Thermally-assisted magnetic recording head including a main pole and a plasmon generator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11114119-B1
Application number	US-202017062149-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Oct 2, 2020
Priority date	Oct 2, 2020
Publication date	Sep 7, 2021
Grant date	Sep 7, 2021

Abstract

A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head includes a medium facing surface, a main pole, a waveguide, and a plasmon generator. The plasmon generator includes a first metal layer and a second metal layer. The first metal layer includes a plasmon exciting portion on which surface plasmons are excited. The second metal layer is located on the first metal layer, and includes a bottom surface in contact with the first metal layer, a top surface located on a side opposite to the bottom surface, a front end face that is located in the medium facing surface and generates near-field light from the surface plasmons, and a connecting surface that connects the top surface and the front end face. The connecting surface includes an inclined portion inclined relative to a direction perpendicular to the medium facing surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head comprising:
a medium facing surface that faces a recording medium;
a main pole that generates a write magnetic field for writing data on the recording medium;
a waveguide including a core that propagates light and a cladding that is located around the core; and
a plasmon generator, wherein
the plasmon generator includes a first metal layer and a second metal layer,
the first metal layer is formed of a first metal material, is located away from the medium facing surface, and includes a plasmon exciting portion on which a surface plasmon is excited on a basis of the light propagating through the core,
the second metal layer is formed of a second metal material, is located on the first metal layer, and includes a bottom surface in contact with the first metal layer, a top surface located on a side opposite to the bottom surface, a front end face that is located in the medium facing surface and generates near-field light from the surface plasmon, and a connecting surface that connects the top surface and the front end face, and
the connecting surface includes an inclined portion inclined relative to a direction perpendicular to the medium facing surface.

2. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 1 , wherein:
the core includes an evanescent light generating surface that generates evanescent light from the light propagating through the core;
the plasmon exciting portion is opposed to the evanescent light generating surface at a predetermined distance; and
in the first metal layer, the surface plasmon is excited on the plasmon exciting portion through coupling with the evanescent light.

3. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 1 , wherein:
the second metal layer includes a narrow portion including the front end face of the second metal layer, and a wide portion located farther from the medium facing surface than the narrow portion is; and
the wide portion has a maximum width greater than a maximum width of the narrow portion in a track width direction.

4. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 1 , further comprising a heat sink in contact with the top surface of the second metal layer at a position away from the medium facing surface.

5. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 4 , wherein the heat sink includes an inclined surface inclined relative to the direction perpendicular to the medium facing surface, the inclined surface being continuous with the inclined portion of the connecting surface of the second metal layer.

6. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 5 , wherein an angle that the inclined surface of the heat sink forms with the direction perpendicular to the medium facing surface is the same as an angle that the inclined portion of the connecting surface of the second metal layer forms with the direction perpendicular to the medium facing surface.

7. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 5 , wherein:
the first metal layer includes a first end closest to the medium facing surface;
the inclined surface includes a second end closest to the medium facing surface; and
a distance from the medium facing surface to the second end of the inclined surface is less than or equal to a distance from the medium facing surface to the first end of the first metal layer.

8. A manufacturing method for the thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 1 , the manufacturing method comprising:
a step of forming the main pole;
a step of forming the waveguide; and
a step of forming the plasmon generator, wherein
the step of forming the plasmon generator includes a step of forming the first metal layer and a step of forming the second metal layer, and
the step of forming the second metal layer includes a step of forming a metal film of the second metal material and a first etching step of taper etching the metal film so that the inclined portion of the connecting surface of the second metal layer is formed in the metal film.

9. The manufacturing method according to claim 8 , wherein:
the thermally-assisted magnetic recording head further includes a heat sink in contact with the top surface of the second metal layer at a position away from the medium facing surface; and
the manufacturing method further comprises a step of forming the heat sink.

10. The manufacturing method according to claim 9 , wherein:
the heat sink includes an inclined surface inclined relative to the direction perpendicular to the medium facing surface;
the step of forming the heat sink includes a step of forming an initial heat sink for eventually making the heat sink on the metal film and a second etching step of taper etching the initial heat sink so that the inclined surface of the heat sink is formed on the initial heat sink; and
the first etching step is performed continuously after the second etching step.

11. The manufacturing method according to claim 10 , wherein the first and second etching steps are performed by using ion beam etching.

Assignees

• Sasaki Yoshitaka
• Ito Hiroyuki
• Tanemura Shigeki
• Tomita Seiichiro
• Headway Tech Inc

Inventors

• Sasaki Yoshitaka
• Ito Hiroyuki
• Tanemura Shigeki
• Tomita Seiichiro

Classifications

• G11B2005/0021

  Thermally assisted recording using an auxiliary energy source for heating the recording layer locally to assist the magnetization reversal · CPC title

• G11B5/6088

  Optical waveguide in or on flying head · CPC title

• G11B5/4866 Primary

  the arm comprising an optical waveguide, e.g. for thermally-assisted recording · CPC title

• G11B5/40

  Protective measures on heads, e.g. against excessive temperature  (G11B5/31 takes precedence; protection against wear G11B5/255  {; protective structure of the head: see under structures, e.g. G11B5/3106}) · CPC title

• G11B5/3106 Primary

  where the integrated or assembled structure comprises means for conditioning against physical detrimental influence, e.g. wear, contamination (G11B5/3133 takes precedence) · CPC title