New reactive ion etching process for HDD slider fabrication

Author

Fukushima, Nobuto ; Sato, Toshiharu ; Wada, Toshiaki ; Horiike, Yasuhiro

Author_Institution

Citizen Watch Co. Ltd., Saitama, Japan

Volume

32

Issue

5

fYear

1996

fDate

9/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

3786

Lastpage

3788

Abstract

High-rate and smooth surface etching of Al₂O₃-TiC has been developed employing inductively coupled plasma (ICP) for HDD head slider fabrication. The etching rate of 350 nm/min, which is more than seven times that of Ar ion beam etching, and average surface roughness (Ra) of around 20 nm were obtained as a result of optimizing etching gas composition of the Cl₂/BCl₃/Ar mixture. The presence of Ar both enhances the etching rate of Al₂O₃ grains, which limits the Al₂O₃-TiC rate, and suppresses that of TiC grains to improve the surface roughness. This study demonstrates the feasibility of ICP etching for fabricating high precision sliders with high throughput

Keywords

alumina; hard discs; magnetic heads; magnetic recording; sputter etching; surface topography; titanium compounds; Al₂O₃-TiC; Cl₂-BCl₃-Ar; Cl₂/BCl₃/Ar mixture; HDD slider fabrication; SEM images; average surface roughness; etching gas composition optimization; etching rate; flying height measurement; high precision sliders; high throughput; inductively coupled plasma; reactive ion etching process; Argon; Etching; Fabrication; Radio frequency; Resists; Rough surfaces; Scanning electron microscopy; Surface morphology; Surface roughness; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.538836

Filename

538836