US 2014/0092716 A1Published application

Method and apparatus for inspecting thermal assist type magnetic head

AssigneeHitachi High-Technologies Corporation

InventorsNaoya SAITO, Shinji HONMA, Teruaki TOKUTOMI, Yoshinori KITANO

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Abstract

An apparatus for inspecting a thermal assist type magnetic head is configured to include a scanning probe microscope unit comprising a cantilever having a probe with a magnetic film formed on the surface of a tip portion thereof; a prober unit which provides an alternating current to a terminal formed on the thermal assist type magnetic head element; a scattered light detection unit which detects scattered light generated from the probe; and a signal process unit which detects defect by using an output signal from the scanning probe microscope unit by scanning the surface of the thermal assist type magnetic head element with the probe in a state that the magnetic field is generated and the near-field light is stopped, and an output signal from the scattered light detection unit by scanning the surface with the probe while near-field light is generated and the magnetic field is off.

Claims10

Dependent claims

An apparatus for inspecting a thermal assist type magnetic head, comprising:

a scanning probe microscope unit comprising X and Y tables on which a thermal assist type magnetic head element is to be mounted and being movable in an XY plane, and a cantilever having a probe with a magnetic film formed on a surface of a tip portion thereof;
a prober unit which supplies an alternating current to a terminal formed on the thermal assist type magnetic head element mounted on the X and Y tables, and applies a pulse drive current or pulse drive voltage to a near-field light emitting part formed on the thermal assist type magnetic head element;
an imaging unit which picks up images of the prober unit and the thermal assist type magnetic head element;
an image display unit which displays the images of the prober unit and the thermal assist type magnetic head element taken by the imaging unit;
a scattered light detection unit having a light detector which detects scattered light generated from the probe of the cantilever when the probe is present in a generation region of near-field light generated from near-field light emitting part formed on the thermal assist type magnetic head element;
and
a signal processing unit which processes an output signal from the scanning probe microscope unit and an output signal from the scattered light detection unit to inspect the thermal assist type magnetic head element, the scanning probe microscope unit outputs the signal by, in a state that the application of the pulse drive current or pulse drive voltage in the near-field light emitting part from the prober unit is stopped and providing an alternating current to the terminal of the thermal assist type magnetic head element to generate a magnetic field on the surface thereof, scanning the surface of the thermal assist type magnetic head element with the probe of the cantilever, and the scattered light detection unit outputs the signal by scanning the probe of the cantilever on the surface of the thermal assist type magnetic head element while generating near-field light from the near-field light emitting part by applying the pulse drive current or pulse drive voltage to the near-field light emitting part from the prober unit in a state that the supply of an alternating current to the terminal is stopped.

4 more elements

A method for inspecting a thermal assist type magnetic head, comprising the steps of:

mounting a thermal assist type magnetic head element on X and Y tables of a scanning probe microscope, the scanning probe microscope comprising a cantilever and the X and Y tables, the cantilever having a probe in a tip portion thereof, the probe having a magnetic film formed on the surface thereof, the X and Y table being movable in an XY plane,
providing an alternating current to a terminal formed on the thermal assist type magnetic head element mounted on the X and Y tables to generate a magnetic field in the thermal assist type magnetic head element;
in a state that the magnetic field is generated in the thermal assist type magnetic head element, determining the distribution of the magnetic field generated by scanning the surface of the thermal assist type magnetic head element with the probe of the cantilever of the scanning probe microscope;
applying a pulse drive current or a pulse drive voltage to the near-field light emitting part formed on the thermal assist type magnetic head element mounted on the X and Y tables to generate near-field light from the near-field light emitting part;
in a state that near-field light is generated from the near-field light emitting part, scanning the surface of the thermal assist type magnetic head element with the probe of the cantilever of the scanning probe microscope to condense and detect scattered light generated from the probe with an objective lens in the generation region of the near-field light;
determining the light emission region and distribution of the near-field light from this scattered light detected;
and
judging the quality of the thermal assist type magnetic head based on the information of the determined distribution of the magnetic field and the determined light emission region and distribution of the near-field light.

5 more elements

A method for inspecting a thermal assist type magnetic head, comprising the steps of:

mounting a thermal assist type magnetic head element on X and Y tables of a scanning probe microscope, the scanning probe microscope comprising a cantilever and the X and Y tables, the cantilever having a probe in a tip portion thereof, the probe having a magnetic film formed on the surface thereof, the X and Y table being movable in an XY plane;
in a state that the application of a pulse drive current or a pulse drive voltage to a near-field light emitting part formed on the thermal assist type magnetic head element mounted on the X and Y tables is stopped, applying an alternating current to a terminal formed on the thermal assist type magnetic head element and scanning the surface of the thermal assist type magnetic head element in a first direction with the probe of the cantilever of the scanning probe microscope while generating a magnetic field in the thermal assist type magnetic head element to determine the distribution of the magnetic field generated;
in a state that application of an alternating current to the terminal formed on the thermal assist type magnetic head element mounted on the X and Y tables is stopped, applying a pulse drive current or pulse drive voltage to the near-field light emitting part, and scanning the surface of the thermal assist type magnetic head element in a second direction opposite to the first direction with the probe of the cantilever of the scanning probe microscope while generating near-field light from the near-field light emitting part to condense and detect scattered light generated from the probe with an objective lens in the generation region of the near-field light, and determining a light emission region and distribution of the near-field light from the detected scattered light, and
judging the quality of the thermal assist type magnetic head based on information of the determined distribution of the magnetic field and the determined light emission region and distribution of the near-field light.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.