JPH08329439A - Magnetic head slider - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To improve durability against friction and to decrease the spacing loss by dividing a slider into a first area where a magnetic element is formed on the lower surface and a second area to generate pressure. CONSTITUTION: The first area 1 includes a magnetic element 3 and the one end of the area 1 is an air-outgoing end 4. The other end is at the position in the air-entering end side of L/4 distance from the air outgoing end 4 but in the air-outgoing end side from the pivoting position. The second area 2 has a chamfered part 6 which is smaller than L/4 length from the air-entering end 5. A hard film of <=0.01μm thickness (a) is deposited on the first area, while a hard film of 0.02 to 3μm thickness (b) is formed on the second area. The difference of height between the first area and the second area is controlled to <=0.25μm (c).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic head slider applicable to high density recording, and more particularly to a magnetic head slider applicable to low flying or contact recording.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art "Thin film tribology" (Yuji Tsutomu Enomoto, Shojiro Miyake, The University of Tokyo Press) p. 51-53 describe the effect of film thickness on the coefficient of friction of thin films. An example of a Pb thin film is described here as a qualitative explanation. The friction coefficient becomes the minimum in the range of the film thickness of 0.1 to 1 μm, and the thin film breaks in the region where the film thickness is less than 0.1 μm. The metal protrusions come into contact with each other, increasing the friction coefficient. Further, it is explained that in a region thicker than 1 μm, the film plastically flows, and as a result, the true contact area increases and the friction coefficient increases.

Further, in the same p. 203-205, a protective film of a magnetic tape is described, and it is shown that the durability is improved as the thickness of the protective film increases in the range of 0 to 0.4 μm.

In the present invention, a diamond-like carbon (hereinafter referred to as DLC) film is mainly described as a hard film. The behavior of friction and wear of the DLC film is different from the above example of Pb as a phenomenon, but the effect of film thickness. Indicates a similar trend.
Although it depends on the adhesion, hardness, and load, the approximate film thickness is 0.0
When friction occurs in an ultra-thin film of about 1 μm, the base substrate is deformed, the film is easily broken, and the friction coefficient is increased. Further, when the film thickness exceeds several μm, the internal stress of the film becomes large, the adhesion at the interface between the DLC and the base becomes insufficient, and peeling easily occurs in the vicinity of a load, resulting in a friction coefficient. growing.

In the present invention, an example in which DLC is applied as a hard film is given, but since the definition of words is not made conventionally, it is defined here in advance. The DLC film is composed of a region having a diamond structure in which carbon atoms are sp ³ bonded and a region having a graphite structure in which sp ^{2 is} bonded in the film, and hydrogen or a non-bonded electron pair (dangling bond) is contained therein. It is a film that includes a film, and has a crystallinity in the short range, but a long range means that it has a collapsed amorphous structure. The film has high hardness, low friction and high corrosion resistance. Conventionally, many techniques for coating a carbon film on the sliding surface of a magnetic head are known, but other names of this carbon film include a hard carbon film and an amorphous hydrogenated carbon film.
It can be considered as synonymous with the LC film.

Conventionally, a technique for improving wear resistance or corrosion resistance of an exposed magnetic head element material by forming a hard film such as DLC on the air bearing surface or sliding surface of a magnetic head is well known. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-282646 discloses forming a wear-resistant protective film on the air bearing surface of a magnetic head. In this report, it is shown that the CSS durability is improved by forming the wear-resistant protective film with a thickness of 10 to 20 nm. Also, in this report, in order to improve the adhesion between the slider material and the carbon layer, T
It has been proposed to introduce an adhesion layer consisting of i or Cr. However, the influence of the film thickness and spacing loss in the magnetic element portion on the electromagnetic conversion characteristics is not described.

Further, as another conventional technique, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 4
In the publication No. -276367, D
It has been proposed to use Si as an adhesion layer for LC (described as an amorphous hydrogenated carbon film). This report will be described with reference to FIG. In this conventional example, the adhesion layer 20
A protective film composed of three layers of \ protective layer 21 \ masking layer 22 has been proposed. Specifically, Si \ DLC \ S
A protective film having a three-layer structure of iO _{2 was} described, and the uppermost S
iO ₂ is described that Si is transformed into SiO ₂ in a subsequent oxygen plasma etching step.

Further, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-116767, as a method of improving adhesion when forming DLC on a metal material, a lower layer mainly containing Cr or Ti and Si are used.
Alternatively, it is disclosed that an intermediate layer composed of an upper layer mainly containing Ge is interposed.

On the other hand, in JP-A-5-151735, a liquid lubricant is used at the interface between the head and the magnetic disk.
As shown in FIG. 4, the sliding legs 30, 31, 3 are attached to the sliding surface of the head.
2, a magnetic head slider having a magnetic element 3 formed near the leg 30 is disclosed. In this report, the leg is not an air bearing because the same effect can be obtained in air or vacuum, which means that the leg does not have buoyancy. The leg material is the same as the slider material, and is formed by an etching method such as ion milling. It is said that the desired depth is about several thousand angstroms.

Further, Japanese Patent Application No. 7-320 filed by the applicant.
There are 69 sliders described in Example 2. A taper is formed on the surface of the slider facing the disk so that air easily enters the air inflow side, and buoyancy is generated at the air inflow side pad. Since the element pad is sufficiently small, the buoyancy generated here is sufficiently small, and the magnetic head element is disposed ahead of this.

[0011] Moreover, the Japanese Patent Application No. 5-665 filed by the present applicant.
Although 61 describes a structure in which the rail surface is made of a film of high hardness such as DLC, the influence of the film on the element on electromagnetic conversion characteristics such as spacing loss was not considered.

[0012]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, when a hard film is applied as a protective film to the sliding surface or the air bearing surface of the magnetic head, the entire surface is coated with the same thickness. The sliding resistance at that time, as long as the adhesion between the slider material as the base material and the hard film is sufficiently secured,
The thicker the film, the better the sliding resistance. However, in the structure of the prior art, this film also adheres to the magnetic head element that performs electromagnetic conversion, and the presence of this non-magnetic material causes a spacing loss, and as the film thickness increases, the recording / reproducing capability remarkably decreases. Will be done. Therefore, the film thickness when a hard film is actually formed on the sliding surface or air bearing surface of the magnetic head is determined by the allowable spacing loss designed from the recording / reproducing characteristics, and is therefore sufficient for the flying height. In reality, a very small value such as a hard film thickness of 10 nm or less for a flying height of 100 nm is adopted. That is, in such a situation, the original film quality such as high hardness, low frictional property, and wear resistance of the hard film such as DLC is not fully utilized.

[0013]

A magnetic head slider having a hard film formed on a lower surface which is an air bearing surface facing a magnetic disk, wherein a magnetic element is formed on the lower surface. The first region is divided into a region and a second region for generating a pressure of 0.01 μm.
The following hard film is formed and 0.02μ is formed in the second area.
The magnetic head slider is characterized in that a hard film having a thickness of 3 to 3 μm is formed, and a height difference between the first region and the second region is 0.25 μm or less.

[0014]

Therefore, according to the structure of the present invention, the region where the sliding is actually performed is the second region where the hard film is thickly formed and has sufficient durability. Further, during the levitation operation, the magnetic element portion on the air outflow end side operates so as to be located closest to the magnetic disk, which is included in the first region, and the thickness of the DLC film is sufficiently small with respect to the flying height. This is a value and the spacing loss is slight. The difference in height between the first region and the second region due to this film thickness difference is 0.25 μm.
It is as small as below and does not adversely affect the flying height.

[0015]

EXAMPLES Example 1 The outline of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In the slider of the present invention, the hard film 8 is formed on the lower surface which is the air bearing surface facing the magnetic disk. FIG.
Shows a top view of the air bearing surface and a cross-sectional view when operating. The air bearing surface of the slider is divided into a first area and a second area. A chamfered portion 6 is formed in a tapered shape on the air inflow end side of the second region for generating pressure, like the conventional slider,
The rotation of the magnetic disk 10 causes an air flow, and the air is easily introduced from the air inflow end 5. The back surface of the slider is bonded to the spring material at the position of the pivot 7, and the slider has a degree of freedom with the pivot as a fulcrum.

When the dimension of the slider in the longitudinal direction is L, the first region 1 includes a magnetic element 3, one end of which is an air outflow end 4 and the other end is from the air outflow end 4 to L / 4. It is on the air inflow end side of the position and on the air outflow end side of the pivot position. The second region 2 has the chamfered portion 6 and is a region smaller than 3L / 4 from the remaining air inflow end 5. A hard film of 0.01 μm or less (a in the figure) is formed in the first region, and 0.02 to 3 in the second region.
A thick hard film in the range of μm (b in the figure) is attached, and the height difference between the first region and the second region is suppressed to 0.25 μm or less (c in the diagram).

Next, the operation of this slider is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are schematic views of the magnetic head slider of the present invention observed from the cross-sectional direction. FIG. 2 (a) shows the magnetic disk 10 at rest and at low speed rotation, and FIG. The posture of the slider and the positional relationship with the magnetic disk during high-speed rotation are shown. When the magnetic disk stands still and rotates at low speed, the hard film 8 is thickly attached, and the second area in the center of the slider contacts the magnetic disk, and the magnetic element 3 is separated from the magnetic disk. Damage to the device is small. As the number of rotations of the disk increases, a larger amount of air flows in from the chamfered portion 6 having a tapered shape, and buoyancy is obtained mainly in the second region to float. In this case, the air outflow end 4 having the magnetic element 3 is located closest to the magnetic disk. Since the magnetic element is located in the first region and the thickness of the hard film here is sufficiently small, the spacing loss associated with the slider as an electromagnetic conversion characteristic is a sufficiently small value.

(Embodiment 2) Next, an example in which the present invention is applied to a conventional two-rail slider will be described with reference to FIG. This figure is a perspective view of the slider. This slider has two rails parallel to the longitudinal direction of the slider on the air bearing surface facing the magnetic disk as in the conventional case. Each rail is a slider. The longitudinal dimension of L
, L / 4 from the air outflow end 4 including the magnetic element 3
The first region 1 and the remaining air inflow end 5 are divided into the second region 2 of 3L / 4. A DLC film was used as the hard film. In the first region, a DLC film including an intermediate layer for ensuring the adhesion described later is 10 nm, and in the second region, a DLC film 100 nm is further deposited thereon. Therefore, the height difference (step) between the first region and the second region is 100 nm.
Is. A chamfered portion 6 is formed in a tapered shape on the air inflow end 5 side of the second region.

Next, a method of manufacturing this slider will be described. Similar to the conventional method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head, a magnetic head formed on a wafer is cut and processed on a long plate in which elements called rows are arranged in a horizontal row. As is conventionally known, after performing double-side lapping by mechanical processing, Rho processes two rails, grooves, chamfers, crowns, pole heights, etc., and then forms a DLC film uniformly over the ABS surface to a thickness of 10 nm. Filmed In this state, the first region 1 is formed.

Then, the second region 2 is formed. In the present embodiment, the second region is composed of only the DLC film, and its manufacturing method will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 are cross-sectional views of a second region portion formed on the air bearing surface of one slider in the row, and the lower surface is the DLC, which is at the same height as the first region. In FIG. 4, the resist 11 is patterned in advance in a portion other than the second region, that is, in a reverse pattern (a), and C is applied in that state.
The DLC film is formed to a desired film thickness by the VD method, which is 0.1 μm in this embodiment.
Then, a second region 2 was formed (b). In this step, the base material has already been covered with the DLC film, so that no intermediate layer is required. Therefore, the total thickness of the DLC film in the second region is 0.11 μm.

In this embodiment, the DLC film is formed by the DC CVD method, the DLC film is not formed on the resist which is the insulating film, and the film grows in a shape with rounded corners at the edges. I understood. It is considered that the reactive species fly from the direction of 180 degrees in the flat portion, whereas the wall is obstructed by the wall at the pattern edge, so that the film is reduced. Then, the resist is peeled off with an organic solvent such as acetone to complete the second region (c).

FIG. 5 illustrates another method of making the second region. An 80 μm thick metal mask 13 having holes corresponding to the second region 2 formation portion was aligned and fixed on the row, and then a DLC film having a thickness of 0.1 μm was formed (a). DL is attached to the metal mask, so DL
When C is desired to be formed in a thicker film, peeling occurs and the peeled pieces are mixed in the pad portion. Therefore, it is desirable to deposit an adhesion layer such as Si on the metal mask in advance. In the case of this method as well, it was confirmed that the film grows in a shape with the corners removed. When using a mask with a thickness that is sufficiently larger than the thickness to be deposited, such as a metal mask, a film is also formed on the side surface of the mask, and since the film formation rate per unit area is the same, the film decreases at the pattern edge. It is considered that Further, the pattern of the attached second region tended to be slightly smaller than that of the mask. This is considered to be due to the influence of the plasma sheath. After that, the metal mask is removed to complete the second region (b).

A second region is formed on the air bearing surface of each slider in the row by any of the above methods, and then separated from the row into pieces to complete the magnetic slider of this embodiment. The height difference of the second region formed in this example is 0.1 μm.

Next, a method of forming the DLC film will be described. Al ₂ As the slider material in this embodiment 0 ₃ -T
iC was used, but when DLC is formed on it, Ti (2nm) \ S is used as an intermediate layer to secure sufficient adhesion.
i (2 nm) was used. Al ₂ O ₃ as slider material
-When a ceramic material such as TiC or SiC is used, the Ti \ Si or Cr \ Si laminated film as the intermediate layer is T
It has been confirmed that the i-layer and the Si-layer have an adhesive force. The Ti and Si were formed in an Ar gas atmosphere by RF sputtering after etching and cleaning the base material with Ar plasma before film formation. Also DL
C was formed to a thickness of 6 nm by the plasma CVD method. After exhausting the inside of the vacuum chamber to 5 × 10 ⁻⁶ Torr or less, a hydrocarbon-based gas such as CH ₄ is introduced, and the opening / closing degree of the exhaust side valve is adjusted to stabilize at 0.1 Torr. The substrate to be coated is held by an electrode connected to the negative potential side of the DC power source, and a potential of −600 V is applied to generate an plasma, and the DLC film is deposited on the substrate.

The DLC thin film thus formed exhibits high corrosion resistance even if the film thickness is an extremely thin film of 10 nm including the intermediate layer. For heads with highly corrosive materials such as FeMn used in MR heads exposed on the surface,
DLC thin film with a thickness of nm, 80 ℃, relative humidity 9
FeM even in accelerated evaluation of corrosion resistance stored at 0% for 48 hours
No alteration of the n film was observed. This is because the DLC film formed by the CVD method is dense and has no pinholes.
It is considered that the FeMn film is completely covered and protected even with a thin film of 0 nm.

Example 3 A contact start stop (CSS) test was conducted using the slider described in Example 2 (FIG. 3, sample C) to check slidability. For comparison, a two-rail taper flat type slider (sample A) which is not coated with anything and a slider (sample B) in which DLC is thinly coated to a thickness of about 10 nm uniformly on the entire rail surface of sample A were tested under the same conditions. . The opposite magnetic disk uses a glass disk,
D formed by sputtering on the magnetic recording surface layer
What was coated with LC 10 nm and perfluoropolyether 3 nm which is an organic lubricant was used. CSS
As shown in FIG. 7, the test condition is that the time for one cycle of CSS is 8 seconds, of which the acceleration time from stop to constant rotation speed (5.65 m / sec in terms of speed) is 2 seconds and constant rotation speed is 1 second. Then, the deceleration time until stopping was about 2 seconds, and the remaining 3 seconds was the stopping time, and this cycle was repeated.

FIG. 8 shows the result of the CSS test. The abscissa plots the number of CSSs, and the ordinate plots the maximum dynamic friction coefficient (μmax). Initially, μmax of sample A is 0.3
The values of μmax of Samples B and C were as small as 0.3 or less, while the values were slightly higher at around 5. This indicates that the friction is reduced by forming the DLC as in the conventional example. As the number of CSS increases, the friction coefficient of Sample A increased remarkably, and μmax exceeded 0.8 at 70,000 times, and the load was too large for the spindle motor to rotate in a small HDD. The experiment was stopped on the way. Compared with this, Samples B and C showed relatively good results, but Sample B tends to have a gradually increasing μmax value after CSS 80,000 times. On the other hand, Sample C had a slightly increased μmax value up to 100,000 times of CSS, and was confirmed to have sufficient CSS durability. It can be considered that this is due to the difference in the DLC film thickness of the sliding portion during CSS, which is 10 nm for sample B and 0.11 μm for sample C in this example.

(Embodiment 4) Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. A chamfered portion 6 having a taper shape is formed on the air inflow end 5 side of the surface of the slider facing the magnetic disk so that air can easily enter, and buoyancy is generated in the air inflow side pad 42. Since the element portion pad 41 is sufficiently small, the buoyancy generated here is sufficiently small, and the magnetic head element 3 is disposed ahead of this. The element pad is in the first region, and the air inflow side pad is in the second region. That is, when the longitudinal dimension of the slider is L1, the area of the air inflow side pad is a pattern smaller than 3 (L1) / 4 from the air inflow end.

The method for forming the pad was as follows.
A resist is formed with the pattern shape of the air inflow side pad and the element pad on each slider of the low that has completed the chamfer processing and pole height processing, and the area other than the pad is etched by about 2 μm by ion milling etc., and then the resist is peeled off. Then, Ti \ Si \ DLC is added to the entire air bearing surface in the same manner as described in Example 1.
It was formed with a film thickness of nm \ 2 nm \ 6 nm. After that, a pattern was formed with a resist on a portion other than the air inflow side pad, and DLC was formed in a thickness of about 0.2 μm only on the air inflow side pad portion. After that, the rod is cut into pieces to complete the slider.

The operation of the head slider of this embodiment is shown in FIG.
Air that is similar to that described in the first embodiment described above using (a) and (b), and that is included in the second region where the DLC is thickly attached when the magnetic disk is stationary and at low speed rotation. The inflow side pad is in contact with the magnetic disk, and the element section pad having the element section is separated from the magnetic disk. As the number of rotations of the disk increases, more air flows in from the chamfer portion, and buoyancy is obtained at the air inflow side pad to float. Since the device side pad is sufficiently small, it does not affect the floating characteristics. When the state of having a stable floating posture is reached, the air outflow end having the magnetic element is at the lowest position, and the spacing loss associated with the slider as the electromagnetic conversion characteristic is the DLC film on the element side pad in the first region. The thickness is only 10 nm, which is a sufficiently small value.

A CSS test was performed on this slider in the same manner as described in Example 3, and it was found that 1 was uniformly applied to the entire surface of the pad.
Excellent sliding resistance was confirmed as compared with the slider to which 0 nm DLC was attached. This is also due to the difference in film thickness of DLC.

(Embodiment 5) Next, the influence of the height difference between the first region and the second region on the flying height and the flying posture in the slider of the present invention will be described. In the example applied to the conventional two-rail taper flat type slider shown in FIG. 3, the flying height and the flying posture of the slider were examined by changing the height difference between the first region and the second region.
In this embodiment, the second region is composed of the DLC film, and the film thickness of the DLC matches the step in the second region.

The results are shown in FIG. The solid line data in the figure is the flying characteristic of the head gimbal assembly manufactured at a certain gimbal and pivot position, and the flying height measurement data at the gap position of the magnetic element when only the thickness of the DLC is changed is plotted. The peripheral speed of the disk is 4 m / sec, and in the region where the DLC film thickness is 0.1 μm or less, the flying height is around 110 nm, which is the same as a slider without steps, but does not rise exponentially as the DLC becomes thicker. The amount rose. 600 nm when the DLC film thickness is about 1 μm
It was found to be greatly affected. When the flying height specification is 110 ± 10 nm, the DLC film thickness range is 0.1
It means that it is less than μm. Therefore, the influence of the gap position on the flying height can be reduced by increasing the pitch angle by shifting the pivot position to the air outflow end side within the possible range or by optimally designing the shape of the air bearing surface. . In the figure, the alternate long and short dash line is the value after adjusting them, and it was found that DLC can be formed to a thickness of 0.25 μm.

The influence of the height difference between the first area and the second area on the flying height of the magnetic element position as described above, as well as the adjustment of the pivot position and the design of the rail pattern, is of course the slider rail shape. The thickness of the DLC is limited to the specification value of the flying height, and is estimated to be approximately 0.25 μm, although it is slightly different depending on the situation.

When the dimension of the slider in the longitudinal direction is L, and the second region exceeds 3/4 L from the air inflow end, the position of the second region on the outflow end side during the flying is magnetic. It was found that the height difference between the first region and the second region cannot be provided because the magnetic disk is closer to the magnetic disk than the element position and the spacing loss of the magnetic element portion is large. Therefore, in the slider of the present invention, the allowable range of the second region is 3/4 L or less from the air inflow end, and thus the other end of the first region whose one end is the air outflow end is L / 4 from the air outflow end. It must be closer to the air inflow end than the position.

When the other end of the first area is located on the air inflow end side of the pivot position, a load is applied in FIG. 2A, and the magnetic element 3 is placed on the magnetic disk 3 at the position of the pivot 7, which is the fulcrum of rotation. A moment is applied in the direction of approaching 10, and the magnetic element may come into contact with the magnetic disk particularly when the disk rotates at a low speed, which is not desirable.
Therefore, the other end of the first region must be closer to the air outflow end side than the pivot position.

(Embodiment 6) A magnetic head slider of the present invention having another rail shape is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12.
Will be explained. FIG. 11 shows a magnetic slider having a plurality of, in the present embodiment, three rails separated on the air bearing surface facing the magnetic disk. Air outflow end 4
The magnetic element 3 is disposed on the side, the chamfer portion 6 is provided on the air inflow end 5 side, and the element side pad 51 and the air inflow side pads 52 and 53 are provided. Here, the element side pad 51 is the first region in the present invention, the air inflow side pad 5
2, 53 are included in the second region. D on the element side pad
The LC is coated with 10 nm, and the air inflow side pad is coated with 110 nm. The operation and effect of this slider were the same as those of the above-mentioned embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a slider according to another embodiment of the present invention. Two sliders 62 and 63 are provided at both ends in the lateral direction of the air bearing surface facing the magnetic disk, and air is provided at both ends at the center. FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a slider having a total of three rails, one having a taper shape for diverting to the side. In this slider, three pads 64, 65, 66 are provided to support three rails at three points.
Are formed of a DLC film, and both are located in the second region. The thickness of the DLC film of each pad is 2 μm, but the step between the rail and the pad is suppressed to 0.2 μm or less.

A method of manufacturing this slider will be described. A resist is formed in the above-described three rail pattern shapes on each slider of the row which has been subjected to chamfer processing and pole height processing, and the area other than the pad is etched by about 5 μm by ion milling or the like, and then the resist is peeled off.
After that, three pad portions are further etched. Figure 6
FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view of a portion where a pad is formed on the three rail surfaces of one slider in a row. First, a resist 11 is formed in a reverse pattern of the pad (a). Then, by ion milling, Al ₂ O ₃ -TiC was added to 1.8 μm.
Etched (b). Subsequently, the resist was peeled off, and Ti \ Si \ was formed on the entire rail surface in the same manner as described in Example 2.
DLC was formed with a film thickness of 2 nm \ 2 nm \ 6 nm (not shown). Further, after this, a resist was patterned on a portion other than the pad to form a DLC of about 2 μm. After that, the resist is peeled off, and the row is cut into pieces to complete the slider. In this slider, each pad portion on the rail protrudes 0.2 μm from the rail surface, but there is almost no effect on the flying height.

Further, the slider of this embodiment has a point where the DLC is thickly attached to a part of the second area and a point where the slider contacts the magnetic disk only when the disk is stationary and at low speed rotation. However, the effect was more excellent than that of the above-mentioned examples in the CSS characteristics. This has an effect on abrasion resistance D
It means that it is determined by the total film thickness of LC.

By using the above process, the height difference between the first region and the second region can be set to 0.25 μm or less which does not affect the flying height, and in the second region which is the sliding portion. As the DLC thickness, it is possible to secure a thickness excellent in durability, preferably a thickness of about 1 to 3 μm. When the film thickness is 3 μm or more, it is necessary to make the film thickness of the intermediate layer sufficient, and the spacing loss in the first region increases, which is not desirable.

[0042]

According to the present invention, when the magnetic disk rotates at a low speed, the second region formed of a thick DLC and having low friction and excellent wear resistance slides, and when the magnetic disk rotates at a high speed, it floats and DL
By providing a slider so that the magnetic element at the air outflow end of the first region where C is thinly coated comes to the position closest to the magnetic disk, it has excellent friction durability and has a small spacing loss for high density recording. An applicable magnetic head slider is provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a magnetic head slider of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the operation of the magnetic head slider of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a magnetic head slider according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing one method of forming the second region.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another method of forming the second region.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing another method of forming the second region.

FIG. 7 is a chart showing CSS test conditions performed in an example.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the results of a CSS test of the magnetic head slider of the present invention and the conventional magnetic head slider.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a magnetic head slider according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the influence of the step in the second region on the flying height in the slider according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a magnetic head slider according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a magnetic head slider according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a sectional view of a conventional magnetic head slider.

FIG. 14 is a top view of a conventional magnetic head slider.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 1st area | region 2 2nd area | region 3 magnetic element 4 air outflow end 5 air inflow end 6 chamfer part 7 pivot 8 hard film 10 magnetic disk

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic head slider having a hard film formed on a lower surface which is an air bearing surface facing a magnetic disk, wherein a pressure is applied to a first area where a magnetic element is formed on the lower surface. A second region for generating, a hard film of 0.01 μm or less is formed in the first region, and a hard film of 0.02 μm to 3 μm is formed in the second region, A magnetic head slider having a height difference between the first region and the second region of 0.25 μm or less. 2. The magnetic head slider according to claim 1, wherein the hard film is a DLC film.