Method of manufacturing thin film magnetic head
AssigneeTDK Corporation
InventorYoshitaka Sasaki
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head, which enables a magnetic pole portion to be formed with high precision in a short time. After forming a mask precursor pattern by patterning an alumina layer, the mask precursor pattern is subjected to an etching process of ion milling, thereby forming a first mask. The width of a portion in the first mask is narrower than the width of the minimum pattern which can be formed by a photolithography process. Consequently, by performing the etching process, the width of the portion of the first mask can be narrowed.
Claims46
A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head including first and second magnetic layers magnetically coupled to each other and having first and second magnetic poles which face each other, with a gap layer in between, in a recording-medium-facing surface to be faced with a recording medium, a thin film coil provided between the two magnetic layers, and an insulating layer for insulating the thin film coil from the two magnetic layers,
- wherein at least one step of forming the first magnetic pole and a step of forming the second magnetic pole includes:
- a step of forming a magnetic material layer;
- a step of forming a mask precursor pattern on the magnetic material layer;
- a first etching step of forming a first mask by narrowing a part of the mask precursor pattern by ion beam etching and, simultaneously, etching the magnetic material layer to a depth in an area other than an area where the first mask is formed;
- and
- a second etching step of forming at least one of the first and second magnetic poles by selectively etching the magnetic material layer by reactive ion etching with the first mask, where the first magnetic pole extends in a direction apart from the recording-medium-facing surface and defines a recording track width of the recording medium, and the first magnetic layer includes a first magnetic layer portion having the first magnetic pole and a second magnetic layer portion which covers an area of the thin film coil and is magnetically coupled to the first magnetic layer portion,
- the first mask is formed so that a plane shape thereof includes at least a portion corresponding to the first magnetic pole in the first magnetic layer portion.
A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head including first and second magnetic layers magnetically coupled to each other and having first and second magnetic poles which face each other, with a gap layer in between, in a recording-medium-facing surface to be faced with a recording medium, a thin film coil provided between the two magnetic layers, and an insulating layer for insulating the thin film coil from the two magnetic layers,
- wherein at least one of a step of forming the first magnetic pole and a step of forming the second magnetic pole includes:
- a step of forming a magnetic material layer;
- a step of forming a mask precursor pattern on the magnetic material layer;
- a first etching step of forming a first mask by narrowing a part of the mask precursor pattern by ion beam etching;
- and
- a second etching step of forming at least one of the first and second magnetic poles by selectively etching the magnetic layer by reactive ion etching with the first mask,
- where the first magnetic pole extends in a direction apart from the recording-medium-facing surface and defines a recording track width of the recording medium, and the first magnetic layer includes a first magnetic layer portion having the first magnetic pole and a second magnetic layer portion which covers an area of the thin film coil and is magnetically coupled to the first magnetic layer portion,
- the first mask is formed so that a plane shape thereof includes at least a portion corresponding to the first magnetic pole in the first magnetic layer portion.
A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head including first and second magnetic layers magnetically coupled to each other and having first and second magnetic poles which face each other, with a gap layer in between, in a recording-medium-facing surface to be faced with a recording medium, the first and second magnetic poles defining a recording track width of the recording medium, a thin film coil provided between the two magnetic layers, and an insulating layer for insulating the thin film coil from the two magnetic layers,
- wherein at least one of a step of forming the first magnetic pole and a step of forming the second magnetic pole includes:
- a step of forming a magnetic material layer;
- a step of forming a mask precursor pattern on the magnetic material layer;
- a first etching step of etching the magnetic material layer to a depth in an area other than an area where the mask precursor pattern is formed, the first etching step being performed with the mask precursor pattern as a mask by ion beam etching;
- and a second etching step of forming at least one of the first and second magnetic poles by selectively etching the magnetic material layer by reactive ion etching with the mask precursor pattern as a mask,
- where the first magnetic pole extends in a direction apart from the recording-medium-facing surface and defines a recording track width of the recording medium, and the first magnetic layer includes a first magnetic layer portion having the first magnetic pole and a second magnetic layer portion which covers an area of the thin film coil and is magnetically coupled to the first magnetic layer portion,
- the first mask is formed so that a plane shape thereof includes at least a portion corresponding to the first magnetic pole in the first magnetic layer portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.