JPH06243430A - Exposure method and device for bar substrate for thin-film magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the cost of the device which can more effectively utilize a substrate to be exposed by subjecting the pattern already existing on this substrate to image recognition and positioning the substrate in accordance with the recognized image. CONSTITUTION:The exposure device for the bar substrate for a thin-film magnetic head including a device for converting the image of the pattern already existing on the substrate to be exposed to an electric signal, a computer for making image analysis in accordance with the electric signal sent from this device and a driving device for moving a stage in accordance with the result thereof is provided. A CCD camera is preferably used as the device for converting the image of the pattern into electric signals. The pattern to be subjected to the image recognition may be a part of the pattern existing on the substrate and the characteristic part of the pattern is preferably used. The image data converted into electric signals by the image recognition device is processed by the computer and the position of the pattern to be exposed next is determined in accordance with the resulted data. The respective layers are exposed by the similar procedures and the multilayred substrate is obtd.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of exposing a bar substrate for a thin film magnetic head and an apparatus therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a multi-layer circuit is formed on one substrate, it is necessary to accurately determine the relative positional relationship of the circuits of each layer. When performing such positioning, conventionally,
For automatic positioning, a specific special mark such as a cross hair is purposely exposed, and the relative position of each layer is determined with reference to the mark. But,
With the recent high integration of semiconductors, it has become impossible to provide such a special space. In particular, in the case of a bar substrate for a thin film magnetic head, it is a fact that a positioning mark cannot be provided due to restrictions in the manufacturing process.

[0003]

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. That is, the present invention image-recognizes a pattern already existing on the substrate to be exposed,
An exposure method for a bar substrate for a thin-film magnetic head, which is characterized in that positioning is performed based on a recognized image. Furthermore, the present invention provides, as a preferable apparatus for carrying out the above method, an apparatus for converting an image of a pattern already existing on the substrate to be exposed into an electric signal, and an image analysis based on the electric signal sent from the apparatus. An exposure apparatus for a bar substrate for a thin-film magnetic head, which includes a computer for performing the operation, and a drive apparatus for moving the stage based on the result.

A CCD camera is preferably used as a device for converting a pattern image into an electric signal.

The image-recognized pattern may be a part of the pattern existing on the substrate, or may be any position.
It is preferable to use the characteristic part of the pattern.

The image data converted into an electric signal by the image recognition device is processed by a computer, and the position of the pattern to be exposed next is determined based on the obtained data. Hereinafter, a multilayer substrate can be obtained by exposing each layer in the same procedure.

It is necessary to previously input the pattern of each layer at the point used for positioning in the computer. Corresponding this data and the data from the image recognition device, the stage is moved by the drive device so as to be at a predetermined position, and the pattern of the next layer is exposed at an appropriate position.

According to the present invention, since it is not necessary to expose and develop the positioning marks on the substrate, the pattern can be formed on the entire substrate, and thus the substrate can be used more effectively and the degree of freedom in circuit design is increased. At the same time, the cost can be reduced.

In particular, in the case of a bar substrate for a thin film magnetic head, it is not possible to provide a particular special mark due to the limitation of the manufacturing process, and automatic positioning can be performed using an arbitrary pattern. Improvement of positioning accuracy,
Throughput can be improved.

[0010]

[Brief description of drawings]

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an apparatus according to the present invention.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of exposing a bar substrate for a thin film magnetic head, which comprises recognizing an image of a pattern already existing on a substrate to be exposed and positioning the pattern based on the recognized image. 2. An apparatus for converting an image of a pattern already existing on a substrate to be exposed into an electric signal, a computer for image analysis based on the electric signal sent from the apparatus, and a stage for moving the stage based on the result. For exposing a bar substrate for a thin-film magnetic head, including a driving device for the same.