Method of manufacturing ultra small track width thin film transducers

A method of making a thin film magnetic transducer, comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of first thin film conductor leads on a nonmagnetic, electrically insulating substrate;
• providing a first thin film layer of a non-magnetic, electrically insulating material extending over said first conductor leads;
• providing a second thin film layer of a magnetic material extending over said first layer said second layer having a thickness defining a track width of said transducers;
• etching said second layer by a focused ion beam to obtain two coplanar confronting magnetic poles defining a transducing gap therebetween, said transducing gap having a predetermined length and depth;
• providing a third thin film layer of a non-magnetic, electrically insulating material extending over said second layer and filling said transducing gap;
• and
• providing a plurality of second thin film conductor leads and connecting said first and second conductor leads to complete a transducer winding.

A method of making a thin film multitrack magnetic transducer assembly having a plurality of thin film magnetic transducers, wherein a method of manufacturing each transducer comprises the steps of:

• providing a plurality of first thin film conductor leads on a nonmagnetic, electrically insulating substrate;
• providing a first thin film layer of a non-magnetic, electrically insulating material extending over said first conductor leads;
• providing a second thin film layer of a magnetic material extending over said first layer said second layer having a thickness defining a track width of said transducers;
• etching said second layer by a focused ion beam to obtain two coplanar confronting magnetic poles defining a transducing gap therebetween, said transducing gap having a predetermined length and depth;
• providing a third thin film layer of a non-magnetic, electrically insulating material, extending over said second layer and filling said transducing gap;
• providing a plurality of second thin film conductor leads on said third layer and connecting said first and second conductor leads to complete a transducer winding;
• providing a fourth thin film layer of a non-magnetic, electrically insulating material, extending over said second conductor leads to obtain a thin film magnetic transducer;
• and
• superposing and integrally joining together a plurality of said thin film transducers with their respective transducing gaps aligned, to obtain a thin film multitrack magnetic transducer assembly.

A method of providing a thin film rotary scan magnetic transducer assembly having at least two thin film transducers spaced along a periphery of a disk shaped substrate, comprising the steps of:

• providing a disk shaped substrate of a non-magnetic material;
• depositing a layer of magnetic material in the form of spaced transducer cores on said substrate, said layer having a thickness defining a track width of said transducers;
• etching said layer of magnetic material of each said core by a focused ion beam to obtain two coplanar confronting magnetic poles defining a transducing gap therebetween, said transducing gap having a predetermined length and depth;
• and
• depositing a layer of non-magnetic material over said layer of magnetic material to fill the transducing gaps.