The present invention relates to an equipment for manufacturing sliders used in disk drive, and more particularly to a de-bond fixture for separating and receiving a plurality of debonded slider row bars.
Disk drives are familiar information storage devices that use magnetic media, such as a disk, to store data and a movable read/write slider flying over the disk to selectively read data from and write data to the disk.
At present, a method of manufacturing sliders comprises steps of: (1) cutting a wafer into a plurality of slider row bars; (2) surface processing (such as lapping) and shaping (such as forming crown) the slider row bars; (3) bonding the slider row bars together by epoxy, placing the bonded slider row bars on a jig and then forming patterns on the slider row bar; (4) solving the epoxy on the slider row bars and the jig by solvent, such as NMP, to debond the slider row bars; (5) cutting the debonded slider row bar into a plurality of individual slider bodies and finally surface-handling the slider bodies to form the desired sliders.
The following shows a more detail explanation of how the slider row bar is debonded. As shown in
However, as shown in
In order to solve these problems, a de-bond fixture 40 is used to receive the separated slider row bars 20. As shown in
However, the guiding walls 42 of de-bond fixture 40 are too thin, for example less than 60 μm in thickness, to be easily damaged. In addition, once the guiding walls 42 are slightly tilted, the slider row bars 20 would not be successfully dropped into the grooves 45, and in such cases the slider row bars 20 might still overlap one another.
Hence, providing a slider row bar de-bond fixture to overcome the disadvantages mentioned above is necessary.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a slider row bar de-bond fixture which occupy a little room and receive the debonded slider row bars more safely and without overlapping.
To achieve the above-mentioned objects, a slider row bar de-bond fixture comprises a base plate; a row of separator walls formed on a top surface of the base plate and spaced one another for separating a plurality of slider row bars; and a plurality of grooves defined between the adjacent separator walls for receiving the slider row bars respectively. Each of the separator walls has a free top end with a smaller depth than its bottom end. In the present invention, each of the separator walls has such a structure that it is much easier for receiving the row bars into the grooves. In addition, it becomes much easier to insert the separator walls into the gaps between the slider row bars due to the structure, so that the dropped row bars can be protected from overlapping one another. Furthermore, since the bottom end of each separator wall is thicker than the free top end, the separator walls are tougher than conventional rectangular separator walls so as to avoid deformation after crashing or long time soaking in solvent. Finally, due to the above-mentioned structure of the de-bond fixture, the de-bond fixture can load the row bar in a slope surface so that a depth of the groove, also a depth of the fixture can be smaller than that of the conventional de-bond fixture, that is to say, only a little room is occupied by the de-bond fixture.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, each of the separator walls has a structure of triangular form in cross section. In another embodiment, each of the separator walls is designed to have a structure of trapezoid in cross section. More concretely, each of the separator walls has two side surfaces, one of which is a slope surface, and the other of which is designed to be vertical so as to server as a reference surface to facilitate aligning the row bars with the grooves.
Preferably, an angle defined by the two side surfaces of each separator wall ranges from 15 degrees to 80 degrees, which ensures that the sharpened top end of the separator wall can be easily inserted into the gaps between the row bars, and that the grooves receive the debonded slider row bars more safely and easily.
In the invention, the slider row bar de-bond fixture is preferably made of antistatic material in order to prevent electric static discharge (ESD) during manufacturing process, thereby protecting the row bar from being damaged by ESD.
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.
Various preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the figures, wherein like reference numerals designate similar parts throughout the various views. As indicated above, the invention is directed to a slider row bar de-bond fixture, which comprises a base plate; a row of separator walls formed on a top surface of the base plate and spaced one another for separating a plurality of slider row bars; and a plurality of grooves defined between the adjacent separator walls for receiving the slider row bars respectively. Each of the separator walls has a free top end with a smaller depth than its bottom end. Such a structure facilitates the separator walls inserting into respective gaps between the slider row bars and enables the separator walls tough enough to separate or disconnect the slider row bars. Additionally, because the upper opening of each groove is larger than the lower opening thereof, it will help to receive the slider row bars safely and avoid the slider row bars overlapping one another.
Referring to
When debonding the slider row bars 20, referring to
As best shown in
In the present invention, the side surface 91 of each separator wall 16 is designed to be vertical in order to serve as a reference surface to facilitate aligning the row bars 20 with the respective grooves 18. It will be appreciated that both side surfaces of the separator wall 16 can also be inclined.
As shown in
In the invention, the slider row bar de-bond fixtures mentioned above are preferably made of antistatic material in order to prevent electric static discharge (ESD) during manufacturing process, thereby preventing the slier row bars 20 from being damaged by ESD.
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 | Date | Country | Kind |
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200610004197.1 | Feb 2006 | CN | national |