JPS63127413A - Production of thin film magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the process without independently providing a plating foundation layer to reduce the cost by using a part of the conductive material of a foundation conductive layer for plating formation of a thin film coil to form an MR element. CONSTITUTION:A material film 23 for MR element formation is stuck on the first magnetic pole layer 21 with a gap layer 22 between them. A resist pattern 24 for thin film coil formation is formed on the material film 23 to form a thin film coil 25. The pattern 24 is removed by a solvent, and a resist pattern 26 for MR element formation is formed on the surface. The material film 23 is selectively removed with the pattern 26 and the thin film coil 25 at the mask to form an MR element 27, and thereafter, a head is formed by the normal method. Since the material film 23 is used to form the MR element 27 and the thin film coil 25, the production process is shortened to reduce the cost.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Summary] The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a separate write/read thin film magnetic head using a magnetoresistive element for reproduction, in which a material film forming the magnetoresistive element is attached to a thin film coil. By sharing it with the base conductive layer for plating formation, the manufacturing process can be shortened.
A thin film magnetic head with a highly accurate gap length between the tips of the magnetic poles with a magnetoresistive element interposed therebetween can be manufactured at low cost.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an improvement in a method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head used in a magnetic disk device, a magnetic tape device, etc., and particularly relates to a method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head of a separate recording/reproducing type using a magnetoresistive element for reproduction. be.

A separate recording/reproducing type thin-film magnetic head, in which a magnetoresistive element for reproduction and an inductive magnetic head for recording are integrated, has a relatively large reproduction output that does not depend on the speed of the magnetic recording medium. This head has features that are extremely advantageous for reproducing high track density recording, and in recent years, it has been expected to meet the demand for higher track densities as a head that can replace the conventional inductive thin film magnetic head for both recording and reproduction. However, the structure is complicated, the manufacturing process is long, and costs tend to be high. Therefore, there is a need for a manufacturing method that simplifies the manufacturing process, has high precision, and can be realized at low cost.

[Conventional technology]

The manufacturing method of a thin-film magnetic head of a recording/reading separation type using a conventional magnetoresistive element for reading (hereinafter abbreviated as MR element) is first carried out by
A first gap layer 2 made of SiO□ or Al2O2 is formed on a first magnetic pole 1 made of a magnetic substrate such as n-Zn ferrite, and its surface is covered with, for example, a Fe-Ni film 3 for forming an MR element. Then, a resist pattern 4 for forming an MR element is formed on the Fe-Ni film 3.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2 (bl), using the resist pattern 4 as a mask, the Fe-Ni film 3 is patterned by ion milling or the like to form an MR element 5, and a second gap layer 6 is formed on its surface. do.

After that, as shown in FIG. 2(C), the second gap N6
A base conductive layer 7 for forming a thin film coil plating made of Cu or the like is deposited thereon, a resist pattern 8 for forming a thin film coil is formed on the surface thereof, and then a thin film coil 9 is formed by a mask plating method.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2 (dl), the thin film coil forming resist pattern 8 is dissolved and removed.
The underlying conductive layer 7 that does not leave any traces of removal is removed by ion milling or the like.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2 (fe), an interlayer insulating layer 10 made of thermosetting resin is selectively formed on the thin film coil 9, and a second magnetic pole layer 11 made of Fe-Ni or the like is formed on the upper surface thereof.
After depositing and forming an insulating protective layer 12 made of Al2O2 or the like, these structures are further cut at a portion indicated by a single chain kiA, and finished by polishing.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the conventional manufacturing method as described above, since the head structure is more complicated than that of an inductive thin film magnetic head for both recording and reproduction, there is a problem that the number of manufacturing steps is longer and the process yield is lowered. In particular, when removing the unnecessary underlying conductive layer N7 by ion milling or the like after forming the thin film coil 9 by the mask plating method, the layer thickness of the second gap N6 is reduced by over-milling, and the magnetic pole l
.

There is a drawback that it is difficult to form the gap length between the tip portions of No. 11 with high accuracy.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, the present invention reduces the number of steps by simultaneously forming the MR element and the base conductive layer for forming the thin-film coil plating, and forms the gap length between the magnetic pole tips with high precision. The object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a novel thin-film magnetic head with separate recording and reproducing functions.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention uses a material film for forming an MR element, which is deposited on a first pole layer made of a magnetic substrate via a gap layer, as an underlying conductive layer for forming plating of a thin film coil. When a thin film coil is formed and the material film is patterned to form an MR element, unnecessary material film portions other than the one film coil formation region on the base conductive layer are also removed at the same time.

[Effect]

In the manufacturing method of the present invention, the material film for forming the MR element is also used as the base conductive layer for plating of the thin film coil, so that the process of forming the base conductive layer and the unnecessary base conductive layer after the thin film coil is formed. The step of removing the portion is omitted, and the number of manufacturing steps can be reduced. Furthermore, since the gap layer between the tips of the magnetic poles is not subjected to ion milling, the gap length can be formed with high precision.

〔Example〕

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

FIGS. 1A to 1D are cross-sectional views of main parts showing, in order of steps, an embodiment of a method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

First, as shown in FIG.
is formed, and a material film 23 for forming an MR element is deposited on the surface thereof.

The material film 23 is a magnetic film made of Fe-Ni or the like when the biasing method for the MR element is self-biasing, or a Fe-Ni film or the like on a bias applying conductor layer made of Ti or the like when shunt biasing is used. In the case of current bias, a composite material film in which a magnetic film such as a Fe-Ni film is bonded to a conductor layer for bias application via an insulating film made of SiO□ etc. is the target.

Subsequently, a resist pattern 24 for forming a thin film coil is formed on the surface of the material film 23. Here, if the material film 23 is the above-mentioned composite material film, the resist pattern 24
The Fe-Ni portion of the composite material film is exposed using the mask as a mask.
Alternatively, the magnetic film and the insulating film may be selectively removed by ion milling or the like to expose the bias applying conductor layer made of Ti or the like.

Then, C was applied to the surface of the material film 23 exposed by the mask plating method.
A thin film coil 25 made of u is formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1(b), the thin film coil forming resist pattern 24 is dissolved and removed, and an MR element forming resist pattern 26 is formed on its surface, and the resist pattern 26 and the thin film coil 25 are masked. Then, the material film 23 is selectively removed by ion milling or the like to form the MR element 27.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1 (C1), the resist pattern 26 is dissolved and removed, and a second gap layer 28 is formed on the surface thereof.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1(dl), a glabellar insulating layer 29 made of thermosetting resin is selectively formed on the thin film coil 25 in the same manner as in the conventional process, and a second glabella insulating layer 29 made of Fe-Ni or the like is formed on the upper surface of the thin film coil 25. After forming the magnetic pole layer 30 and the insulating protective layer 31 made of Aβ203, etc., these structures are further connected to the dashed line A.
It is completed by cutting out the area shown in and polishing it to form a medium facing part.

This simplifies the thin film coil forming process and reduces the total number of manufacturing steps.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention, there is no need to separately provide a base conductive layer for plating a thin film coil as in the conventional method, so the number of manufacturing steps can be reduced. This makes it possible to reduce manufacturing costs. In addition, since the degree to which the gap layer is exposed to ion milling during the process is reduced, the thickness deviation of the gap layer is extremely small, and in particular, the gap layer between the magnetic pole tips is not subjected to ion milling. This method has many excellent practical effects, such as being able to form the gap length with high accuracy, and is extremely advantageous when applied to the manufacture of this type of separate recording/reading type thin film magnetic head.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1(a) to 1(d) are cross-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. FIGS. 2(a) to (e) are sectional views of conventional thin film magnetic heads. 1A to 1D are cross-sectional views of main parts for explaining the method step by step. In FIGS. , 25 is a thin film coil,
27 is an MR element, 28 is a second gap layer, 29 is an interlayer insulating layer, 30 is a second magnetic pole layer, and 31 is an insulating protective layer. (d> Ji1φ〢8JIAMe=O≠→RihiTo4Shishin1fu@b
sTttt part Kano G ri 4L sea z toha'tar ν field]

Claims (1)

[Claims] Magnetoresistive elements (2) sandwiched between gap layers (22, 28) are placed on a first magnetic pole (21) made of a magnetic substrate.
7) and the thin film coil (25), the magnetoresistive element (27) is formed using a portion of the conductive material (23) formed as a base conductive layer for plating the thin film coil (25). 1. A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head, characterized by forming a thin film magnetic head.