JPH05159236A - Thin-film magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the thin-film magnetic head which enables the adjustment of a pole width after pole formation, does not require masks meeting the respective pole widths and has excellent durability. CONSTITUTION:A thin-film magnetic conversion element 2 has the pole parts 211, 231 appearing on substantially the same plane as the plane of air bearing surfaces 103, 104. A slider 1 has recessed parts 51, 52 provided to verge on the transverse ends on the pole parts 211, 231 on the air bearing surfaces 103, 104. The recessed parts 51, 52 are embedded by nonmagnetic packing materials 61, 62.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thin film magnetic head in which a thin film magnetic conversion element is provided on one end side of a slider in the medium outflow direction, and more particularly to a novel pole structure of the thin film magnetic head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The basic structure of a thin film magnetic head is, for example, US Pat. The structure has a thin film magnetic conversion element on the side. The thin film magnetic conversion element, for example, in a thin film magnetic head for in-plane recording / reproduction, has a lower pole portion and an upper pole portion that face each other with a gap film interposed therebetween.
The tip surfaces of the gap film and the upper pole portion appear on the same plane as the air bearing surface, and constitute the conversion gap. The pole width of the thin film magnetic head is determined by the overlap between the lower pole portion and the upper pole portion.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional thin film magnetic head, the pole width due to the overlapping of the lower pole portion and the upper pole portion constitutes the lower magnetic film and the upper pole portion which constitute the lower pole portion. It is determined by the patterning when forming the upper magnetic film by lithography and cannot be changed later. Therefore, if the pole width is not within the predetermined value, the pole width is defective and the yield is reduced.

Also, each time the required pole width is different,
A pattern mask must be prepared accordingly. Therefore, the cost is increased, and the yield improvement is limited.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and to adjust the pole width after the pole is formed,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a thin film magnetic head which does not require a mask corresponding to each pole width and has excellent durability.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a slider having an air bearing surface,
A thin-film magnetic head including a thin-film magnetic conversion element provided on one end side of the slider in the medium outflow direction, wherein the thin-film magnetic conversion element has a pole portion that appears on the same plane as the air bearing surface. The slider has a concave portion provided on the air bearing surface so as to cover an end portion in the width direction of the pole portion, and the concave portion is filled with a non-magnetic filling. Characterize.

[0007]

Since the air bearing surface has the concave portion provided so as to cover the end portion in the width direction of the pole portion, the pole width can be adjusted depending on the position of the concave portion, for example, narrowing for high density recording. Etc. can be easily realized.

The concave portion can be formed, for example, in the final step after the pole portion is formed. Therefore, even if a patterning error occurs due to photolithography, the pole width can be set to a predetermined value and the yield can be improved by selecting and adjusting the position and width of the recess.

Even when the required pole width is different, it is possible to set the pole width to a predetermined value by patterning using one mask and then adjusting the position and width of the recess. Therefore, a mask corresponding to each pole width is not required, the pole can be formed with one mask, the cost is low, and the yield is improved.

Moreover, since the recess is filled with the non-magnetic filling material, sliding dust does not accumulate in the recess during the magnetic recording / reproducing operation with the magnetic disk. Therefore, the durability in the read / write operation is improved.

In the following embodiments, the present invention is applied to the in-plane recording / reproducing thin film magnetic head, but it can also be applied to the perpendicular recording / reproducing thin film magnetic head.

[0012]

1 is a perspective view of a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a pole portion viewed from the air bearing surface side, FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a thin film magnetic conversion element portion, and FIG.
Is an enlarged sectional view of the same. The slider 1 is made of a ceramic structure, and two rail portions 101 and 102 are provided on the medium facing surface side at a distance from each other, and the rail portions 101 and 102 are provided.
Air bearing surface 10 having a high degree of flatness
3 and 104, the thin-film magnetic conversion element 2 is provided at one or both ends of the rails 101 and 102 in the air outflow direction a.

The thin film magnetic conversion element 2 has a lower magnetic film 21.
And an upper magnetic film 23 that forms a magnetic circuit together with the lower magnetic film 21, and a lower pole that is formed as a part of the lower magnetic film 21 and the upper magnetic film 23 so that its tip end surface appears on the air bearing surfaces 103 and 104. Section 211 and upper pole section 231, lower pole section 211 and upper pole section 2
Gap film 22 made of alumina or the like provided between 31
And have. The lower magnetic film 21 and the upper magnetic film 23 are made of permalloy or the like, and the rear part of the yoke part 212 continuous with the lower pole part 211 and the rear part of the yoke part 232 continuous with the upper pole part 231 mutually form a magnetic circuit. Are combined. The coil 24 is formed in a spiral shape around the joint. Reference numerals 251 to 253 denote organic inter-membrane insulating films, 27 and 28 lead electrodes that conduct to both ends of the coil 24, and 31 and 32 lead electrodes.

The slider 1 includes an air bearing surface 103,
104 has recesses 51 and 52 provided so as to cover the ends of the pole portions 211 and 231 in the width direction. Recess 5
Either one of 1 and 52 may be omitted. The recessed portions 51, 52 shown in the drawing are arranged so that the air bearing surfaces 103, 104 are applied to both ends of the pole portions 211, 231 in the width direction.
Is a groove provided at a distance W1 in a direction intersecting with the medium outflow direction a and having a width W2 and extending substantially parallel to the medium outflow direction a. Interval W1 is lower pole part 211
And the upper pole portion 231 are defined to overlap with each other, and thus the effective pole width (track width) is obtained. Since the pole width W1 is adjusted by the positions and widths of the recesses 51 and 52, the pole width W1 can be easily narrowed to accommodate high density recording.

The depth d1 of the recesses 51 and 52 is set to be substantially the same as or slightly larger than the throat height TH of the upper pole portion 231 (see FIG. 4).
Such recesses 51 and 52 can be formed by means of combined use of a mask and ion milling, or focused ion milling.

The recesses 51 and 52 are non-magnetic fillers 61 and 62.
Buried by. For the non-magnetic fillers 61 and 62, a metal oxide-based non-magnetic material such as Al ₂ O ₃ or SiO ₂ is suitable. Therefore, even in the magnetic disk device using the CSS (contact, start, stop) method, sliding dust does not accumulate in the recesses 51 and 52 that define the pole width during the read / write operation. Therefore, the durability is increased.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing still another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the recesses 51 and 52 are formed in a step shape with openings on three sides. The nonmagnetic fillers 61 and 62 are filled so as to fill the recesses 51 and 52.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing still another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention. Recesses 51, 5
2 is the same as the embodiment of FIG. 5 in that it is formed in a step shape with three sides open, but the bottom surfaces of the recesses 51, 52 are continuous with the base surface supporting the rail portions 101, 102. The difference is that. The non-magnetic fillers 61 and 62 are recesses 51,
It is filled so as to fill 52. According to this embodiment, the recesses 51,
Since 52 can be processed, the effect of shortening the processing process can be obtained.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing still another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention. In the slider 5 made of a magnetic material, the air bearing surface 105 on the medium facing surface side is a flat surface without a rail portion. Thin film magnetic conversion element 2
There is only one, and the recesses 51 and 52 are provided in the air bearing surface 105 so as to cover the end portions in the width direction of the pole portions 211 and 231 that form this one thin film magnetic conversion element 2. , 52 are filled with non-magnetic fillers 61, 62.

FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of still another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention. The thin film magnetic conversion element 2 is arranged at a substantially middle portion in the width direction of the slider 1. The extraction electrodes 27 and 28 are arranged side by side in the width direction of the slider 1. The slider 1 has two recessed portions 51 and 52 provided at one end side where the thin film magnetic conversion element 2 is provided and spaced from each other in a direction intersecting the medium outflow direction a of the air bearing surface 105. Recesses 51, 52
Are filled with non-magnetic fillers 61, 62.
According to the embodiments of FIGS. 7 and 8, a small thin film magnetic head suitable for high density recording and high speed access can be realized.

FIG. 9 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing still another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention, and FIG. 10 is a view for explaining the operation thereof. The slider 1 has a pole portion 21.
In addition to the recesses 51 and 52 that define the pole width W1 of the first and the second poles 23, another recess 53 is provided so as to cover the end of the upper pole 231 opposite to the gap film 22.
The concave portion 53, together with the concave portions 51 and 52, includes the non-magnetic filling material 60.
Buried by. The bottom surface of the recess 53 is the recess 51,
The bottom surfaces of 52 may be aligned. Further, the concave portion 53 may be an inclined surface instead of the step shape. Such a recess 53
Can be formed by the same means as the recesses 51 and 52. Referring to FIG. 10, the upper pole portion 23 having the recess 53 is provided.
The first end face P11 includes a first end face P11 and a second end face P12. The second end face P12 is on the side opposite to the direction in which the conversion gap G is present, and the amount of receding d from the first end face P11.
Hold 2 and retreat in steps.

With the structure as described above, the tip thickness of the pole end face which is dominant in the magnetic field distribution is the first end face P1.
1 is reduced to a value determined by the tip thickness T11. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, the gradient of the magnetic field strength on the medium outflow end side that determines the magnetization distribution on the medium M becomes steep, and the magnetic field distribution L0 is sharpened. Further, the reproduced waveform is sharpened, the PW50 value is reduced, undershoot in the reproduced waveform is suppressed, and high density recording becomes possible.

FIG. 11 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing still another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention, and FIG. 12 is a view for explaining the operation thereof. The slider 1 includes concave portions 51 and 52 that define a pole width W1 of the pole portion, and an upper pole portion 2
In addition to the recess 53 provided so as to cover the end portion of the lower pole portion 211 opposite to the gap film 22, the recess portion 54 provided so as to cover the end portion of the lower pole portion 211 opposite the gap film 22 is provided. Have. Lower pole portion 21 provided with a recess 54
The first end face is composed of a third end face P21 and a fourth end face P22. The nonmagnetic filler 60 is filled so as to continuously fill the recesses 51 to 54. Fourth end face P2
2 is on the side opposite to the direction in which the conversion gap G is present, and retreats in a stepwise manner from the third end face P21 with a retreat amount d3.

In the case of this embodiment, since the function of the recess 54 is added to the function of the recess 53, the magnetic field distribution is sharpened and the magnetic field strength on the medium outflow end side where the magnetization distribution on the medium is determined. The slope becomes steeper, the reproduced waveform is sharpened from the conventional waveform L1 to the waveform L2 as shown in FIG. 12, the PW50 value becomes small, and high density recording becomes possible. Moreover, the undershoots L11 and L12 that have been generated in the conventional reproduction waveform L1 are suppressed.

Although illustration is omitted, it goes without saying that there are many modified examples in which the respective embodiments are appropriately combined.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (A) Since the air bearing surface has a concave portion provided so as to cover the end portion in the width direction of the pole portion, the pole width is adjusted depending on the position of the concave portion, for example, a narrow width for high density recording. It is possible to provide a thin-film magnetic head that can easily cope with such changes. (B) Since the concave portion can be formed after forming the pole portion, even if a patterning error occurs in the pole portion, the pole width is set to a predetermined value by selecting and adjusting the position and width of the concave portion. A thin film magnetic head capable of improving the yield can be provided. (C) Even if the required pole width is different, patterning can be performed using one mask and then the pole width can be set to a predetermined value by adjusting the position and width of the concave portion. It is possible to provide a thin film magnetic head with low cost and high yield because the pole can be formed with one mask without the need for a mask. (D) Since the recess is filled with the non-magnetic filling material, it is possible to provide a thin-film magnetic head with improved durability by avoiding the accumulation of sliding dust in the recess.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a pole portion of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention viewed from the air bearing surface side.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a magnetic conversion element portion of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing another embodiment of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a view for explaining the operation of the thin film magnetic head according to the present invention shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 slider 2 magnetic conversion element 21 lower magnetic film 211 lower pole part 22 gap film 23 upper magnetic film 231 upper pole part 24 coil 103, 104, 105 air bearing surface 51, 52 recess 60, 61, 62 non-magnetic filler

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Kazumasa Fukuda 1-13-1 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo TDC Corporation

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A slider having an air bearing surface,
A thin-film magnetic head including a thin-film magnetic conversion element provided on one end side of the slider in the medium outflow direction, wherein the thin-film magnetic conversion element includes a pole portion that appears on the same plane as the air bearing surface. The slider has a concave portion provided on the air bearing surface so as to cover an end portion in the width direction of the pole portion, and the concave portion is filled with a non-magnetic filler. Characteristic thin film magnetic head. 2. The pole portion includes a lower pole portion and an upper pole portion that are opposed to each other with a gap film interposed therebetween, and the recess is provided so as to extend over end portions of the lower pole portion and the upper pole portion. The thin film magnetic head according to claim 1, wherein 3. The thin-film magnetic head according to claim 1, wherein the recess is provided so as to cover both ends in the width direction of the pole portion. 4. The thin-film magnetic head according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the recess reaches an outer end surface in the medium outflow direction. 5. The slider according to claim 2, wherein the air bearing surface has another recessed portion provided at an end portion of the upper pole portion opposite to the gap film. 3. The thin film magnetic head as described in 3 or 4. 6. The slider according to claim 2, wherein the air bearing surface has another recessed portion provided on an end of the lower pole portion opposite to the gap film. The thin film magnetic head as described in 3, 4, or 5.