Thermally assisted magnetic recording head inspection method and apparatus

An inspection apparatus for inspecting a thermally assisted magnetic recording head element, comprising:

• a table unit movable in a plane having a thermally assisted magnetic recording head element as a specimen mounted thereon;
• a cantilever comprising a probe on a surface for scanning a surface of the specimen mounted on the table unit;
• a vibration driving unit for vibrating the cantilever vertically with respect to the surface of the specimen:
• a displacement detecting unit for detecting vibration of the cantilever by irradiating light onto a surface of the cantilever vibrated by the vibration driving unit which is opposed to the surface of the cantilever comprising the probe and by detecting light reflected from the cantilever;
• a signal output unit for outputting a signal to generate evanescent light from a portion of light emission of evanescent light of the thermally assisted magnetic recording head element;
• a heat detecting unit for detecting heat entering to the probe of the cantilever and transferred to the cantilever out of heat generated from the portion of light emission of evanescent light of the thermally assisted magnetic recording head element by a signal output from the signal output unit;
• and
• a processing unit for processing a signal obtained by being detected by the displacement detecting unit and a signal obtained by being detected by the heat detecting unit and for inspecting a state of generation of evanescent light generated from the portion of light emission of evanescent light of the thermally assisted magnetic recording head element.

An inspection apparatus for inspecting a thermally assisted magnetic recording head element, comprising:

• a table unit movable in a plane having a thermally assisted magnetic recording head element as a specimen mounted thereon;
• a cantilever comprising a probe on a surface for scanning a surface of the specimen mounted on the table unit;
• a vibration driving unit for vibrating the cantilever vertically with respect to the surface of the specimen;
• a displacement detecting unit for detecting vibration of the cantilever by irradiating light onto a surface of the cantilever vibrated by the vibration driving unit which is opposed to the surface of the cantilever comprising the probe and by detecting light reflected from the cantilever;
• a heating unit provided to the cantilever for heating the probe;
• a temperature control unit for generating a control signal to maintain a temperature of the heating unit varying according to a difference in thermal conductivity due to a difference in material of a surface of the thermally assisted magnetic recording head element when the probe heated by the heating unit and vibrated by the vibration driving unit scans the surface of the specimen:
• and
• a processing unit for processing a signal obtained by being detected by the displacement detecting unit and a control signal generated by the temperature control unit and for inspecting a physical shape of the portion of light emission of evanescent light of the thermally assisted magnetic recording head element.

A method for inspecting a thermally assisted magnetic recording head element, comprising the steps of:

• mounting a thermally assisted magnetic recording head element as a specimen on a table movable in a plane of a scanning probe microscope device;
• moving the table in the plane while a cantilever of the scanning probe microscope device having a probe having a fine particle or a thin film of a noble metal or of an alloy containing a noble metal formed thereon is vertically vibrated in a vicinity of a surface of the specimen so that evanescent light from the fine particle or the thin film of a noble metal or of an alloy containing a noble metal formed on a surface of the probe is generated by irradiating a tip end portion of the cantilever with laser light;
• detecting scattered light of the evanescent light generated from the thermally assisted magnetic recording head element by bringing the probe generating the evanescent light into contact with or in a proximity of the thermally assisted magnetic recording head element;
• and
• inspecting an intensity distribution of the scattered light emitted from the portion of light emission of evanescent light or a surface profile of the portion of light emission of evanescent light of the thermally assisted magnetic recording head element using position information of generation of the scattered light detected.

A method for inspecting a thermally assisted magnetic recording head element, comprising the steps of:

• mounting a thermally assisted magnetic recording head element as a specimen on a table movable in a plane of a scanning probe microscope device;
• moving the table in the plane while a cantilever of the scanning probe microscope device having a probe is vertically vibrated in a vicinity of a surface of the specimen so that evanescent light from a portion of light emission of evanescent light of the thermally assisted magnetic recording head element is generated;
• detecting heat entering to the probe of the cantilever and transferred to the cantilever out of heat generated from the portion of light emission of evanescent light of the thermally assisted magnetic recording head element generating the evanescent light;
• and
• inspecting an intensity distribution of the scattered light emitted from the portion of light emission of evanescent light or a surface profile of the portion of light emission of evanescent light of the thermally assisted magnetic recording head element using information on the detected heat and position information of the table.

A method for inspecting a thermally assisted magnetic recording head element, comprising the steps of:

• mounting a thermally assisted magnetic recording head element as a specimen on a table movable in a plane of a scanning probe microscope device;
• scanning a surface of the specimen with a probe by moving the table in the plane while the probe is vertically vibrated in a vicinity of the surface of the specimen as a cantilever of the scanning probe microscope device having the probe is heated up to control the probe at a constant temperature by heating;
• and
• inspecting a physical shape of the portion of light emission of evanescent light of the thermally assisted magnetic recording head element using a control signal to maintain a temperature of the probe varying according to a difference in thermal conductivity due to a difference in material of a surface of the thermally assisted magnetic recording head element when the surface of the specimen is scanned by the heated probe, and position information of the table.