JP2002025010A - Magnetic element, thin-film magnetic head, and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] A non-aluminum film having lower hardness, lower stress, uniform film quality, shorter process time and less high-temperature treatment than a film mainly composed of alumina formed by a conventional sputtering method. Provided are a magnetic element or a thin-film magnetic head including a magnetic separation film, a magnetic gap film, a flattening film, and a protective film made of a magnetic material in a device configuration, and a method of manufacturing the same. Kind Code: A1 A magnetic separation film, a protection film, or a planarization film made of a non-magnetic material has residual silanol groups and S
A method of manufacturing a magnetic element or a magnetic head, and a method of manufacturing a magnetic head, comprising using a negative pattern forming material containing at least a resin containing an i-O bond and a compound that generates an acid upon irradiation or heating with actinic radiation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thin-film magnetic head used for recording / reproduction of a magnetic disk drive and the like, and a method of manufacturing the same. Further, the present invention relates to a magnetic element represented by a magnetic random access memory (MRAM) and the like, a magnetic micro element represented by a thin film inductor and the like, and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Currently, a magnetic disk drive used for recording and reproducing information of a computer or the like mainly includes a recording / reproducing separation type head in which recording is performed by an inductive thin film head and reproduction is performed by a magnetoresistive head. It is used for FIG. 1 shows the structure of a typical recording / reproducing separation type head. In FIG. 1, an inductive thin-film head for recording includes upper and lower magnetic cores 1, a magnetic gap film indicated by 2, a conductor coil of 3,
And an insulating film for insulating the conductor coil and the magnetic core. Depending on the shape of the upper magnetic core, a flattening film such as 5 may be formed below the insulating film. The magnetoresistive head for reproduction uses a magnetoresistive effect in which electric resistance changes depending on an external magnetic field, and includes a magnetoresistive film, a magnetic domain control film, and electrodes as shown in FIG. It consists of a magnetoresistive element, upper and lower shield layers (7 and 8 in FIG. 1) for blocking unnecessary magnetic fields, and an insulating film (9 in FIG. 1) for insulating the element from the shield. In the above-mentioned separate read / write head, the lower magnetic core of the write head may also serve as the upper shield of the read head. When the lower magnetic core of the recording head and the upper shield of the reproducing head are separately provided, a magnetic separation film shown by 10 in FIG. 1 exists between the layers made of these magnetic materials.
Further, in the recording / reproducing separation type head, a protective film as shown by 11 in FIG. 1 exists above the induction type head for recording.

The magnetic separation film, magnetic gap film, flattening film, and protective film are made of a non-magnetic material, and are mainly made of an Al2O3 (alumina) film or a S
An iO2 (silicon oxide) film and a mixed film thereof are often used. When a silicon oxide film is formed by sputtering, its adhesion to a base film is poor, and it is difficult to use the silicon oxide film alone. Therefore, an alumina film or a mixed film of alumina and silicon oxide is often used for a magnetic separation film, a magnetic gap film, a flattening film, a protective film, and the like.

[0004] Similarly, a thermally crosslinkable photoresist is used as an electrical insulating film made of a non-magnetic material as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-235016.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-28631 discloses an example of a thin-film magnetic head using a ladder-type silicone resin as an insulating film.

[0005]

In a magnetic head, as a magnetic separation film, a magnetic gap film, a flattening film, a protective film, etc. made of a non-magnetic material, an alumina film formed by the sputtering method as described above, or A mixed film of alumina and silicon oxide is used. However, a film containing alumina as a main component is a magnetic core or a magnetoresistive film of a magnetoresistive element,
Permalloy film (NiFe film) constituting the shield film
There is a problem that is very hard compared to. For example, 7
8Ni5Mo17Fe permalloy film has a Vickers hardness (Hv), which is a kind of hardness notation, and is expressed as Hv120.
(Kgmm-2). Hv is on the order of 100 to 200 even if the element composition ratio of the permalloy film is slightly changed. In contrast, alumina is about Hv2000 (kgm
m-2), which is harder than the permalloy film. Therefore, for example, when cutting the air bearing surface of the recording / reproducing separation type head, the magnetic separation film and the protective film made of the alumina film are harder to be cut than the permalloy film, while the permalloy film softer than the alumina film is cut. Processing steps are likely to occur.

The alumina film has a Young's modulus of about 4 * 10
Permalloy's Young's modulus is about 2 * 10/11 (N / m2), while $ 11 (N / m2). For this reason, it is considered that the alumina film generally has a higher stress than the permalloy film. The large stress can be one of the factors of the output fluctuation in the recording / reproducing separation type head.

Recently, trimming of a magnetic core has been performed to narrow a track, and it has been required to form an insulating film on a high step portion. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to form a uniform insulating film by a sputtering method.

The alumina film and the mixed film of silicon oxide and alumina are formed by the sputtering method as described above. Since the sputtering method grows a film in a vacuum chamber, when a film thickness of about several microns is required, there is also a problem that the process takes a long time.

In addition, various processes including sputtering used for manufacturing a magnetic element are often performed under high temperature conditions. It is considered that the complicated thermal history accumulated in the manufacturing process is one of the factors of the change in the characteristics of the magnetic element represented by the change in magnetostriction and thermal stress.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a film having a lower hardness, a lower stress, a uniform film quality, a shorter process time, and a higher temperature treatment during the process than a film containing alumina as a main component formed by a conventional sputtering method. It is another object of the present invention to provide a magnetic element including a magnetic separation film, a magnetic gap film, a flattening film, and a protective film made of a non-magnetic material which is unnecessary, a thin film magnetic head, and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0011]

An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic element having at least one magnetic separation film, or an upper and lower thin film magnetic core, a magnetic gap film, a conductor coil and a conductive coil formed on a substrate. In a thin-film magnetic head having an insulating film for electrically insulating an upper and lower thin-film magnetic core and a coil, residual silanol is added to a magnetic separation film, a magnetic gap film, a protective film, or a flattening film made of a non-magnetic material. This can be achieved by using a resin containing a group and a Si—O bond, and a negative pattern-forming material containing at least a compound that generates an acid by irradiation with actinic radiation or heating.

Also, a thin-film magnetic head having upper and lower thin-film magnetic cores formed on a substrate, a magnetic gap film, a conductor coil, and an insulating film for electrically insulating the upper and lower thin-film magnetic cores and coils from each other. A negative separation pattern containing at least a resin containing a residual silanol group and a Si—O bond and a compound that generates an acid upon irradiation or heating with actinic radiation, on a magnetic separation film or a protective film or a planarization film composed of a nonmagnetic material. A thin-film magnetic head is characterized by using a forming material.

In the above-mentioned thin film magnetic head, a magnetic separation film formed of a negative type pattern forming material has a magnetic gap for magnetically separating an upper and lower thin film magnetic core and a lower thin film magnetic core formed on a substrate. A thin film magnetic head characterized by being a film. In the above-mentioned thin-film magnetic head, a protective film formed of a negative-type pattern forming material is a protective film of an upper thin-film magnetic core formed on a substrate. In the thin film magnetic head, the flattening film formed of the negative pattern forming material is used for forming a coil or forming an insulating film in a thin film magnetic head having an upper or lower thin film magnetic core divided into two or more structures. A thin-film magnetic head characterized in that it is a flattened film. In the thin-film magnetic head, the magnetic separation film formed of the negative-type pattern forming material magnetically separates the read element-side magnetic core of the write element and the write element-side shield of the read element in the read / write separation type thin-film magnetic head. A thin film magnetic head characterized in that it is a magnetic gap film.

It is preferable to use a resin represented by the general formula (1) as a resin containing a residual silanol group and a Si—O bond in the negative pattern forming material.

[0015]

Embedded image

(Wherein R1, R2, and R3 are an aliphatic functional group such as a hydrogen atom, a hydroxyl group, an alkyl group, or an alkoxy group, or an aromatic functional group such as a phenyl group.
1, R2 and R3 may be the same or different. Also,
n is a positive integer. Also, as the resin containing the residual silanol group and the Si—O bond in the negative pattern forming material, the resin represented by the general formula (2) can be used.

[0017]

Embedded image

(Wherein R4, R5, R6, and R7 are an aliphatic functional group such as a hydrogen atom, a hydroxyl group, an alkyl group, or an alkoxy group, or an aromatic functional group such as a phenyl group. R4, R5 , R6, and R7 may be the same or different, and n is a positive integer.) As a compound that generates an acid by irradiation with active actinic radiation or heating in the negative pattern forming material, an onium salt or a sulfonic acid A thin-film magnetic head using an ester compound or a halogen compound. The formation of the magnetic separation film, the protective film or the flattening film in the thin-film magnetic head is performed by the residual silanol group and Si—O
A step of forming a coating by spin-coating a negative pattern-forming material containing at least a compound containing a bond and a compound that generates an acid upon irradiation or heating with actinic radiation on a substrate, a pre-bake step for removing a coating solvent, and the coating Forming a predetermined pattern latent image by irradiating the substrate with actinic radiation, baking after irradiation, and developing a negative type predetermined pattern using an organic solvent or an aqueous alkali solution. Manufacturing method. In this manufacturing method, the wavelength of the active radiation is 250
A method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, characterized in that far-ultraviolet light of nm or less is used. Alternatively, a method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head is characterized in that KrF excimer laser light having a wavelength of 248 nm is used as the actinic radiation. Alternatively, a method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head is characterized in that ArF excimer laser light having a wavelength of 193 nm is used as the actinic radiation. Alternatively, a method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head is characterized in that an electron beam is used as the actinic radiation.

In the method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, the irradiation of the actinic radiation is performed through a phase shift mask having a predetermined pattern. Further, in the thin-film magnetic head, the formation of a magnetic separation film, a protective film, or a flattening film may include:
A step of spin-coating a resin containing a residual silanol group and a Si-O bond and a negative pattern-forming material containing at least a compound that generates an acid upon irradiation or heating with actinic radiation on a substrate to form a coating film, and heating the coating film; And curing the coating film.

The resin represented by the general formula (3) can be used as the resin containing the above-mentioned residual silanol group and Si—O bond.

[0021]

Embedded image

(Wherein R8, R9 and R10 are hydrogen atoms,
It is an aliphatic functional group such as a hydroxyl group, an alkyl group or an alkoxy group, or an aromatic functional group such as a phenyl group.
R8, R9, and R10 may be the same or different. Further, n is a positive integer. Also, as the resin containing a residual silanol group and a Si—O bond, a resin represented by the general formula (4) can be used.

[0023]

Embedded image

(Where R11, R12, R13, R14
Is an aliphatic functional group such as a hydrogen atom, a hydroxyl group, an alkyl group, or an alkoxy group, or an aromatic functional group such as a phenyl group. R11, R12, R13, and R14 may be the same or different. Further, n is a positive integer. Examples of the compound that generates an acid by the above-mentioned actinic radiation include various diazonium salts, various onium salts, esters of a compound containing a plurality of phenolic hydroxyl groups with alkylsulfonic acid, and various halogen compounds. Examples of the counter anion of the salt in the present invention include Lewis acids such as tetrafluoroboric acid, hexafluoroantimonic acid, trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, trifluoroacetic acid, and toluenesulfonic acid. It is also possible to use compounds other than those described above that generate an acid upon irradiation with active actinic radiation.

A negative pattern forming material containing at least a resin containing a residual silanol group and a Si—O bond and a compound generating an acid upon irradiation or heating with active actinic radiation can be used as a magnetic separation film for a thin film magnetic head, a magnetic gap, film,
It can be applied to a protective film and a flattening film. As a method for obtaining these films, a manufacturing method including the following steps can be used. On the film formed on the substrate or the film patterned in a predetermined shape, after the solution of the above-mentioned negative pattern forming material is dropped and spin-coated, pre-baking is performed to remove the coating solvent, and the obtained is obtained. Irradiate the actinic radiation to the coated film to form a predetermined pattern latent image,
After baking after irradiation, development is performed using an organic solvent or an alkaline aqueous solution, whereby a magnetic separation film, a protective film, or a planarization film having a predetermined shape can be obtained. At this time, the pre-bake temperature is preferably between 70 and 120 degrees, and the post-irradiation bake temperature is preferably between 100 and 200 degrees.

The active actinic radiation to be irradiated at the time of pattern formation includes electron beams, X-rays, ultraviolet rays, and far ultraviolet rays. As the ultraviolet light source, a KrF excimer laser having a wavelength of 248 nm can be used. Far ultraviolet light with a wavelength of 200 nm or less
A deuterium lamp, SOR light, an ArF excimer laser having a wavelength of 193 nm, or the like can be used as a light source. It is also possible to use other vacuum ultraviolet light sources.

As a developing solution after irradiation with actinic radiation, it is possible to use a 2.38% by weight aqueous solution of tetramethylammonium hydroxide. Further, an organic solvent such as methanol can be used as the developer. A mixed solvent of methanol and an aqueous solution of tetramethylammonium hydroxide can also be used.

It is also possible to form a magnetic separation film, a protective film, or a planarizing film by spin-coating the above-mentioned negative pattern forming material on a substrate and then heating and curing the material. Instead of heating, it is also possible to obtain a desired film by performing photo-curing by batch exposure of white light from a mercury lamp.

[0029]

Next, the present invention will be described more specifically. The present invention is not limited by these examples.

(Example 1) Magnetic separation layer 1-butanol was selected as a solvent, and a resin represented by the general formula (5) was used.

[0031]

Embedded image

(Where R15, R16, R17, R18
Is an aliphatic functional group such as a hydrogen atom, a hydroxyl group, an alkyl group, or an alkoxy group, or an aromatic functional group such as a phenyl group. R15, R16, R17, and R18 may be the same or different. Further, n is a positive integer. ): 100 parts by weight and 5 parts by weight of triphenylsulfonium triflate as a compound capable of generating an acid with respect to actinic radiation were mixed at a ratio of 5 parts by weight to obtain a solution of a negative pattern forming material having a solid concentration of about 12% by weight. . In the manufacturing process of the so-called piggyback type recording / reproducing separation type head in which the lower magnetic core of the recording head and the upper shield of the reproducing head are different, the upper shield layer of the reproducing head formed on an alumina titanium carbide substrate is formed. Then, a solution having the above-described composition was dropped and spin-coated, and then pre-baked at 80 ° C. for 5 minutes to obtain a coating film having a thickness of 400 nm. This substrate was irradiated with KrF excimer laser light having a wavelength of 248 nm through a mask, and heat-treated at 80 ° C. for 5 minutes. Next, the substrate was developed using a 2.38% by weight aqueous solution of tetramethylammonium hydroxide, and rinsed with pure water. As a result, a good negative resist pattern was obtained at an exposure amount of 30 mJ / cm2 or more. This negative resist pattern was further heat-treated at 150 ° C. for 20 minutes. As a result, a magnetic separation film could be formed on the upper shield layer of the read head using a simple process.

Example 2 In place of the resin used in Example 1, a resin represented by the general formula (6)

[0034]

Embedded image

(Wherein R19, R20 and R21 are an aliphatic functional group such as a hydrogen atom, a hydroxyl group, an alkyl group and an alkoxy group, or an aromatic functional group such as a phenyl group. R19, R20 and R21. May be the same or different, and n is a positive integer.) And triphenylsulfonium triflate, a compound that generates an acid upon actinic radiation, are mixed with methanol to form a solution of the negative pattern forming material. Obtained. In the production process of the recording head, this solution was spin-coated on the lower magnetic core layer made of a magnetic material formed on the substrate, and prebaked at 80 ° C. for 5 minutes to obtain a coating film having a thickness of 150 nm. This substrate has a wavelength of 248
A KrF excimer laser beam of nm was irradiated through a mask and heat-treated at 80 ° C. for 5 minutes. Next, the substrate was soaked in methanol for development, and then dried. As a result, a good negative resist pattern was obtained at an exposure amount of 30 mJ / cm2 or more. This negative resist pattern is further
Heat treated at 0 ° C. for 20 minutes. As a result, a magnetic gap film could be formed in a desired shape on the lower core layer of the recording head by using a simple process.

Example 3 A solution of the negative pattern forming material used in Example 1 or Example 2 was spin-coated on a film made of a magnetic material formed on a substrate,
After pre-baking for minutes, a KrF excimer laser beam having a wavelength of 248 nm was irradiated through a mask, heat-treated at 80 ° C. for 5 minutes, and developed to obtain a good negative resist pattern. This negative resist pattern is further added to 150
By performing the heat treatment at 20 ° C. for 20 minutes, a flattening film having a desired shape could be formed on the magnetic material layer using a simple process.

(Example 4) The Young's modulus of the film formed by the method of Examples 1 to 3 was measured to be about 0.8 * 10 ＾ 1.
1 (N / m2) and the Young's modulus of the alumina film is about 4 * 1
A value smaller than 0 ＾ 11 (N / m2) was obtained. As a result, the stress can be reduced as compared with the conventional magnetic head using a film mainly composed of alumina for the magnetic separation film, the magnetic gap film, the protective film, and the like, and as a result, a magnetic head with small output fluctuation can be obtained. did it.

(Embodiment 5) The flying surface of a recording / reproducing separation type head including at least the film formed by the method of Embodiment 1 or 2 was cut. As a result, a magnetic head having a smaller processing step than a conventional magnetic head using a film containing alumina as a main component for a magnetic separation film, a magnetic gap film, a protective film, and the like was obtained.

In the above, the recording / reproducing separation type magnetic head has been described in detail as an example.
Even if the present invention is applied to a magnetic element such as a RAM) or a thin film inductor, the effect of the present invention is not essentially changed.

[0040]

According to the present invention, the magnetic element or the magnetic head is softer than the conventional alumina film,
A magnetic separation film, a magnetic gap film, or a flattening film having a small stress, a uniform film quality, a short process time, and no high-temperature treatment can be formed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a side view of a read / write separated magnetic head.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Upper and lower magnetic core 2 Magnetic gap film 3 Conductor coil 4 Insulating film 5 Flattening film 6 Magnetoresistive film 7 Upper shield layer 8 Lower shield layer 9 Insulating film 10 Magnetic separation film 11 Protective film.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G11C 11/14 G11C 11/14 A F term (Reference) 2H025 AA04 AA20 AB20 AC01 AC08 AD01 BE00 CB33 CB41 FA17 5D033 BA21 BA42 BA62 DA02 DA09 DA31

Claims (4)

[Claims] A magnetic separation film, a protection film or a flattening film made of a non-magnetic material, wherein the magnetic separation film, the protection film or the flattening film has a residual silanol group and a Si—O bond. A magnetic element using a negative pattern forming material containing at least a resin containing the compound and a compound that generates an acid upon irradiation with active actinic radiation or heating. 2. A thin-film magnetic head having upper and lower thin-film magnetic cores formed on a substrate, a magnetic gap film, a conductor coil, and an insulating film for electrically insulating the upper and lower thin-film magnetic cores and coils from each other. A thin-film magnetic head, wherein the magnetic gap film includes a negative pattern forming material containing at least a resin containing a residual silal group and a Si—O bond and a compound that generates an acid by irradiation with active radiation or heating. 3. An upper and lower thin-film magnetic core formed on a substrate, a magnetic gap film, a conductor coil, an insulating film for electrically insulating the upper and lower thin-film magnetic cores and the coil, and the upper thin-film magnetic core. Wherein the protective film of the upper thin-film magnetic core comprises a resin containing a residual silanol group and a Si—O bond and a compound that generates an acid upon irradiation or heating with actinic radiation. A thin film magnetic head comprising a forming material. 4. A thin-film magnetic head having an upper and lower thin-film magnetic core formed on a substrate, a magnetic gap film, a conductor coil, and an insulating film for electrically insulating the upper and lower thin-film magnetic cores and coil from each other. In the manufacturing method, the conductive coil or the insulating film is formed by using a residual silal group and S
Manufacturing of a thin film magnetic head characterized in that it is formed using a flattened film magnetic gap film containing a negative pattern forming material containing at least a resin containing an i-O bond and a compound which generates an acid upon irradiation or heating with actinic radiation. Method.