JPH0810484B2 - Method of forming thin film pattern and method of manufacturing thin film magnetic head - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for forming a thin film pattern, and particularly when a thin film pattern is formed on a substrate having a step portion, a high precision is provided below the step of the thin film pattern. The present invention relates to a thin film pattern forming method for obtaining a shape and a thin film magnetic head manufacturing method using the same.

[Conventional technology]

Thin film technology is widely used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, magnetic bubble memories, heat sensitive elements, thin film magnetic heads and the like. Recently, with the progress of high integration and multi-layering of elements, it is required to form a highly accurate thin film pattern in the step portion.

For example, as the high density recording of a magnetic disk device for a large-scale computer advances, the width of the recording track of a thin film magnetic head for writing and reading on the disk is also miniaturized, and high precision of the shape is required. Here, the structure of the thin film magnetic head will be described. FIG. 2 is a perspective view in which a part of the thin film magnetic head is removed. A lower magnetic film 22 is formed on the ceramic substrate 21.
Are formed, and together with the upper magnetic film 23 that is formed later, constitute a magnetic core that forms a magnetic circuit. At the tip portion 24, a film 25 made of a non-magnetic material is interposed between the magnetic films 22 and 23 to form a magnetic gear, and the magnetic gear is used to read from and write to the recording medium. On the other hand, in the central portion of the magnetic core, the conductor coil 26 is provided so as to intersect with the magnetic circuit, and the conductor coil 26 is insulated from the magnetic films 22 and 23 by the resin insulating film 27.

The track width that determines the recording density of this thin film magnetic head is
Usually, it is determined by the width d of the upper magnetic film 23 at the head end portion 24. Therefore, in order to realize a highly accurate track width dimension, it is necessary to form the magnetic film 23 with a high accuracy of ± 0.5 μm or less under the step of the resin insulating film 27 having a height of about 10 μm. For this reason, the dry etching method is often used because it is easy to control the etching amount and high accuracy can be expected, and in particular, the ion milling method using accelerated ions is often used. The magnetic film 2
The thickness of 2,23 and the gear 25 differ depending on the magnetic head,
Normally about 1 to 5 μm, 0.2 to 1 μm, and a track width of 4
~ 30 μm.

As a method of forming a thin film pattern on a stepped portion in this way, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-37130 discloses patterning a thin film on a stepped portion using an ion milling method using a photosensitive resin as a mask material. An example of the method is given and is shown in FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 3A, a step 32 is formed on the substrate 31, and a thin film 33 to be patterned is formed on the step 32. Then, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), a photosensitive resin film 34 is applied to form a pattern, and then, as shown in FIG. 3 (c), the thin film 33 is etched by using an ion milling method. To obtain the pattern shape. Substrate 31 for thin film magnetic heads
Corresponds to the layer including the ceramic substrate 21, the magnetic film 22, and the gear material 25 in FIG. 2, and the step 32 corresponds to the layer of the insulating film 27.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-37130 discloses a method for realizing more accurate patterning than the above-mentioned process, which is shown in FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), after forming a structure similar to that shown in FIG. 3 (a), an alumina film 45 is formed thereon. Next, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), after forming a photosensitive resin film 44, as shown in FIG. 4 (c), an alumina film 45 is formed by a reactive ion milling method using a fluorine-based gas. Pattern. Then, as shown in FIG. 4D, after removing the photosensitive resin film 44, the thin film 43 is patterned by the ion milling method using the alumina film 45 as a mask material to obtain a target shape. . In the figure, 41 is a substrate and 42 is a step.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

In the method shown in FIG. 3 among the above-mentioned conventional techniques, when a photosensitive resin film serving as a mask material is applied, in order to secure a required thickness of about 3 μm above the step, about 10 to 15 below the step.
It becomes thick as μm. Therefore, during ion milling, a redeposition layer 35 as shown in FIG. 3 (d) is generated, and the dimensional accuracy of the thin film 33 below the step is deteriorated,
In addition, there is a problem that a desired patterning shape cannot be obtained. 3D is a cross-sectional view of the thin film pattern under the step obtained in FIG. 3C as seen from the left side of the drawing.

Further, in the method shown in FIG. 4, since the thickness of the alumina film as the mask material can be reduced to about 2 μm, such a re-adhesion layer does not occur, but the pattern of the photosensitive resin film is transferred to the alumina film. Therefore, a double process of transferring this to a desired thin film and forming a pattern is required, and thus there is a problem that the dimensional accuracy deteriorates. That is, with the method shown in FIG. 4, the pattern accuracy is limited to ± 0.8 μm, and it is difficult to obtain a pattern with an accuracy of ± 0.5 μm or less.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for patterning a thin film formed on a step portion with high accuracy, particularly in the lower portion of the step.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head having a highly precise track width dimension.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

An object of the present invention is to deposit a thin film to be patterned on a stepped substrate, and then apply and form a photoresist film, that is, a photosensitive resin film, and expose it. By forming a pattern that will be used as a mask for the upper part of the other steps in separate steps, the photosensitive resin film thickness especially under the step can be made thinner than before, and the occurrence of re-adhesion layer during ion milling can be prevented. Achieved by

Regarding the degree of thinness of the photosensitive resin film thickness,
The thickness of the photosensitive resin film is preferably smaller than the pattern width of the minimum width portion of the thin film pattern to be formed. The minimum width portion is, for example, a portion corresponding to the track width in the case of the upper magnetic film of the thin film magnetic head.

A specific thin film pattern forming method is that a thin film to be patterned is first deposited on a substrate having a step, and then a thin photosensitive resin film is applied and formed on the entire substrate by spin coating, and the resin is mainly formed only under the step. By performing the two steps of the remaining step and the second step of patterning so as to serve as a mask for the lower part of the step, a redeposition layer does not occur during ion milling, and a pattern with high dimensional accuracy can be formed even under the step. It will be possible.

Further, the same effect can be obtained by the following method. That is, first, after depositing a thin film to be patterned on a stepped substrate, a thick photosensitive resin film is applied / formed on the entire substrate by spin coating, and the resin is mainly left only on the stepped portion to mask the stepped portion. The first step of patterning is performed so that a thin photosensitive resin film is applied and formed over the entire substrate by spin coating so that the resin mainly remains only under the step and serves as a mask for the lower step. By performing the two steps including the second step of patterning as described above, a redeposition layer does not occur at the time of ion milling, and a pattern with high dimensional accuracy can be formed even under the step.

In either of the above two methods, the photosensitive resins used in the first and second two steps may be of different types or the same type, but at least As the resin formed in the lower portion, it is desirable to use a positive photosensitive resin such as a novolac resin type photoresist in order to obtain high dimensional accuracy.

Further, in order to prevent the shape of the photosensitive resin film pattern formed in the first step from being deformed by performing the second step, a protective thin film is formed on the entire substrate after the first step is completed. The second step is performed after protecting the photosensitive resin film pattern. This method is effective for improving the dimensional accuracy of the obtained pattern. Examples of the material of this protective thin film include metal films of chromium, copper, aluminum and the like and insulating films of aluminum oxide, silicon oxide and the like, but chromium is particularly easy to prepare and has high light reflectance. Is most desirable.

Even if this protective thin film is not formed, if the photoresist film pattern previously formed by using a UV or deep UV curing type photoresist as the photosensitive resin is cured with UV rays or deep UV rays, the deformation after the pattern formation is prevented. Since it can be prevented, not only the formation of a protective film can be omitted, but also the etching speed during ion milling can be slowed down,
There is also an advantage that it is possible to prevent the shape change of the photosensitive resin film pattern with time. The irradiation of ultraviolet rays or far ultraviolet rays is preferably carried out while heating at 50 to 120 ° C. in order to efficiently cure the resin, and irradiation in a vacuum of 1 Torr or less is effective.

On the other hand, reducing the side surface taper angle of the photosensitive resin film pattern by performing heat treatment in either or both of the first step and the second step described above causes generation of a redeposition layer during ion milling. Effective to prevent. The heat treatment temperature is most preferably in the range of 100 to 150 ° C. at which the photosensitive resin causes a slight heat flow.

Further, if the heat treatment temperature is optimized, the deformation of the photosensitive resin film pattern can be prevented without forming the protective thin film or performing the deep UV curing treatment. That is, specifically, after the photosensitive resin film pattern formed in the first step is heated to 125 to 150 ° C. to be cured, the second photosensitive resin film forming step is performed. It is possible to prevent the deformation of the shape of the pattern formed in the first step. This method is effective when applied to the photosensitive resin above the step, especially when high accuracy of the thin film pattern above the step is not required as in the thin film magnetic head.

According to the present invention, the photosensitive resin film mask pattern of the step portion is formed separately in two steps of the step upper portion and the step lower portion. Further, the photoresist film serving as a mask is formed so that the portion including the lower portion of the step and the portion including the upper portion of the step have predetermined thicknesses. 2 above
As described above as one method, the order of forming the two photosensitive resin film patterns may be either the lower part of the step or the upper part. However, in order to make the film thickness under the step as thin as possible, first, It is desirable to form the pattern above the step after forming the pattern.

Further, any of the above methods can be applied as a high-precision forming method of the upper magnetic film pattern in the manufacture of the thin film magnetic head.

A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head is such that a lower magnetic film made of a magnetic material is formed on a substrate, a conductor coil is formed on the lower magnetic film for a predetermined number of turns, and a space between the lower magnetic film and the conductor coil and a conductor coil are formed. A step of insulating the space with an insulating film made of a non-magnetic material, and an upper magnetic film made of a magnetic material on the insulating film,
One end is in contact with one end of the lower magnetic film and the other end is opposed to the other end of the lower magnetic film via the magnetic gear, which allows a magnetic circuit having a part of the magnetic gap with the lower magnetic film. And a step of forming.

The upper magnetic film has a portion (first portion) facing the lower magnetic film via the magnetic gap and a portion (second portion) formed on the insulating film above the conductor coil. . The upper magnetic film has a step portion and has a first portion which is a lower portion of the step and a second portion which is an upper portion of the step.

In order to form such an upper magnetic film with high precision, especially in order to form a high precision pattern in the first portion,
A step of applying and forming a photoresist film by spin coating so as to have a predetermined thickness in the portion, and patterning so that the photoresist film remains mainly only in the first portion and serves as a mask for the lower part of the step; A photoresist film is applied / formed by spin coating so as to have a predetermined thickness in a portion, and the photoresist film is left mainly only in the second portion and patterned so as to serve as a mask for the upper part of the step, and Using the pattern patterned in two steps as a mask,
An upper magnetic film is formed.

At this time, a redeposition layer does not occur at the bottom of the step during ion milling, and a pattern with high dimensional accuracy can be formed.

Furthermore, as the photoresist material used for the first part,
Using a UV or deep UV curing type photoresist material,
It is preferable to cure the pattern of the photoresist film with ultraviolet rays or deep ultraviolet rays, because deformation after the pattern formation can be prevented. It also has the advantage of slowing the etching speed and preventing the photoresist film pattern shape from changing with time.

[Action]

According to the above method, it is possible to perform ion milling using the thin photosensitive resin film as a mask material even in the lower part of the step, so that the redeposition layer does not occur.

Moreover, since the width of the thin photosensitive resin film pattern can be transferred as it is to the target thin film, a thin film pattern having high dimensional accuracy can be obtained even under the step.

On the other hand, even at the upper part of the step, a photosensitive resin film pattern having a sufficient thickness as a mask material at the time of ion milling can be obtained, so that a highly accurate thin film pattern without film reduction or pattern chipping can be obtained.

Furthermore, when a protective thin film is formed on the photosensitive resin film pattern formed in the above-mentioned first step, or appropriate ultraviolet or far-ultraviolet irradiation or heat treatment is performed, it is possible to apply resin during the second step. It is possible to prevent pattern collapse.

〔Example〕

The first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows an example of a process of patterning a thin film in a step portion by an ion milling method.

First, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), a ceramic substrate
A step 12 having a height of 10 μm was formed on the layer 11 by using a polyimide resin, and a permalloy film 13 having a thickness of 2 μm was formed on the step 12 by a sputtering method. Then, FIG. 1 (b)
As shown in, a positive photoresist 14 was thinly applied. At this time, the photoresist thickness under the step was 3 μm. For coating the photoresist, any known method such as spin coating can be used. In the conventional method, the upper part and the lower part of the step are coated and formed at the same time. Therefore, in order to secure the required film thickness of 3 μm at the upper part of the step, the film thickness at the lower part of the step is increased to about 15 μm. Since it is not necessary to consider the film thickness above the step, it is easy to apply a thin film of about 3 μm as described above. Then, as shown in FIG. 1 (c), a photoresist is left only in the lower part of the step, and a pattern is formed so as to serve as a mask in the lower part of the step, and the temperature is set to 100 ° C.
After heat treatment at, a chromium film 15 having a thickness of 30 nm was deposited on the entire surface of the substrate as shown in FIG. 1 (d). Then, a positive photoresist 16 is applied by spin coating,
As shown in FIG. 1 (e), a photoresist is left on the step and a pattern is formed on the step to serve as a mask. Then, as shown in FIG. 1 (f), ion milling is performed. Patterning the permalloy film 13 using
The desired shape was obtained. At this time, the redeposition layer did not occur because the photoresist used as the mask material was thin.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), a step 52 having a height of 10 μm is formed on a ceramic substrate 51 using a polyimide resin, and a permalloy film 53 having a thickness of 2 μm is formed on the step 52 by a sputtering method. Formed. Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, a photoresist 54 was applied thickly by spin coating. At this time, the thickness of the photoresist is 3 μm above the step and 12 μ below the step.
It was m. As shown in FIG. 5 (c), a photoresist is left only on the steps and slopes, and a pattern is formed so as to serve as a mask on the steps, and the temperature is increased to 130 ° C.
After heat treatment in, the photoresist 55 was applied thinly by spin coating as shown in FIG.
At this time, the thickness of the photoresist 55 was about 0 μm above the step and 3 μm below the step.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5 (e), a photoresist 55 is left only in the lower portion of the step and the slope portion, and a pattern is formed so as to serve as a mask for the lower portion of the step, and then, as shown in FIG. 5 (f). As described above, the permalloy film 53 was patterned by using the ion milling method to obtain a target shape. At this time, since the photoresist used as the mask material was thin, the redeposition layer did not occur.

In the first embodiment, the protective film 15 is formed after the lower photoresist film is patterned by forming the upper photoresist film 16
The purpose is to prevent the pattern of the lower photoresist film from being deformed when the is applied. Therefore, as described above, when the lower photoresist was heated to 80 ° C. in vacuum and irradiated with deep ultraviolet rays to be cured, the protective film 15
Even without using, the same effect as in the first embodiment was obtained.

FIG. 6 shows the variation in the pattern dimension under the step when a thin film pattern having a width of 10 μm is formed by using the method of the present invention, in comparison with the result of the conventional method. Both
FIG. 6-1 is a measurement result of 100 samples, FIG. 6-1 is a distribution of the variation of the pattern dimension of the conventional method, and FIG. 6-2 is a graph showing the distribution of the variation of the pattern dimension of the method of the present invention. The axis shows the deviation (μm) of the pattern dimension from the predetermined dimension (10 μm), and the vertical axis shows the sampling frequency. By the method of the present invention, it is possible to reduce variations in pattern dimensions,
It was found that an accuracy within ± 0.5 μm, which was difficult in the past, could be achieved.

Next, an embodiment of a method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head as shown in FIG. 2 by using the thin film pattern forming method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

First, a subassembly having a shape excluding the upper magnetic film 76 shown in FIG. 7A is prepared. That is, the lower magnetic film 72 is sputtered on the ceramic substrate 71 to form a predetermined pattern. Then, a gap film 73 made of a non-magnetic material is laminated on a predetermined portion of the lower magnetic film to form a predetermined pattern portion of the lamination of the lower magnetic film and the gap film. Next, the insulating film 74
Is provided in the central portion of the predetermined pattern portion, the conductor coil 75 is arranged thereon, and the upper layer of the insulating film 74 is applied thereon to form the step portion of the insulating film as the lower magnetic film. When a predetermined pattern portion of the laminated structure of the film and the gap film is formed so as to have a step portion higher than the peripheral portion thereof, a subassembly having a shape excluding the upper magnetic film 76 of FIG. 7A is completed. When the conductor coil is provided in two layers as shown in FIG. 2, the insulating film is divided into three layers of an upper part, a central part and a lower part, and the lower layer of the insulating film is first formed into a predetermined pattern, A lower layer conductor coil is arranged on the lower layer, then a central layer of the insulating film is formed, and an upper layer conductor coil is arranged thereon to form an upper layer of the insulating film. Since the steps for manufacturing the above-mentioned subassembly are the same as the steps for manufacturing the conventional thin film magnetic head, detailed description thereof will be omitted. Next, an upper magnetic film 76 is formed on the upper part of this subassembly by spattering as shown in FIG. 7 (a).

Then, as shown in FIG. 7B, a positive photoresist was applied thinly by spin coating, and a pattern was formed so that the photoresist remained mainly only under the step and served as a mask. At this time, the photoresist thickness under the step was 3 μm. The photoresist pattern 77 was irradiated with far-ultraviolet light having an illuminance of 25 mw / cm ² for 3 minutes while heating the ceramic substrate 71 at 90 ° C. in a vacuum of 0.2 Torr to cure the resin. Then, as shown in FIG. 7C, a positive photoresist 78 was applied thickly by spin coating. At this time, since the photoresist pattern 77 was hardened by the far-ultraviolet light treatment, it was not dissolved in the solvent of the overcoated photoresist 78, and no change in the pattern shape was observed. Then, as shown in FIG. 7 (d), a photoresist 78 was left mainly only on the upper part of the step, and a pattern was formed so as to serve as a mask on the upper part of the step. Next, as shown in FIG. 7 (e), the upper magnetic film 76 was patterned by ion milling using the photoresists 77 and 78 as mask materials to obtain a shape as shown in FIG. 7 (e). At this time, re-deposition did not occur because the photoresists 77 and 78 used as the mask material were thin.

〔The invention's effect〕

By applying the means of the present invention, a thin photosensitive resin film can be used as a mask material even under a step, and a thin film pattern (in the case of a thin film magnetic head, an upper magnetic film pattern) can be formed by the ion milling method. The generation of layers is eliminated, and the dimensional accuracy of the pattern width is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

1, 5, and 7 are side sectional views showing a manufacturing method as one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective sectional view showing the structure of a thin film magnetic head, FIG. 3 and FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a conventional manufacturing method, and FIG. 6 is a frequency distribution diagram showing the effect of the present invention. 11 …… Substrate, 12 …… Step, 13 …… Permalloy film, 14 ……
Photoresist, 15 …… Chrome film, 16 …… Photoresist.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Eiji Ashida 4026 Kuji Town, Hitachi City, Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture Hitate Works, Ltd., Hitachi Research Institute (72) Inventor Makoto Morishiri 4026 Kuji Town, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Hitachi Co., Ltd. Hitachi Research Laboratory (72) Inventor Masanobu Kazono 4026 Kuji Town, Hitachi City, Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture Hitachi Institute Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tetsuya Okai 4026 Kuji Town, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Hitachi Research Laboratory, Ltd. ( 72) Inventor Masatoshi Tsuchiya 4026 Kuji Town, Hitachi City, Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture Hitachi Research Laboratory, Inc. (72) Inventor Naka Kobayashi 4026 Kuji Town, Hitachi City, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd. (72) Inventor Shinichi Hara 2880 Kozu, Odawara-shi, Kanagawa Stock company Hitachi Odawara factory (72) Inventor Ikeda Hiroshi 2880 Kozu, Odawara-shi, Kanagawa Stock company Hitachi Ltd. Odawara factory

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A method of forming a thin film pattern on a substrate having a step, comprising: a first step of forming a thin film of a predetermined material on the substrate; A second step of forming a first photoresist film by spin coating so as to have a predetermined thickness, and a third step of forming a predetermined pattern serving as a mask on the lower portion of the step of the thin film by the first photoresist film. A fourth step of forming a second photoresist film on the thin film by spin coating so as to have a predetermined thickness above the step on the thin film; and a predetermined pattern serving as a mask on the step above the thin film. A fifth step of forming the second photoresist film, and forming a predetermined pattern on the thin film using the first photoresist film and the second photoresist film as a mask Sixth step and method of forming a thin film pattern, characterized by having that. 2. A method of forming a thin film pattern on a substrate having a step, comprising: a first step of forming a thin film of a predetermined material on the substrate; A second step of forming a second photoresist film so as to have a predetermined thickness by spin coating, and a third step of forming a predetermined pattern serving as a mask on the upper portion of the step of the thin film by the second photoresist film. A fourth step of forming a first photoresist film on the thin film by spin coating so as to have a predetermined thickness below the step on the thin film; and a predetermined pattern serving as a mask for the step below the thin film. A fifth step of forming the first photoresist film, and forming a predetermined pattern on the thin film using the first photoresist film and the second photoresist film as a mask Sixth step and method of forming a thin film pattern, characterized by having that. 3. The thin film pattern according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the first photoresist film formed below the step on the thin film is smaller than the minimum width of the thin film pattern to be formed. Forming method. 4. The method for forming a thin film pattern according to claim 1, wherein the first photoresist film is formed with a predetermined thickness below a step of the thin film and is removed and does not remain above the step. 5. The method for forming a thin film pattern according to claim 1, wherein the second photoresist film is formed to have a predetermined thickness above the step of the thin film, and is removed and does not remain below the step. 6. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sixth step is to form a predetermined thin film pattern by an ion milling method using the first photoresist film and the second photoresist film as a mask. And a method of forming a thin film pattern. 7. A method of forming a thin film pattern on a substrate having a step, comprising: a first step of forming a thin film of a predetermined material on the substrate; A second step of forming a first photoresist film by spin coating so as to have a predetermined thickness, and a third step of forming a predetermined pattern serving as a mask on the lower portion of the step of the thin film by the first photoresist film. A fourth step of forming a protective thin film for protecting the first photoresist film on the first photoresist film and the thin film formed in the third step, and on the protective thin film, on the thin film A fifth step of forming a second photoresist film by spin coating so as to have a predetermined thickness on the step above, and a predetermined pattern serving as a mask on the step above the thin film. A sixth step of forming a photoresist film; and a seventh step of forming a predetermined pattern on the thin film by using the first photoresist film and the second photoresist film as a mask. Forming method. 8. The method for forming a thin film pattern according to claim 7, wherein the protective thin film is a chromium thin film. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first photoresist film and the second photoresist film is
A method for forming a thin film pattern, which is a positive photoresist film. 10. The method for forming a thin film pattern according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first photoresist film and the second photoresist film is an ultraviolet ray or deep ultraviolet ray curable type photoresist film. 11. A method of forming a thin film pattern on a substrate having a step, comprising: a first step of forming a thin film of a predetermined material on the substrate; A second step of forming a first photoresist film of ultraviolet ray or far ultraviolet ray curable type by spin coating so as to have a predetermined thickness, and a predetermined pattern serving as a mask for the lower portion of the step of the thin film by the first photoresist film. A third step of forming, a fourth step of irradiating the first photoresist film formed in the third step with ultraviolet rays or deep ultraviolet rays to cure it, and on the thin film, on a step above the thin film. A fifth step of forming a second photoresist film by spin coating so as to have a predetermined thickness, and a predetermined pattern serving as a mask on the upper portion of the step of the thin film are formed in the second photoresist. And a seventh step of forming a predetermined pattern on the thin film by using the first photoresist film and the second photoresist film as a mask. Forming method. 12. A lower magnetic film made of a magnetic material is formed on a substrate, and a conductor coil having a predetermined number of turns is formed on the lower magnetic film, and between the lower magnetic film and the conductor coil and the conductor coil. A first step of insulating a space between them with an insulating film made of a non-magnetic material; and an upper magnetic film made of a magnetic material on the insulating film, one end being in contact with one end of the lower magnetic film and the other end being the lower magnetic film. A second step of forming a magnetic circuit having a magnetic gap at a part thereof together with the lower magnetic film by forming the magnetic circuit on the other end of the upper magnetic film and the upper magnetic film. A third step of forming a first photoresist film by spin coating so as to have a predetermined thickness under the step on the magnetic film, and a predetermined pattern serving as a mask for the lower part of the step of the magnetic film by the first photoresist film. Therefore, a fourth step of forming the second photoresist film is formed on the upper magnetic film by spin coating so as to have a predetermined thickness above a step on the upper magnetic film. A sixth step of forming a predetermined pattern serving as a mask on the upper portion of the step of the film by the second photoresist film, and forming a predetermined pattern on the upper magnetic film by using the first photoresist film and the second photoresist film as a mask And a seventh step of forming the thin-film magnetic head. 13. A lower magnetic film made of a magnetic material is formed on a substrate, and a conductor coil having a predetermined number of turns is formed on the lower magnetic film, and between the lower magnetic film and the conductor coil and the conductor coil. A first step of insulating a space between them with an insulating film made of a non-magnetic material; and an upper magnetic film made of a magnetic material on the insulating film, one end being in contact with one end of the lower magnetic film and the other end being the lower magnetic film. A second step of forming a magnetic circuit having a magnetic gap at a part thereof together with the lower magnetic film by forming the magnetic circuit on the other end of the upper magnetic film and the upper magnetic film. UV or deep UV curable first type so that a predetermined thickness is formed under the step on the magnetic film.
A third step of forming a photoresist film by spin coating, a fourth step of forming a predetermined pattern serving as a mask on the lower portion of the step with the first photoresist film, and a step of forming the photoresist film in the fourth step. A fifth step of irradiating the first photoresist film with ultraviolet rays or deep ultraviolet rays to cure it, and spin coating a second photoresist film on the upper magnetic film so as to have a predetermined thickness above the step on the upper magnetic film. And a seventh step of forming a predetermined pattern serving as a mask on the upper portion of the step with the second photoresist film, and using the first photoresist film and the second photoresist film as a mask, An eighth step of forming a predetermined pattern on the upper magnetic film, and a method for manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, comprising: