Magnetic head slider

Details Magnetic head slider Magnetic head slider

1999-03-08

2001-11-13

Tupper, Robert S. (Department: 2652)

Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval

Fluid bearing head support

Disk record

Reexamination Certificate

active

06317293

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic head slider used for a magnetic disc unit and a manufacturing method therefor.
In recent years, the magnetic disc unit has been made compact, its performance has been highly enhanced, and its cost has been reduced. In accordance with this recent tendency, it is desired to develop a thin film magnetic head of high performance and low cost. In order to meet the demand, a horizontal magnetic head (planar magnetic head), is proposed in which a thin film pattern forming surface is arranged in parallel with a flying surface. The reason is described as follows. In the case of a horizontal magnetic head, it is easy to form flying rails having specific shapes. Therefore, it is possible to realize a magnetic head capable of flying stably close to the disc surface, and further it is easy to reduce a portion to be machined in the manufacturing process. Therefore, the cost can be lowered.
In accordance with an increasing demand for enhancing the density of magnetic recording and also in accordance with an increasing demand for reducing the sizes of the head element and the magnetic head slider, problems occur in machining and handling.
2. Description of the Related Art
For the above reasons, there has been proposed a magnetic head slider which can be manufactured without being machined. This magnetic head slider is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-81924, the title of which is “Thin film magnetic head slider and electrostatic actuator thereof”.
The above prior art will be explained below.
FIGS.
1
(
a
) to
1
(
c
) are views showing a thin film magnetic head slider of the prior art. FIG.
1
(
a
) is a perspective view of the slider
10
attached to the head suspension
30
, seen from the flying surface side. FIG.
1
(
b
) is a perspective view of the slider
10
, seen from the back (opposite side to the flying surface) thereof, before the slider
10
is attached to the head suspension
30
. FIG.
1
(
c
) is a cross-sectional view taken on line B-B′ in FIG.
1
(
b
).
A portion of the flying surface layer (air bearing surface)
11
made of SiO
2
or Al
2
O
3
protrudes onto the flying surface side of the slider
10
which is opposed to a recording medium not shown in the drawing. This protruding portion forms two flying rails
15
which extend from the inflow end
13
to the outflow end
14
with respect to the recording medium moving in the direction of arrow A. On the leading end
13
side between the two flying rails
15
, there is provided a central rail
17
. Metallic plating of Ni is conducted on the main body
12
of the slider
10
formed on the back of the flying surface layer
11
, and also metallic plating of Ni is conducted on the terminal pad section
18
shown in FIG.
1
(
b
).
The element drive mechanism section
20
(tracking mechanism) is formed in a portion between the two flying rails
15
and also between the terminal pad section
18
and the trailing end
14
. That is, the portion of the tracking mechanism section
20
is subjected to plating of Ni in the same manner as that of the main body
12
of the slider
10
.
As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG.
1
(
c
), the tracking mechanism section
20
utilizes an electrostatic attraction force. The moving piece is composed of two parallel springs
21
(only one spring is shown in the drawing) extended from the stationary section and an element mount section
22
supported at the forward end of the parallel springs
21
. The parallel springs
21
of the movable piece and the stationary piece
23
, which is opposed to the parallel springs
21
, are made of a metal such as Ni or Cu. Alternatively, the movable piece and the stationary piece are respectively provided with metallic electrodes at the portions opposed to each other. When voltage is impressed between the stationary piece electrode
23
and the movable piece electrode
21
, an attraction force is generated, so that tracking can be conducted by the attraction force.
In this connection, concerning the movable piece, only the head element
24
or the forward end
24
a
of the magnetic pole of the head element is protruded onto the recording medium (not shown) side. Therefore, the drive electrode sections
21
,
23
are separate from the recording medium. The reason is to avoid an influence of the drive section on the flying force of the slider
10
and also to avoid the attraction of dust to the head element
24
by the voltage impressed between the electrodes
21
,
23
.
FIG. 2
is a view showing another example of the electrostatic actuator of the prior art. The outer frame is composed of a stationary section
31
which is formed by means of plating of Ni. On the inner wall of the stationary section
31
, there are provided teeth
31
a
which are arranged toward the inner circumference in parallel to each other. These teeth
31
a
are formed by means of plating of Ni simultaneously when the stationary section
31
is formed. These teeth
31
a
may be fixed to the substrate, or alternatively these teeth
31
a
may be arranged in such a manner that a gap (not shown) may be formed between these teeth
31
a
and the substrate. A central portion located inside the stationary section
31
is the movable section
32
formed by means of plating of Ni simultaneously when the stationary section
31
is formed. The movable section
32
is arranged in such a manner that it can be relatively moved with respect to the stationary section
31
while a gap (not shown) is provided between the movable section
32
and the substrate. In the movable section
32
, there are provided a plurality of teeth
32
a
at positions shifted from the centers of the teeth
31
a
, which are arranged in parallel to each other in the stationary section
31
, and these teeth
32
a
are arranged in parallel to the teeth
31
a
. In the drawing, at an upper portion and a lower portion of the movable section
32
, there are provided supports
33
fixed to the substrate, and also there are provided support springs
34
, by which the movable section
32
can be moved only in the upward and downward direction in the drawing, between the supports
33
and the movable section
32
. Lead wires
35
,
36
, to be connected to terminals not shown in the drawings, are formed by means of plating of Ni at the right lower portion of the stationary section
31
and the support on the lower side.
When voltage is impressed between the two lead wires
35
,
36
, an electrostatic attraction force is generated between the teeth
31
a
of the stationary section
31
and the teeth
32
a
of the movable section
32
. The movable section
32
is attracted upward by this electrostatic attraction force and moved to a position at which the electrostatic attraction force is balanced with a restoring force of the support spring
34
. Since the attraction force is proportional to the square of an electric potential difference, the movable section
32
is moved in the same direction irrespective of the polarity.
In order to prevent the occurrence of a short circuit at the teeth
31
a
of the stationary section
31
with the teeth
32
a
of the movable section
32
when an excessively high voltage input is given, a stopper
37
is arranged in a portion of the support
33
by reducing a gap between the support
33
and the movable section
32
.
Next, referring to
FIGS. 3
to
5
, a method of manufacturing the magnetic head slider of the above conventional example disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-81924 will be explained below.
FIG. 3
is a view showing a magnetic head slider of another conventional type. However, only the shape and arrangement of the rails are different from those of the magnetic head slider shown in FIG.
1
(
a
), and the manufacturing method is the same.
FIG. 4
is a cross-sectional view taken on line C-C′ in
FIG. 3
, and FIGS.
5
(
a
) to
5
(
d
) are views showing a manufacturing process.
In
FIG. 3
, this magnetic head slider conducts reading and writi

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