Seagate Technology Incorporated

Ying D Yan

Nurul Amin

John Bortins

Beat G Keel

Nathan Curland

Tim Madsen

A thin film magnetic head is carried in a recessed region which is etched in a basecoat. The thin film magnetic head includes upper and lower pole pieces having an upper pole tip and a lower pole tip, respectively. The upper and lower pole tips form a magnetic flux gap. Electrical conductors are carried in an insulating layer between the upper and lower pole pieces. The magnetic flux gap defines a plane which is generally parallel with a plane defined by the conductors. The electrical conductors lie on either side of the plane.

Method for forming a magnetic thin film head with recessed basecoat

A thin film magnetic read/write head is manufactured using Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 dams. The Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 dams are formed using a sacrificial layer which is deposited upon a bottom pole layer. An Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 layer is deposited over the sacrificial layer. When the sacrificial layer is removed, the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 layer forms dams between which a top pole piece is deposited. The sacrificial layer is removed using lapping and a selected chemical etch; etch of the sacrificial layer which lifts-off overlying partial lapping or chemical etch followed by chemical Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ; depositing photoresist dams and chemically, etching the encapsulation layer and the sacrificial layer; or removal through physical or thermal shock of the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 layer sputtered at zero bias followed by a selective chemical etch of the sacrificial layer. The thin film magnetic head of the present invention has pole tips which provide an outside pole face contour that is significantly different from a pole tip contour along a gap region. This reduces an undershoot effect in readback pulses in a readback signal. The altered contour can be used on both top and bottom pole tips to eliminate both leading and trailing undershoots. Additionally, in shielded probe heads for vertical recording a gap region contour can be altered to achieve a similar reduction in leading undershoot.

Thin film head with contoured pole face edges for undershoot reduction

A thin film magnetic read/write head deposited upon a non-magnetic substrate reduces leading edge undershoots in readback pulse signal. A magnetic layer is deposited between the thin film magnetic read/write head and the non-magnetic substrate. Undershoots are reduced by making the leading edge of the thin film head less sensitive to the magnetization transitions in a magnetic storage medium.

Leading edge undershoot elimination in thin film heads

A thin film magnetic read/write head is manufactured using Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 dams. The Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 dams are formed using a sacrificial layer which is deposited upon a bottom pole layer. An Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 layer is deposited over the sacrificial layer. When the sacrificial layer is removed, the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 layer forms dams between which a top pole piece is deposited. The sacrificial layer is removed using lapping and a selected chemical etch; partial lapping or chemical etch followed by chemical etch of the sacrificial layer which lifts-off overlying Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ; depositing photoresist dams and chemically etching the encapsulation layer and the sacrificial layer; or removal through physical or thermal shock of the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 layer sputtered at zero bias followed by a selective chemical etch of the sacrificial layer. The thin film magnetic head of the present invention has pole tips which provide an outside pole face contour that is significantly different from a pole tip contour along a gap region. This reduces an undershoot effect in readback pulses in a readback signal. The altered contour can be used on both top and bottom pole tips to eliminate both leading and trailing undershoots. Additionally, in shielded probe heads for vertical recording a gap region contour can be altered to achieve a similar reduction in leading undershoot.

Method of making a thin film head with contoured pole face edges for

A thin film magnetic read/write head is manufactured using Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 dams. The Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 dams are formed using a sacrificial layer which is deposited upon a bottom pole layer. An Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 layer is deposited over the sacrificial layer. When the sacrificial layer is removed, the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 layer forms dams between which a top pole piece is deposited. The sacrificial layer is removed using lapping and a selected chemical etch; partial lapping or chemical etch followed by chemical etch of the sacrificial layer which lifts-off overlying Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ; depositing photoresist dams and chemically etching the encapsulation layer and the sacrificial layer; or removal through physical or thermal shock of the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 layer sputtered at zero bias followed by a selective chemical etch of the sacrificial layer.

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Burnsville, MN, United States of America

Ying D Yan