JPH09134506A - Method for manufacturing thin-film magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

Kind Code: A1 The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head, in which a nonmagnetic metal layer having a predetermined thickness is formed on a gap layer on a lower magnetic pole of the thin film magnetic head. When the required number of layers has been formed by repeating the formation of coil layers and the removal of unnecessary portions, the non-magnetic metal layer is just removed, and the gap layer thickness variation and Apex angle variation are reduced. The purpose is to create a thin film magnetic head. Al ₂ is formed on a lower magnetic pole layer formed on a substrate.
A gap layer is formed with O ₃ , a nonmagnetic metal layer is formed on the gap layer, and then a coil is formed on the underlayer to remove an unnecessary underlayer by ion irradiation and expose it at this time. By removing a part of the non-magnetic metal layer for the coil layers, the non-magnetic metal layer is just removed or the gap layer is slightly removed to form the upper magnetic pole layer and manufacture the thin film magnetic head. I have to.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head which has good gap layer thickness and dimensional accuracy of Apex angle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 3, when a thin film magnetic head is manufactured, a gap layer such as resin is formed on a lower magnetic pole, and a coil layer and an insulating layer are formed on the gap layer. A plurality of layers are stacked and an upper magnetic pole layer is formed from the uppermost part to form a thin film magnetic head. When forming this coil layer, apply resin on the underlayer, expose it to the shape of the coil, develop it to make holes, and pass an electric current between the underlayer and the underlayer through the coiled part. After plating the coil layer,
The underlying layer is removed by an ion mill to form a coil. When this unnecessary underlayer is removed by an ion mill, the exposed portion of the gap layer is slightly removed from above.
For this reason, the exposed part of the gap layer is repeatedly removed by the number of times according to the number of coil layers, and thus the gap layer is made thicker in advance.

[0003]

As described above, when the thin film magnetic head is manufactured as shown in FIG. 3 of the related art, the exposed portion of the gap layer formed on the lower magnetic pole forms the coil layer. When the unnecessary underlayer is removed with an ion mill only several times, it will be removed and thinned at the same time,
Since a hole is sometimes formed, it is necessary to form a thick gap layer at the beginning in anticipation of the amount to be removed, which causes a large variation in the dimension of the gap layer and further changes the Apex angle. The variation becomes large,
There is a problem that stable dimension control cannot be performed.

[0004] The present invention solves these problems,
When a nonmagnetic metal layer having a predetermined thickness is formed on the gap layer on the lower magnetic pole of the thin-film magnetic head, and the required number of layers is formed by repeatedly forming the coil layer and removing unnecessary portions on the nonmagnetic metal layer. The non-magnetic metal layer is just removed, the upper magnetic pole layer is formed on the non-magnetic metal layer, and the thin-film magnetic head with good accuracy is manufactured with a small gap layer thickness variation and a small Apex angle variation. There is.

[0005]

Means for solving the problem will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, the lower magnetic pole 3 is a lower magnetic pole forming a thin film magnetic head.

The gap layer 4 is for providing a predetermined gap between the lower magnetic pole 3 and the upper magnetic pole. The nonmagnetic metal layer 5 is formed on the gap layer 4 to prevent the gap layer 4 and the like from being removed by ion etching.

Next, the manufacturing method will be described. Forming a gap layer 4 with Al ₂ O ₃ formed on the lower magnetic pole layer 3 formed on the substrate, after forming the nonmagnetic metal layer 5 on the gap layer 4, the coil is formed on the formation of the underlying layer The unnecessary underlayer is removed by ion irradiation and the part of the nonmagnetic metal layer 5 exposed at this time is repeated for the coil layers to remove just the nonmagnetic metal layer 5 or slightly remove the gap layer. The upper magnetic pole layer is formed from above to manufacture a thin film magnetic head.

At this time, the thickness of the non-magnetic metal layer 5 is set so that it is just removed or the gap layer 4 is slightly removed when the unnecessary underlayer is repeatedly removed by ion irradiation. There is.

Therefore, a nonmagnetic metal layer 5 having a predetermined thickness is formed on the gap layer 4 on the lower magnetic pole 3 of the thin film magnetic head, an underlayer is formed on the nonmagnetic metal layer 5, and a coil is formed thereon. By repeating the removal of the unnecessary underlayer by ion irradiation, the nonmagnetic metal layer 5 is removed exactly when the required number of coil layers is formed, and the top pole layer can be formed on the nonmagnetic metal layer 5. It is possible to produce a thin-film magnetic head with good accuracy in which the thickness variation of No. 4 and the Apex angle variation are small.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments and operations of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows an explanatory view of an embodiment of the present invention.
Detailed description will be made in the order of (a) to (j) of FIG. FIG.
(A) shows a state in which the lower magnetic pole is formed. this is,
The lower magnetic pole 3 is formed on the substrate as shown in the drawing. For example, the resin is applied on the substrate, and the lower magnetic pole 3 is exposed and developed in the shape of the lower magnetic pole 3 with a mask. After the portion is magnetically plated, the resin is removed and the lower magnetic pole 3 is formed as shown in the figure.

FIG. 1B shows Al ₂ O ₃ on the lower magnetic pole.
2 shows a state in which the gap layer is formed. In this, the gap layer 4 is formed by non-magnetic material Al ₂ O ₃ to have a predetermined thickness by ion sputtering or the like.

FIG. 1C shows a state in which a nonmagnetic metal layer is formed on the illustrated portion of the gap layer. This non-magnetic metal layer 5 is a portion of the yoke portion and the pole portion forming the lower magnetic pole 3 which will be a gap layer between the upper magnetic pole (see FIG. Called the pole section)
It is formed in a slightly wider area than. The formation method is, for example, by coating a resin, exposing a portion where the non-magnetic metal layer 5 is to be formed with a mask, and then developing it to form a hole, and in the hole portion, a predetermined thickness of the non-magnetic metal film 5 (for example, TiC) is formed. Sa (about 14
00 Å) is formed, and then the resin is removed.

FIG. 1D shows a state in which the first insulating layer is formed. This is the Apex in the state of FIG.
A first insulating layer 6 to be a forming layer is formed as shown.
FIG. 1E shows a state in which the first coil is formed on the first insulating layer. The first coil 7 is formed by forming a base layer 71 for plating on the first insulating layer 6 and applying a resin, exposing the shape of the first coil with a mask, and then developing the coil. A hole corresponding to the hole is opened, and a current is passed between the hole and the underlying layer 71 to form a metal film (eg, Cu) on the hole, and then the resin is removed. Next, the unnecessary underlying layer 71 is removed by ion sputtering with an ion mill, and the exposed portion of the nonmagnetic metal layer 5 is slightly removed at this time to form the illustrated first coil 7.

FIG. 1 (f) shows a second coil over the first coil.
The state in which the insulating layer is formed is shown. This is shown in FIG.
In this state, the second insulating layer 8 is formed as shown in the figure. FIG. 1G shows a state in which the second coil is formed on the second insulating layer. This second coil 9 is shown in FIG.
The first coil 7 is formed in the same manner as the first coil 7.

FIG. 1H shows a third coil on the second coil.
The state in which the insulating layer is formed is shown. This is (g) in FIG.
In this state, the third insulating layer 10 is formed as illustrated.
FIG. 1I shows a state in which a third coil is formed on the third insulating layer. The third coil 11 is formed in the same manner as the first coil shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 (j) is an enlarged view of the main part of FIG. 1 (i). Here, the Apex angle is an illustrated angle from the gap layer 4 to an upper magnetic pole (not shown) that faces the lower magnetic pole 3, as illustrated.

As described above, the nonmagnetic metal layer 5 is formed on the gap layer 4 in the region shown in (c-1) of FIG.
(D) to (i) of FIG.
Underlayer 7 used during plating when forming 9 and 11
When removing 1, 91, 111 by ion sputtering such as an ion mill, the nonmagnetic metal layer 5 is slightly removed at the same time, and when the coil formation is completed, the nonmagnetic metal layer 5 is just removed or the gap layer 4 thereunder is removed. By forming the thickness of the non-magnetic metal layer 5 to a thickness such that it can be slightly removed by experiments and forming it in the stage of FIG. 1C, the coil of FIG. 1I is formed. The non-magnetic metal tank 5 is removed at the time of completing the step, and the thickness and shape of the gap layer 4 can be maintained with the accuracy of substantially the original dimension.
It has become possible to manufacture the Apex angle with a desired value with little variation.

FIG. 2 shows an explanatory diagram of the present invention. this is,
As described above, the base layer 71 formed under the coil by ion sputtering such as an ion mill when forming the coil,
The non-magnetic metal layer 5 is also formed when the 91 and 111 are removed.
1 is gradually removed (etched). In the example of FIG. 1, since the coil has three layers, it is gradually removed in three steps, and is completely removed at the end of the third coil formation. Is. As described above, the thickness of the non-magnetic metal layer 5 is experimentally determined to be a thickness at which the complete removal of the coil or the slight removal of the gap layer 4 is completed at the end of the third coil formation. Is formed at the stage of FIG. 1 (c).

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A non-magnetic metal layer 5 having a predetermined thickness is formed on the gap layer 4 on the lower magnetic pole 3 of the thin-film magnetic head, an underlying layer is formed on the non-magnetic metal layer 5, and a coil is formed on the underlying layer. Since the non-magnetic metal layer 5 is removed or the gap layer 4 is slightly removed when the necessary coil is formed by repeatedly removing the formation, the variation in the thickness of the gap layer 4 can be reduced. It is possible to manufacture a thin film magnetic head with good accuracy and a small variation in Apex angle.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3: Lower magnetic pole 4: Gap layer 5: Nonmagnetic metal layer 6: Insulating layer (first) 7: Coil (first) 71, 91, 111: Underlayer 8: Insulating layer (second) 9: Coil (first) 2) 10: Insulating layer (third) 11: Coil (third)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An Al ₂ O ₃ film is formed on a lower magnetic pole layer formed on a substrate.
To form a gap layer, a nonmagnetic metal layer is formed on the gap layer at a portion corresponding to the pole portion of the lower magnetic pole layer, and then a coil is formed on the underlayer to form an unnecessary underlayer. Removal by irradiation and removal of a part of the nonmagnetic metal layer exposed at this time are repeated for the layers of the coil, and the nonmagnetic metal layer is just removed or the gap layer is slightly removed. A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head, in which a layer is formed to manufacture a thin film magnetic head. 2. The thickness of the non-magnetic metal layer is set so that it is just removed or the gap layer is slightly removed when the unnecessary underlayer is repeatedly removed by ion irradiation. The method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head according to claim 1.