The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing sliders used in information recording disk drive units, and more particularly to a method of bonding slider row bars for photolithography process.
One known type of information storage device is a disk drive device that uses magnetic media to store data and a movable read/write head that is positioned over the magnetic media to selectively read from or write to the rotating magnetic media, such as a magnetic disk.
a illustrates a conventional disk drive device 200 and shows a magnetic disk 101 mounted on a spindle motor 102 for spinning the disk 101. A voice coil motor arm 104 carries a head gimbal assembly (HGA) 100 that includes a micro-actuator 105 and a slider 103 incorporating a read/write head. A voice-coil motor (VCM) is provided for controlling the motion of the motor arm 104 and, in turn, controlling the slider 103 to move from track to track across the surface of the disk 101, thereby enabling the read/write head to read data from or write data to the disk 101. In operation, a lift force is generated by the aerodynamic interaction between the slider 103 and the spinning magnetic disk 101. The lift force is opposed by equal and opposite spring forces applied by a suspension of the HGA 100 such that a predetermined flying height above the surface of the spinning disk 101 is maintained over a full radial stroke of the motor arm 104.
b illustrates a perspective view of the slider shown in
To make the slider read data from or write data to the disk successfully, the slider is required to have a good flying stability, i.e. the flying height of slider is kept at an invariable value when the slider is flying over the disk. If the slider has a bad flying stability, the flying height is variable i.e. sometimes the flying height becomes higher and sometimes the flying height becomes lower. If the flying height is too high, the slider may not successfully realizing a read/write operation; if the flying height is too low, the slider may scratch the disk to cause a damage of the disk and/or the slider.
Understandably, manufacturing accuracy of the ABS of the slider is a key factor to influence the flying stability of the slider. Here, a process of forming the ABS of the slider is described briefly as follows. Generally, the ABS of the slider is formed by photolithography process and vacuum etching process in sequence. At first, a photo-resist coating is covered on an ABS-forming surface of the slider; then, an air bearing surface pattern (ABS pattern) are transferred to the photo-resist coating by exposure; next, the photo-resist coating is developed to get rid of unexposed portions of the photo-resist coating; and finally, portions of the ABS-forming surface uncovered by the photo-resist coating is etched by ion beam to form an ABS.
In related art, a manufacturing process of the slider is typically based on a plurality of slider row bars, each of which is constructed by a plurality of slider bodies. A slider row bar may comprise 30-100 slider bodies according to different product type. These slider row bars are encapsulated together by adhesive to form an entire row bar assembly. After being processed, these row bar assemblies are separated from each other and finally each of these row bar assemblies is cut into separate sliders.
a-2b show a slider row bar used for forming sliders. As shown in the figures, the slider row bar 2 has a width W and a thickness T. The slider row bar 2 has an ABS-forming surface 3.
a shows a plurality of slider row bars 2 encapsulated together and bonded onto the carrier 1.
Also referring to
In the photolithography process of forming the ABS of the slider, the flatness of the photo-resist coating has a big influence on manufacturing accuracy of the ABS of the slider. More concretely, if the flatness of the photo-resist coating covered on the ABS-forming surfaces is bad, the ABS patterns transferred to the photo-resist coating through exposure will have a distortion in shape relative to the predetermined ABS pattern. Accordingly, the ABS pattern formed on the slider row bars by etching process will not match the predetermined ABS pattern. This will make the slider with such a ABS pattern have a bad flying stability and thus make the disk drive has a bad flying performance and may has a fear that the disk and/or the slider may be damaged.
Thus, it is desired to provide a method for bonding slider row bars for photolithography process to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks.
One object of the invention is to provide a method for bonding a plurality of slider row bars for photolithography process, which can greatly improve the flatness of ABS-forming surface of the bonded slider row bars.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for manufacturing sliders, which can improve manufacturing accuracy of the sliders.
To achieve the above objects, a method for bonding slider row bars for photolithography process, comprises steps of: (1) forming a holding device having a sticky surface; (2) providing a plurality of slider row bars each of which has a first surface for forming ABS and a second surface opposite to the first surface, and securing the slider row bars on the holding device with their first surfaces facing to the sticky surface; (3) bonding the slider row bars together by an encapsulating glue; (4) providing a carrier and bonding the carrier to the second surfaces of the slider row bars; (5) removing the holding device.
In an embodiment, the step (1) comprises steps of: (a) providing a frame having an hole therein; (b) providing a film having a sticky layer serving as the sticky surface and a non-sticky layer laminated together, and covering the film on the frame with the sticky layer facing to the frame; (c) providing a vacuum transfer fixture having a base plate and a protrusion stage which is positioned on the base plate and has a plurality of vacuum holes defined therein; (d) assembling the vacuum transfer fixture to the frame with the protrusion stage received in the hole of the frame and contacting with the non-sticky layer of the film to form the holding device. In addition, the method may further comprise a step of evacuating spaces defined by the vacuum holes and non-sticky layer to generate air pressure to press the film against the protrusion stage after the step (1).
The step (3) may comprise steps of: (i) providing a glue-restraining plate having an opening and attaching the glue-restraining plate to the sticky layer of the film such that the slider row bars are exposed from the opening; (ii) dispensing the encapsulating glue into the opening of the glue-restraining plate; (iii) laminating the encapsulating glue dispensed in the opening of the glue-restraining plate such that the encapsulating glue flows into spaces defined between the slider row bars; (iv) curing the encapsulating glue such that all the slider row bars are bonded together.
The step (4) may comprise steps of: providing a kind of fast-curing glue and dispensing the fast-curing glue to the second surfaces of the slider row bars; and attaching the carrier to the second surfaces of the slider row bars via the fast-curing glue. Moreover, an elastic layer may be sandwiched between the carrier and the second surfaces of the slider row bars to absorb shrinkage stress generated by the fast-curing glue.
The step (5) may comprise steps of: (A) removing the vacuum transfer fixture from the frame; and (B) removing the film from the slider row bars.
The encapsulating glue may be any suitable adhesive, such as a kind of adhesive comprising cyanoacrylate.
A method for manufacturing sliders, comprises steps of: (1) forming a holding device having a sticky surface; (2) providing a plurality of slider row bars each of which has a first surface for forming ABS and a second surface opposite to the first surface, and securing the slider row bars on the holding device with their first surfaces facing to the sticky surface; (3) bonding the slider row bars together by an encapsulating glue; (4) providing a carrier and bonding the carrier to second surfaces of the slider row bars; (5) removing the holding device; (6) etching the first surfaces of the slider row bars; (7) cutting the slider row bars into separate sliders.
Other aspects, features, and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this disclosure and which illustrate, by way of example, principles of this invention.
The accompanying drawings facilitate an understanding of the various embodiments of this invention. In such drawings:
a is a perspective view of a conventional disk drive device;
b is a perspective view of a slider of the disk drive device shown in
a is a perspective view of a slider row bar used in a slider row bar bonding process;
b is an enlarged view of portion A of the slider row bar shown in
c is a perspective view of a carrier used in a conventional process of bonding slider row bar;
a shows a plurality of slider row bars encapsulated together and bonded on the carrier after the process shown in
b shows a cross-sectional view of structure of
a-9d are sequential views illustrating a process of forming a holding device for temporarily holding a plurality of slider row bars thereon;
a-10c are sequential views illustrating a process of attaching a plurality of slider row bars on the holding device formed by the process shown in
a-11d sequentially show a set of views illustrating a process of encapsulating the slider row bars together, the slider row bars being carried on the holding device by process shown in
a-12b show a process of mounting a carrier onto the backside of the slider row bars which are encapsulated together by the process shown in
a-13d show a process for removing holding device;
Now, according to an embodiment of the invention, a method for bonding a plurality of slider row bars together for photolithography process is described. Referring to
a-9d illustrate the step 101 of the method. As shown in
Next, as shown in
a-10c illustrate the step 102 of the method. As illustrated, a plurality of slider row bars 18 is attached to the holding device 300. Each slider row bar 18 has a width W1 and a thickness T1. In addition, each slider row bar 18 has a first surface 19 for forming an air bearing surface (ABS-forming surface, also refer to
a-11d show sequential views illustrating the step 103 of the method. Firstly, as shown in
a-12b show sequential views illustrating the step 104 of the method. Firstly, as shown in
In addition, an elastic layer 29 (refer to
a-13d show sequential views illustrating the step 105 of the method. Firstly, as shown in
Compared with prior art, because it is the ABS-forming surface 19 of the slider row bars 18, not the slider-mounting surfaces thereof are taken as a datum plane, an influence caused by thickness variation of the slider row bars is reduced, or even eliminated completely. In addition, since the ABS-forming surface 19 of the slider row bars 18 are pressed firmly on the protrusion stage 15 of the fixture 13, glue shrinkage at the ABS-forming surfaces is baffled by the protrusion stage 15, and thus glue recess happens mainly at the second surfaces (slider-mounting surfaces) 182 of the row bars; and therefore, influence caused by the glue recess 400 on the overall flatness of the ABS-forming surfaces is reduced greatly. That is to say, the flatness of the ABS-forming surface of the slider row bars assembly (the bonded slider row bars) is improved greatly so that the slider manufacturing by the method of the invention may have an excellent flying stability, and thus the disk drive has a good flying performance and there is no fear that the disk and/or the slider may be damaged.
Referring to
While the invention has been described in connection with what are presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the invention.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6081991 | Tsunoda et al. | Jul 2000 | A |
| 6129855 | Sawada et al. | Oct 2000 | A |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20080052897 A1 | Mar 2008 | US |