Batch fabrication of thin film magnetic recording heads: A literature review and process description for vertical single turn heads

Several publications in the past have discussed the potential of batch fabricated thin film heads. Most of these publications dealt with theoretical predictions. Only a few discussed fabrication techniques and reported on the write and read test results. This paper describes a fabrication process for single turn thin film heads of vertical configuration. The process utilizes well known evaporation, plating, and photolithographic techniques. It is simple, inexpensive, and amenable to batch fabrication. Heads fabricated using this process were shown to write and read on a disk, moving at 40 m/s (1575 in/s) with ∼6 Kfr/cm. Dynamic test results reported in a paper by Valstyn and Shew corroborate the earlier prediction. This paper also discusses and compares advantages and disadvantages of the single turn heads of a vertical configuration with those of a horizontal configuration.