Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Storage or retrieval by simultaneous application of diverse... – Magnetic field and light beam
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-23
2003-10-14
Dinh, Tan (Department: 2653)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Storage or retrieval by simultaneous application of diverse...
Magnetic field and light beam
C369S013330
Reexamination Certificate
active
06633513
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 99-23946, filed Jun. 24, 1999 in the Korean Industrial Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magneto-optical head for magneto-optical reading and writing systems, with improved structure associated with a field modulation coil and installation of a miniature objective lens, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Magneto-optical reading and writing systems write information onto magneto-optical recording media by magnetic field modulation, and read written information from the media in an optical manner.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, a common magneto-optical reading and writing system is shown. The magneto-optical reading and writing system includes a swing arm
21
mounted to enable it to pivot relative to a base
10
, an actuator
23
for providing a rotary driving force to the swing arm
21
, an air-bearing slider
25
, attached at one end of the swing arm
21
, which flies over a magneto-optical recording medium
1
by hydrodynamics to scan tracks thereof, and a magneto-optical head
30
mounted at the slider
25
to read information optically from the magneto-optical recording medium
1
. The magneto-optical head
30
includes an objective lens
31
for focusing a light spot onto the magneto-optical recording medium
1
, and coils (not shown) for magnetic field modulation.
Referring to
FIGS. 2 and 3
, the conventional magneto-optical head
30
of a magneto-optical reading and writing system includes: the objective lens
31
, which is installed on the slider
25
, for focusing incident laser light onto the magneto-optical recording medium
1
; a pair of magnetic pole pieces
33
and
35
mounted parallel to and on respective sides of the slider
25
, and also mounted between the objective lens
31
and the surface of the magneto-optical recording medium
1
; and first and second coils
37
and
39
are wound around the magnetic pole pieces
33
and
35
, respectively. The magnetic pole pieces
33
and
35
are separated from one another, allowing laser light focused by the objective lens
31
to pass through the gap therebetween. The first and second coils
37
and
39
establish horizontal magnetic fields, the orientation of which varies according to the direction of current flowing through the coils
37
and
39
, which enables the magneto-optical head
30
to write information onto the magneto-optical recording medium
1
.
As previously described, the conventional magneto-optical head
30
has the construction in which the first and second coils
37
and
39
are wound around the magnetic pole pieces
33
and
35
mounted below the objective lens
31
in a horizontal direction. Due to the structure, there are limitations in miniaturizing the magneto-optical head
30
, which limits the recording density and performance of near-field recording. In addition, winding the first and second coils
37
and
39
around the magnetic pole pieces
33
and
35
, respectively, is ineffective in terms of assembling characteristics, costs and yields, thereby making mass production thereof difficult.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a magneto-optical head for magneto-optical reading and writing systems and a method of manufacturing the same, in which a thin film type microcoil for field modulation is formed in a semiconductor fabrication process, so that the magneto-optical head can be miniaturized with improved performance of near-field recording.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a magneto-optical head for magneto-optical reading and writing systems and a method of manufacturing the same which simplifies the assembling of miniature coils to lower costs and increases yields to enable mass production of the magneto-optical reading and writing systems.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a magneto-optical head for a magneto-optical writing and reading system capable of writing information on a magneto-optical recording medium by field modulation and optically reading information from the magneto-optical recording medium, the magneto-optical head being mounted at the end of a slide-arm movable over the magneto-optical recording medium by hydrodynamics, the magneto-optical head comprising: a lens mounted at the end of the slide-arm, for focusing incident light to form a light spot on the magneto-optical recording medium; a coil member including at least two stacked coil layers, and an insulating layer interposed between the two coil layers for electrically insulating the two coil layers from one another, the two stacked coil layers being planar coils with a spiral structure and having electrical contacts for electrical connection therebetween; and a connection member interposed between the lens and the coil member, for connecting the coil member to one side of the lens, facing the magneto-optical recording medium, and for electrically connecting the coil layers to an external power supply.
Preferably, the connection member is solder bumps formed projecting from the uppermost coil layer of the coil member, with a conductive material for electrical connection to the external power supply, the solder bumps adhering to the lens by thermal melting. Preferably, the solder bumps are formed of at least one metal alloy selected from the group consisting of a tin-lead (Sn—Pb) alloy, a silver-tin-lead (Ag—Sn—Pb) alloy and a gold-tin (Au—Sn) alloy.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a magneto-optical head for a magneto-optical writing and reading system capable of writing information on a magneto-optical recording medium by magnetic field modulation and optically reading information from the magneto-optical recording medium, the magneto-optical head being mounted at the end of a slide-arm movable over the magneto-optical recording medium by hydrodynamics, the method comprising: forming a sacrificial layer over a substrate; forming a coil member over the sacrificial layer, the coil member including at least two coil layers and at least one insulating layer; patterning the coil member and the sacrificial layer to form a through hole; forming a plating mold pattern over the uppermost coil layer of the coil member, and plating solder into the plating mold pattern to form solder bumps; preparing a lens having an emitting portion projecting a predetermined length toward the magneto-optical recording medium, the lens for focusing incident light to form a light spot on the magneto-optical recording layer, and coating a metal thin film having a predetermined pattern on the bottom surface of the lens, except on the emitting portion, to form a conductive reflective layer; inserting the emitting portion into the through hole to place the lens on the solder bumps, and heating the assembly to melt the solder bumps and adhere the lens to the coil member; and removing the sacrificial layer to separate the combined lens and coil member from the substrate.
Preferably, forming the coil member comprises: forming a seed layer pattern for plating over the sacrificial layer; depositing a mold over the seed layer pattern to a predetermined thickness, and patterning the mold layer to form a plating mold pattern; plating a metal into the plating mold pattern to form a coil layer having a predetermined thickness; forming an insulating layer over the plating mold pattern and the coil layer; and repeating one or more times the formation of the seed layer, formation of the plating mold pattern, formation of the coil layer and formation of the insulating layer in sequence, to form a
Kim Woon-bae
Lee Byoung-chan
Lee Sang-hun
Shin Hyung-gae
Shin Jong-woo
Dinh Tan
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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