Quantum Corporation

Maxtor Corporation

Vijay K Basra

Lawrence G Neumann

Andrew L Wu

Jeffrey G Greiman

George H Bellesis

Leo Guglielmo

A technique of positioning a recording head relative to an optical servo system in a magnetic recording tape system read/write assembly is described. The technique includes positioning an optical sensor of the optical servo system at a first position relative to a selected one of recording channels on the recording head and positioning the optical sensor at a second position relative to the selected recording channel using an alignment target on the recording head. A recording head in a read/write assembly of a magnetic recording tape system is also described. The recording head includes recording channels fabricated on a wafer and an alignment target affixed to the wafer between a first read-write element of a recording channel and a second read-write element of the recording channel, the alignment target fabricated to produce an optical reflectance signal.

Optical sensor to recording head alignment

A castellation technique for improved lift-off of deposited thin film on photoresist in thin-film device processing of particular utility in the production of magnetic data transducers and recording heads. By correctly designing the edge boundary of a photoresist structure, enhanced regions of low resist edge bombardment and low deposit penetration may be achieved. These enhanced regions enable the lift-off of extra thick deposited regions that would not be otherwise achievable through the use of conventional techniques with and without castellation.

Castellation technique for improved lift-off of photoresist in thin-film device processing and a thin-film device made thereby

A recording head pole production process, and a pole made by the process, in which a combination of wet and dry etching steps are utilized to advantageously provide an undercut in the relatively high magnetic moment material beneath a photoresist area used to define the pole such that any re-deposited layer of material which occurs on the sides of the pole and photoresist area during the dry etching operation is advantageously rendered substantially discontinuous, or weakly linked, and the re-deposited material remaining on the pole itself following a photoresist strip can then be removed by being subjected to a stream of gaseous particles and ultimately carried away by the accompanying gas stream itself. In a particular embodiment disclosed herein the relatively high magnetic moment material may comprise a sputter deposited layer of cobalt-zirconium-tantalum (CoZrTa), iron-aluminum-nitride (FeAlN), iron-tantalum-nitride (FeTaN), iron-nitride (FeN) or similar materials. The stream of gaseous particles may be formed utilizing the expansion of a gaseous material, such as liquid carbon dioxide (CO ), through a nozzle directed at the re-deposited material remaining on the pole following the photoresist strip operation.

Process for producing magnetic head poles utilizing sputtered materials and a recording head made thereby

Process for producing magnetic recording head poles utilizing sputtered materials and a recording head made thereby

A multi-step stud design and method for fabricating the same of special utility for producing closely packed interconnects in magnetic recording heads, particularly higher density magnetoresistive and giant magnetoresistive tape heads. The multi-step stud fabrication process and structure enables the achievement of significantly higher interconnect densities resulting in an increased number of channels per millimeter on a single computer mass storage device recording head. A resultant stronger encapsulation surrounding the stud further provides increased channel reliability. The improved uniformity of the photoresist aperture achieved for each step in the stud structure, and lower current spreading resistance because of the wider underlying stud base size, increases stud uniformity resulting in improved stud yields. This increased yield compared with conventional single step stud processes reduces cost, even with the additional photolithography and plating processes involved.

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Reading, MA, United States of America

Vijay K Basra