JPH0792903B2 - Method of manufacturing thin film magnetic head - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head, and more particularly to an etching method for an insulating layer when a multi-layer wiring is provided.

[Background technology and its problems]

A thin film magnetic head, a semiconductor device, or the like has a so-called multi-layered wiring structure, for example, a wiring pattern is formed by two or three or more layers by using a thin film technique in view of its configuration or a demand for high density. Is common.

For example, in the above thin film magnetic head, as shown in FIG.
A first conductive metal layer 102 having a predetermined pattern is provided on a substrate 101 on which a first insulating layer is formed in advance, and silicon dioxide S
After forming the second insulating layer 103 with a transparent material such as iO ₂ ,
The second insulating layer 103 is etched to form a predetermined portion of the insulating layer, that is, the first conductive metal layer 10 described above.
2. Connection windows 104 and 105 are formed in a portion where electrical conduction between 2 and a second conductive metal layer to be described later needs to be achieved, and a second conductive metal layer 106 is further deposited to form these first conductive metal layers. The 102 and the second conductive metal layer 106 are connected to each other at the connection windows 104 and 105, so that the conductive metal layers are sequentially laminated through the insulating layer to form a multilayer wiring structure. By adopting such multilayer wiring, high-density wiring can be achieved, and the device can be downsized and the performance can be improved.

By the way, when manufacturing the above-mentioned multilayer wiring structure, the etching method for the insulating layer 103 becomes a problem. That is, the connection window provided in the insulating layer 103 is generally made as large as possible in order to minimize the connection resistance between the first conductive metal layer 102 and the second conductive metal layer 106, Therefore, the size of the connection window greatly differs depending on the position where the connection window is formed. For example, the size of the connection window 104 for achieving the connection in the fine coil pattern portion is about 15μ × 50μ, whereas the size of the connection window 105 for achieving the connection in the wide electrode portion is It is about 50μ × 70μ, and if the common electrode is used to ground each conductor coil, the size of the connection window at this common electrode is 350μ × 400.
It reaches about μ. As described above, when the size of each connection window is different, a difference in etching rate between the connection windows becomes a problem when the connection window is to be removed by ion etching, for example. That is, for example, the connection window 104 and the connection window 1
05 and etching at the same time, the larger connection window 105
Of the first conductive metal layer 1 exposed at this portion in the larger connection window 105 before the small connection window 104 comes out.
It will be over-etched until 02. Therefore, the conductive metal layer 102 becomes thin, and in an extreme case, the conductive metal layer 102 may be broken.

Therefore, the conductive metal layer 102 formed by the above overetching
In order to prevent film breakage, it is possible to increase the thickness of the conductive metal layer 102, but this conductive metal layer 102 is usually deposited by a method such as sputtering or vapor deposition, so if it is too thick It takes a long time to form the conductive metal layer 102, which lowers productivity, which is not preferable.

[Object of the Invention]

Therefore, the present invention has been proposed in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional technique, and makes it possible to prevent the overetching of the underlayer by making the etching rates almost equal regardless of the size of the window. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head that can be used.

[Outline of Invention]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention corresponds to the lead portion when forming two or more windows of different sizes in the insulating layer by etching corresponding to the coil portion and the lead portion of the thin film magnetic head. The window part is divided into a plurality of slit-like divided window parts having a width substantially equal to the width of the window part corresponding to the coil part and having a long length. .

〔Example〕

An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to manufacture of a thin film magnetic head will be described below with reference to the drawings.

2 to 6 show the manufacturing process of the thin film magnetic head in the order of the processes.

In order to manufacture a thin film magnetic head, first, as shown in FIG. 2, a magnetic substrate 1 on which a first insulating layer 2 made of a transparent insulating material such as silicon dioxide SiO ₂ is formed in advance by deposition.
And a first conductive metal layer 3 is formed by vapor deposition or sputtering so as to cover the first insulating layer 2.

The magnetic substrate 1 may be made of any magnetic material used in a normal magnetic head or the like, but in this embodiment, Mn-Zn ferrite is used. The first conductive metal layer 3 is made of copper.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the first conductive metal layer 3 is etched to form a spiral coil portion 4a and a lead portion 4b serving as a lead wire to the outside. To form the first wiring pattern 4.

The etching method for the first conductive metal layer 3 may be so-called wet etching using an etching solution or dry etching such as ion etching.

Then, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the first
The second insulating layer 5 is laminated and formed on the substrate 1 so as to cover the wiring pattern 4 by a transparent insulating material such as SiO ₂ .

Then, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the second
The insulating layer 5 is masked and pattern etching is performed. This pattern etching is performed by dry etching such as ion etching.

By pattern etching of the second insulating layer 5, electrical conduction is achieved between the first wiring pattern 4 and a predetermined place, that is, between the first wiring pattern 4 and a second wiring pattern described later. Wiring pattern connection windows 6 and 7 are provided in necessary portions.

Here, the connection window portion 6 is the first wiring pattern 4
Is formed in order to connect the coil portion 4a to a second wiring pattern which will be described later, and thus is formed narrower than the width of the coil portion 4a, for example, width d = 15μ and length l = 50μ, It is the smallest window portion among the connection window portions provided in the second insulating layer 5.

On the other hand, the connection window portion 7 provided on the lead portion 4b of the first wiring pattern 4 is usually formed as large as possible in order to minimize the connection resistance in this portion.
Although it is formed to have a size of about 50 μ × 70 μ, in the present embodiment, a plurality of the plurality of lengths L having a width approximately equal to the width d of the connection window 6 which is the minimum window and a length L of about 70 μ are formed. In the example, it is formed by being divided into two division window portions 7a and 7b. The width of the split window portion 7a is 1.times. The width d of the connection window portion 6.
The limit is up to about twice, and if it is larger than this, there is a possibility that the difference in etching rate described later may occur and the object of the present invention may not be achieved.

By dividing and forming the connecting window portion 7 in this manner, the etching rate for the connecting window portion 6 and the etching rate for each of the divided window portions 7a constituting the connecting window portion 7 become substantially equal to each other. The lead portion 4b facing the connection window portion 7 is not overetched. Further, since the connecting window portion 7 is composed of a plurality of divided window portions 7a, a sufficient contact area between the first wiring pattern 4 and a second wiring pattern, which will be described later, is secured, and the connecting window portion 7a is secured. Part 7
The connection resistance at does not increase.

After the connection windows 6 and 7 are formed in this manner, copper, which is a conductive metal, is vapor-deposited or sputtered so as to cover the second insulating layer 5 to form a second conductive metal layer by deposition. As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the second conductive metal layer is pattern-etched to form a second wiring pattern 8.

The second wiring pattern 8 is the first wiring pattern 4 described above.
It is formed in a spiral shape having the same winding direction as the above, and both ends thereof are connected to the coil portion 4a and the lead portion 4b of the first wiring pattern 4 via the connection window portions 6 and 7, respectively.
Therefore, the first wiring pattern 4 and the second wiring pattern 8 together form a 6-turn coil.

Further, a thin film magnetic head is completed by providing an upper magnetic body that constitutes a magnetic core together with the magnetic substrate 1 and a protective plate for preventing damage to the obtained magnetic head portion.

As described above, in the above embodiment, the larger connection window portion 7 is divided and formed as the plurality of divided window portions 7a having the width substantially equal to the width of the connection window portion 6 which is the smallest window portion. Therefore, the etching rates for the windows 6 and 7 become substantially equal to each other, and the first wiring pattern 4 which is a base layer facing the windows 6 and 7 is over-etched to be thinned to the wiring pattern 4. There is no film breakage, and therefore it is possible to manufacture a high quality thin film magnetic head.

Further, since there is no risk of overetching the first wiring pattern 4, the thickness of the wiring pattern 4 can be made as thin as possible, which is also advantageous from the viewpoint of productivity.

By the way, in the above embodiment, the case where the two types of connection window portions 6 and 7 having different sizes are formed by etching has been described, but it is also effective when, for example, three or more types of window portions having different sizes are formed. Needless to say.

Further, the present invention can also be applied to the case of forming windows having greatly different sizes.

For example, in the common electrode type thin film magnetic head as shown in FIG. 7, the size of the connection window portion 12 provided on the coil portion 11 is about 30 μ × 40 μ, while on the common electrode portion 13 Normally, a connection window portion 14 of about 300 μ × 400 μ is formed. Therefore, the connection window portion 14 on the common electrode portion 13 may be formed as a slit-shaped split window portion 14a having a width of 30 μ, which is equal to the width of the connection window portion 12 on the coil portion 11, and a length of about 300 μ. .

〔The invention's effect〕

As is clear from the description of the above embodiment, in the present invention, when forming two or more types of window portions having different sizes, the larger window portion is substantially equal to the width of the smaller window portion. Since the window portions are formed separately, there is almost no difference in etching rate between these window portions, and it is possible to prevent overetching of the underlayer.

Further, since the window portion corresponding to the lead portion is divided into a plurality of slit-shaped divided window portions having a width substantially equal to the width of the window portion corresponding to the coil portion and having a long length, contact is made. The reduction in area can be minimized, and the connection resistance at the lead portion can be made sufficiently small.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged plan view of an essential part showing a thin film magnetic head manufactured by a conventional manufacturing method. 2 to 6 show a process sequence of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to manufacture of a thin film magnetic head, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an essential part showing a first conductive metal layer deposition forming process. Figure,
3A is a schematic enlarged plan view showing the first wiring pattern forming step, FIG. 3B is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 3A, and FIG. 4A is a second insulating layer deposition formation. FIG. 4B is a schematic enlarged plan view showing the steps, FIG. 4B is a sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 4A, and FIG. 5A is a schematic enlarged plan view showing the pattern etching step of the second insulating layer. B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 5A, FIG. 6A is a schematic enlarged plan view showing a second wiring pattern forming step, and FIG. 6B is DD of FIG. 6A.
It is sectional drawing in a line. FIG. 7 is an enlarged plan view of an essential part showing another embodiment of the present invention. 6,12 ...... Connection window (smallest window) 7,14 ...... Connection window 7a, 14a ...... Split window

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. When forming two or more windows having different sizes in an insulating layer corresponding to a coil and a lead of a thin film magnetic head by etching, the window corresponding to the lead corresponds to the coil. A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head, characterized in that the thin film magnetic head is formed by dividing into a plurality of slit-like divided window portions having a width substantially equal to the width of the window portion and a long length.