to be made of a planarizing resin, and may be an inorganic insulating film, but in order to smooth the slope of the insulating film that determines the gap depth, the insulating film 6 is made of a planarizing resin. , 111!
(Planarization insulating film) It is preferable to form the film so as to cover or discard the film 4.

Further, in the two embodiments described above, a photoresist mask 2' for patterning the first magnetic body 2 is used as a liftoff. Materials that can be selectively etched can be used as liftoffs without degrading their functionality. And because selective etching is possible.

Even if over-etched, the magnetic material etc. are not adversely affected, and the end point of etching can be controlled relatively easily.

In this way, according to this embodiment, the formation surface of the flattening seed jlIW4, which determines the gap depth, is a substantially flat surface.
Alternatively, by making the surface around the magnetic material higher than the first magnetic material surface, exposure of the resin film to the air bearing surface side can be prevented, and a thin film magnetic head with excellent environmental resistance and sliding resistance can be obtained. You will be able to do this.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, in order to realize the base surface of the flattened resin film that determines the gap depth on the above-mentioned surface,
Since a lift-off process is used, a thin film magnetic head can be obtained relatively easily without adversely affecting the Ta material.

[Effect of the invention J As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the resin that determines the gap depth from being exposed to the air bearing surface, and high reliability can be achieved with a narrow gap depth. A thin film magnetic head can be realized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1(a) to (d) are manufacturing process diagrams of a thin film magnetic head showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2(a) to (d) are manufacturing process diagrams of a thin film magnetic head showing another embodiment. Figure, Figure 1(e)
, FIG. 2(6) is a plan view of the tip of a magnetic head for explaining the present invention, and FIGS. 3(a) to (C) are thin m1i showing conventional examples.
FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the head end explaining a conventional example. ■=substrate, 2: first magnetic material, 3: gap material, 4: insulating film, 5: fi body, 6=insulating film, 7: second magnetic material, 8
: Air bearing surface, P: Position determining gap depth, Gd: Gap depth. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) forming a first magnetic body on a substrate, forming a gap material, an insulator between the magnetic body and the conductor coil, a conductor coil, and an insulator between the conductor coil and the second magnetic body; Among the insulators, at least the insulator that determines the gap depth is made of a flattened resin, and then a second magnetic body is formed with one end open to complete a magnetic circuit interlinked with the conductor coil, Finally, in the method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head sealed with an inorganic insulating protective film, when forming the first magnetic body, a mask material such as photoresist in a predetermined shape is formed on the first magnetic film. , the first magnetic film is etched with the mask material to obtain a first magnetic material, and then an inorganic insulating film of alumina, silica, etc. is applied to the entire surface of the substrate by sputtering or the like, and a gap depth is formed at the leading edge of the resin. A thin film magnetic head comprising the step of depositing the first magnetic material thicker than the thickness of the first magnetic material immediately below the position where the magnetic field is to be determined, and then removing the mask material and the inorganic insulator deposited thereon. manufacturing method.