JPS62146419A - Production of thin film magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve resolving power and to relieve saturation magnetization so as to improve conversion efficiency by providing two stages of magnetic films by sputtering and electroplating and simultaneously etching these films to form the 2nd magnetic core. CONSTITUTION:The 1st magnetic films 3, 4 are formed by sputtering of 'Permalloy(R)' on a substrate 1 to form the 1st magnetic core. The 1st stage of the 2nd magnetic film 8 is deposited by sputtering thereon and the 2nd stage of the 2nd magnetic film 9 is precisely formed by electroplating thereon. These films are simultaneously dry etched, then the core part which is thicker in a rear part B than a magnetic gap part A and does not include an intermediate nonmagnetic layer is formed. The resolving power during reading is improved and the magnetization saturation during recording is relieved by using such head. The conversion efficiency of the head is thus improved.

Description

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

In particular, the present invention relates to a method of forming a magnetic core that improves conversion efficiency.

[Background of the invention]

When manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, first, a lower magnetic body (lower magnetic pole) which is a lower core is formed on a substrate that also serves as a slider via a lower protective film, a gap material is formed on it, and then a An organic resin film is layered on top of the insulator to form an insulator, and a planar spiral conductor coil is formed on top of the insulator. For the upper core, an organic resin film is further covered on the conductor coil to form an insulating layer, a magnetic material is formed on the insulating layer, and a protective film is further formed on top of the magnetic material. Finally, the opposing ends of the upper and lower cores are polished to a predetermined gap depth to complete the thin film magnetic head.

A typical configuration of a thin film magnetic head is 1, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1983-1999.
It is described in Publication No. 84020. Also, JP-A-55
Publication No. 84019 states that in such a thin film magnetic head, in order to increase the resolution during reading, alleviate the magnetization saturation during recording, and increase the conversion efficiency of the magnetic head, it is necessary to It is stated that it is necessary to change the film thickness on the surface side, that is, the magnetic gap part and the rear part connected to this, and make the rear part of each magnetic core thicker than the magnetic gap part to create a two-stage structure. has been done.

As methods for forming the magnetic core, electroplating, left-forming (electroplating), vacuum evaporation, and sputtering are generally used. In the electroplating method, as shown in FIG. 5, (a) a thin layer of permalloy is first deposited on the entire surface of the substrate, (b) a mold for the magnetic core is formed using photoresist 14 on top of the permalloy, and then (C ) Electroplating is performed thereon to form the film 15. (d) Remove the photoresist 14 by etching, (6) further remove one current-carrying film 13, and (f) remove the photoresist 16 as shown in the figure.
(g) removing unnecessary portions by wet etching, and (h) removing photoresist portion 16 to complete the process. In addition, in the vacuum evaporation method, as shown in Figure 6, a substrate 17 is placed in a vacuum, a permalloy material is placed on a heater made of tantalum, tungsten, 5 molybdenum, etc., and the permalloy is evaporated by the Joule heat of the heater. , is deposited on the substrate and formed to a predetermined thickness, (b) after forming a vapor deposition layer 18 thereon, (c) a photoresist 19 is placed on a predetermined portion, and (, () wet or dry etching is performed. In the sputtering method, as shown in Figure 6, permalloy is thinly applied on the substrate, and the facing permalloy target material is irradiated with heavy charged particles such as Ar+ ions. By doing so, the particles ejected from the Targetera 1 material are deposited on the substrate of the opposing sample.The time for deposition is measured to estimate the thickness of the Permalloy on the substrate.

The electroplating method has the advantage that the shape of the magnetic material described above can be easily produced. However, for example, JP-A-55-
As described in No. 82793, in order to form a magnetic thin film with a highly uniform component ratio on an object having undulations, the plating conditions must be strictly controlled. There is. Furthermore, although the manufacturing process of a thin film magnetic head involves multiple heating processes, it has been found that magnetic thin films formed by electroplating have a problem in that their magnetic properties tend to deteriorate during heating.

On the other hand, according to the vacuum evaporation method or sputtering method,
Although it has the advantage of being able to form a magnetic thin film with a uniform component ratio on an object with undulations, it degrades the accuracy of the thickness of the magnetic thin film or magnetic gap film when producing the two-stage magnetic core. There is a problem.

For these problems, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-104
No. 717 discloses that the magnetic core has a 2M structure and an inorganic insulating film is provided in the middle.

It is described that the above-mentioned two-stage magnetic core can be realized using a magnetic thin film formed by a vacuum evaporation method or a sputtering method. However, the problem of deterioration of the recording characteristics of the magnetic head due to the provision of a nonmagnetic inorganic insulating film within the magnetic core remains unsolved.

[Purpose of the invention]

The purpose of the present invention is to improve these conventional problems, improve resolution during reading, alleviate magnetization saturation during recording, and provide a method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head having a structure that increases the conversion efficiency of the magnetic head. It is about providing.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, a method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention includes a first magnetic core, a second magnetic core formed after forming a conductor coil on the first magnetic core, and a second magnetic core formed after forming a conductor coil on the first magnetic core. a second magnetic core and a magnetic gap portion formed at one end facing each other, wherein the second magnetic core is attached to a film at a rear portion coupled to the magnetic gap portion. A method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head having a two-tiered structure with a large thickness includes: a first magnetic film deposited by vacuum evaporation or sputtering on the magnetic gap portion; and electroplating on the first magnetic film. It is characterized in that the second magnetic core is formed by etching the second magnetic film deposited by the method in one go to form the second magnetic core. Explain.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a thin film magnetic head showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the thin film magnetic head at the time of forming the upper magnetic core in FIG. 1, taken along line c-c'. 3 is a perspective view of FIG. 2(a), and FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the magnetic film etching process.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a substrate that also serves as a slider, 2 is a lower protective film, 3 is a first magnetic film (magnetic core) with a two-stage structure, and 4
5 is a first magnetic film (magnetic core) with a two-stage structure, 5 is a magnetic gap film, and 6 is an interlayer insulating film.

7 is a conductor coil, and 8 is a second magnetic film (magnetic core).

9 is a second magnetic film (magnetic core). Further, A is a magnetic gap portion, and B is a rear side portion. Also.

In FIG. 2, numeral 10 is a photoresist, and otherwise the same symbols as in FIG. 1 represent the same materials.

In FIG. 3, 11 is a photoresist, and other symbols that are the same as in FIG. 1 represent the same materials.

An important step of the present invention is to use a vacuum evaporation method or a sputtering method and an electroplating method to deposit the magnetic films constituting the second magnetic cores 8 and 9. It is known that magnetic films deposited by vacuum evaporation or sputtering have a uniform component ratio over the entire surface of an uneven object. Useful. However, in the vacuum evaporation method or the sputtering method, a film is generally deposited over the entire surface of the substrate, and film deposition and highly accurate patterning cannot be performed simultaneously.

On the other hand, in the 5 electroplating method, plating conditions must be strictly controlled in order to deposit a magnetic film with a uniform component ratio over the entire surface of an uneven object, but film deposition and high-precision patterning are required. It is possible to do both at the same time.

In this example, by using the advantages of the above two magnetic film formation methods, first, a first magnetic film having a uniform component ratio is deposited on the entire surface of the substrate by sputtering etc., and then on the entire surface except for the magnetic gap portion. A second magnetic film is formed as a current-conducting film for the first magnetic film. After this.

The first and second magnetic films are etched all at once, and the rear portion B, which is bonded to the magnetic gap portion, is etched into the magnetic gap portion A.
Realizes a two-stage magnetic core with a larger film thickness.

Next, the manufacturing process of this example will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, alumina, which will serve as a base film, is formed on a substrate 1 by sputtering.

Next, permalloy is deposited by sputtering to form the lower protective film 2, and a pattern is formed by dry etching such as ion milling or sputter etching.
A first magnetic film 3 is formed.

Next, in the same manner as the magnetic film 3, a second-stage first magnetic film 4 is formed so as to completely cover the magnetic film 3, and the first magnetic film 4 is formed so that the rear part B is thicker than the magnetic gap part A. Form a magnetic core. Next, a magnetic gap film 5 is formed and one interlayer insulating film 6 is formed.
．． The conductor coil 7 is sequentially formed, and the interlayer insulating film 6 is etched to obtain a predetermined shape.

Next, after depositing the magnetic film 8 by sputtering, the steps shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) are carried out only for the opposing magnetic gap portions on the medium surface. As shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b), a photoresist pattern 10 is formed at a predetermined distance in front of the position that will become the medium facing surface so as to cover the magnetic gap portion A, and a magnetic film is formed by electroplating. Deposit 9. In this case, the edge shape of the photoresist pattern 10 is made into an inverted tapered shape (thereby, the edge of the magnetic film 9 can be tapered, and disturbance of the magnetic domains in the second magnetic core can be prevented. can.

In the plan view of FIG. 2(a), 6 is a glabellar insulating film pattern, and a portion 4 surrounded by a broken line is a portion where the first magnetic core is formed.

As shown in FIG. 3, the photoresist pattern 10 is provided to cover the magnetic gap portion A from a position a predetermined distance behind the tapered portion of the interlayer insulating film pattern 6, that is, the position that will become the medium facing surface.

Therefore, when cutting along the c-c' plane, the cross-sectional view is the second
As shown in step (b), the first and second magnetic films 4.8 are overlapped with the gap film 5 in between, and a photoresist pattern 10 is formed thereon. In addition, in Figure 3,
6 is an interlayer insulating film pattern, 7 is a coil lead wire, 10 is a photoresist, and 12 is a contact hole for connecting the coil.

As shown in FIG. 2(b), a photoresist pattern 10 is formed, a magnetic film 9 is deposited by electroplating, and then the photoresist pattern 10 is removed.

The shape is as shown in FIG. 4(a) and FIG. 7(a).

Note that FIG. 4 is a sectional view, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the same portion. Next, as shown in FIG. 4(b) and FIG. 7(b), only the magnetic gap portion has a narrower track width than the first magnetic film 4, and the rear portion has a narrower track width than the first magnetic film 4. After forming the photoresist pattern 11 so as to have the same range as , the magnetic film 8 and the magnetic film 9 are dry-etched at once to form a second magnetic core. At this time, since the magnetic film 9 is not deposited in the magnetic gap portion A, it is possible to etch away the unnecessary portions of the magnetic gap film 5 and the magnetic film 4, thereby removing the first magnetic core and the second magnetic core. The track widths of the magnetic cores can be made almost equal.

In this way, in this example, two completely different methods, sputtering (or vapor deposition) and electroplating, are used to deposit the magnetic film 8°9, which increases the equipment cost, but is technically Since the process is very similar to the conventional process, it can be easily realized. According to this embodiment, there is no need to provide an inorganic insulating film with a slow etching rate between the magnetic films in the upper magnetic core, and therefore, there is no deterioration of the magnetic properties.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to form a magnetic core in which the rear portion has a shape that is thicker than the magnetic gap portion and does not include a nonmagnetic layer in the middle, so that the resolution during reading can be improved. At the same time, it is possible to manufacture a thin film magnetic head having a structure that can alleviate magnetization saturation during recording and improve conversion efficiency.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The first is a longitudinal sectional view of a thin film magnetic head showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view and a sectional view of the thin film magnetic head at the time of forming the upper magnetic core in FIG. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the magnetic film etching process in the magnetic gap portion showing one embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the fitting method, and Fig. 6 is vapor deposition. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of FIG. 4. 4: First magnetic film, 5: Magnetic gap film, 7: Coil lead-out line, 8: Second magnetic film, 9: Second magnetic film at second stage, 10, 11: Photoresist, 12: Coil connection Layer contact hole, A: magnetic gap part, B: rear part. Figure 1 (8) 2nd 1
Figure 3 Cow Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A first magnetic core, a second magnetic core formed after forming a conductor coil on the first magnetic core, and the second magnetic core and the first magnetic core face each other. and a magnetic gap portion formed at one end of the thin film magnetic head, the second magnetic core having a two-step structure with a thicker film thickness at the rear portion coupled to the magnetic gap portion than the second magnetic core. , a first layer deposited by vacuum evaporation or sputtering on the magnetic gap portion.
and a second magnetic film deposited by electroplating on the first magnetic film are collectively etched to form the second magnetic core. manufacturing method.