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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9761253-B1
Application number	US-201615282503-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 30, 2016
Priority date	Sep 30, 2016
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

A main pole has a front end face including a first to a third end face portion. A plasmon generator has a near-field-light-generating surface. A surrounding layer has a first surrounding layer end face and a second surrounding layer end face. A gap film has a first gap film end face and a second gap film end face located on opposite sides of the near-field-light-generating surface in the track width direction. The first and second end face portions are interposed between the first and second surrounding layer end faces. The second end face portion is greater in width than the first end face portion. The third end face portion is greater in width than the second end face portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head comprising:
a medium-facing surface configured to face a recording medium;
a main pole for producing a write magnetic field for use to write data on the recording medium;
a waveguide including a core and a cladding, the core allowing light to propagate therethrough, the cladding being provided around the core;
a plasmon generator having a near-field-light-generating surface located in the medium-facing surface;
a surrounding layer; and
a gap film for separating the plasmon generator from the surrounding layer, wherein
the plasmon generator is configured to excite thereon a surface plasmon resulting from the light propagating through the core, and to generate near-field light from the surface plasmon at the near-field-light-generating surface,
the main pole has a front end face located in the medium-facing surface,
the front end face includes a first end face portion, a second end face portion, and a third end face portion,
the near-field-light-generating surface, the first end face portion, the second end face portion and the third end face portion are arranged in this order along a direction of travel of the recording medium,
the main pole includes a tip portion including the first end face portion, a middle portion including the second end face portion, and a wide portion including the third end face portion,
the first end face portion has an edge closest to the near-field-light-generating surface,
the edge has a first end point and a second end point opposite to each other in a track width direction,
the second end face portion has a first side end and a second side end opposite to each other in the track width direction,
both the first side end and the second side end extend along the direction of travel of the recording medium,
a distance between the first side end and the second side end is greater than a length of the edge of the first end face portion,
a distance between the first side end and a first imaginary straight line is equal to a distance between the second side end and a second imaginary straight line, the first imaginary straight line passing through the first end point and being parallel to the direction of travel of the recording medium, the second imaginary straight line passing through the second end point and being parallel to the direction of travel of the recording medium,
a maximum width of the third end face portion in the track width direction is greater than the distance between the first side end and the second side end,
the surrounding layer has a first surrounding layer end face and a second surrounding layer end face, both located in the medium-facing surface,
the first surrounding layer end face and the second surrounding layer end face are located on opposite sides of the first and second end face portions in the track width direction so that the first and second end face portions are interposed between the first and second surrounding layer end faces,
the gap film has a first gap film end face and a second gap film end face, both located in the medium-facing surface, and
the first gap film end face and the second gap film end face are located on opposite sides of at least part of the near-field-light-generating surface in the track width direction so that the at least part of the near-field-light-generating surface is interposed between the first and second gap film end faces.

2. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 1 , wherein
the first gap film end face includes a portion interposed between the first surrounding layer end face and the first end face portion, and includes no portion interposed between the first surrounding layer end face and the second end face portion, and
the second gap film end face includes a portion interposed between the second surrounding layer end face and the first end face portion and includes no portion interposed between the second surrounding layer end face and the second end face portion.

3. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 1 , wherein
the front end face of the main pole further includes a fourth end face portion,
the third end face portion is interposed between the second end face portion and the fourth end face portion,
the fourth end face portion is greater than the third end face portion in width in the track width direction,
at least part of the third end face portion is interposed between the first and second surrounding layer end faces, and
the fourth end face portion includes no portion interposed between the first and second surrounding layer end faces.

4. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 1 , further comprising a separating film for separating the main pole from the surrounding layer,
wherein the separating film is a single continuous film, and at least part of the separating film is interposed between the main pole and the plasmon generator, between the main pole and the surrounding layer, and between the main pole and the gap film.

5. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 1 , wherein the surrounding layer is formed of a nonmagnetic metal material.

6. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 1 , wherein
the surrounding layer includes a first side shield and a second side shield each formed of a magnetic material,
the first side shield has a first side shield end face constituting at least part of the first surrounding layer end face, and
the second side shield has a second side shield end face constituting at least part of the second surrounding layer end face.

7. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 1 , wherein
the core has an evanescent-light-generating surface configured to generate evanescent light from the light propagating through the core,
the plasmon generator includes a plasmon-exciting section located at a predetermined distance from the evanescent-light-generating surface and facing the evanescent-light-generating surface, and
the plasmon generator is configured so that a surface plasmon is excited on the plasmon-exciting section through coupling with the evanescent light generated by the evanescent-light-generating surface, the surface plasmon propagates to the near-field-light-generating surface, and the near-field-light-generating surface generates near-field light from the surface plasmon.

8. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 1 , wherein the front end face of the main pole is located on a front side in the direction of travel of the recording medium relative to the near-field-light-generating surface.

9. A manufacturing method for the thermally-assisted magnetic recording head of claim 1 , comprising the steps of:
forming the waveguide;
forming the plasmon generator;
forming the surrounding layer and the gap film after the plasmon generator is formed; and
forming the main pole after the surrounding layer and the gap film are formed;
wherein the step of forming the plasmon generator includes the steps of:
forming an initial plasmon generator;
forming an etching mask for use to pattern the initial plasmon generator; and
etching the initial plasmon generator by using the etching mask so that the initial plasmon generator becomes the plasmon generator,

the step of forming the surrounding layer and the gap film includes:
the step of forming an initial gap film to cover the plasmon generator and the etching mask after the step of etching the initial plasmon generator;
the step of forming the surrounding layer after the initial gap film is formed; and
the removal step of removing a portion of the initial gap film

Assignees

• Sasaki Yoshitaka
• Ito Hiroyuki
• Mamiya Hideo
• Tanemura Shigeki
• Tomita Seiichiro
• Araki Hironori
• Headway Tech Inc

Inventors

• Sasaki Yoshitaka
• Ito Hiroyuki
• Mamiya Hideo
• Tanemura Shigeki
• Tomita Seiichiro
• Araki Hironori

Classifications

• G11B5/314 Primary

  where the layers are extra layers normally not provided in the transducing structure, e.g. optical layers (G11B5/3196 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G11B2005/0021

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

• G11B5/3163

  Fabrication methods or processes specially adapted for a particular head structure, e.g. using base layers for electroplating, using functional layers for masking, using energy or particle beams for shaping the structure or modifying the properties of the basic layers · CPC title

• G11B5/4866

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

• G11B5/3169

  Working or finishing the interfacing surface of heads, e.g. lapping of heads · CPC title