Thin film magnetic head having improved thermal characteristics, and method of manufacturing
View Patent ↗A thin film magnetic head having one or more magneto-resistive (MR) elements. A thermally conductive stud is incorporated in an underlayer of the head, below the bottom shield of the MR element. This stud acts as a heat sink, and enhances the heat flow from the bottom shield to the substrate to thereby reduce thermal contact noise in the device, as well as allowing use of higher bias currents when reading signals from the media.
1. A thin film magnetic head, comprising:
a substrate;
a first magnetic shield layer;
a thermally conductive stud disposed between the substrate and the first magnetic shield layer, wherein contact between the first magnetic shield layer and the thermally conductive stud is absent; and
an electrical insulator layer disposed between the first magnetic shield layer and the thermally conductive stud, wherein the electrical insulator layer provides electrical insulation between the first magnetic shield layer and the thermally conductive stud.
2. The thin film magnetic head of claim 1 , further comprising:
an MR element disposed above the first magnetic shield layer; and
a second magnetic shield layer disposed above the MR element.
3. The thin film magnetic head of claim 2 , further comprising:
a second electrical insulator layer disposed between the MR element and the first magnetic shield layer; and
a third electrical insulator layer disposed between the MR element and the second magnetic shield layer.
4. The thin film magnetic head of claim 1 , wherein the thermally conductive stud is electrically conductive.
5. The thin film magnetic head of claim 4 , wherein the thermally conductive stud comprises copper.
6. The thin film magnetic head of claim 4 , wherein the thermally conductive stud comprises aluminum.
7. The thin film magnetic head of claim 1 , wherein the electrical insulator layer comprises alumina.
8. The thin film magnetic head of claim 1 , wherein the electrical insulator layer comprises a thin electrical insulator layer between the stud and the first magnetic shield layer.
9. A method of producing a thin film magnetic head, comprising the steps of:
forming a substrate layer;
forming a thermally conductive stud above the substrate;
forming an electrical insulator layer above the thermally conductive stud;
forming a magnetic shield layer above the electrical insulator layer such that the electrical insulator layer provides electrical insulation between the thermally conductive stud and the magnetic shield layer, wherein contact between the magnetic shield layer and the thermally conductive stud is absent and wherein the electrical insulator layer is between the magnetic shield layer and the thermally conductive stud; and
forming a read element above the magnetic shield layer.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the read element is a magneto-resistive element.
11. A method of using a thin film magnetic head to process data on a magnetic tape media, said method comprising the steps of
contacting a magnetic tape with a thin film magnetic head, said magnetic tape having data, said thin film magnetic head comprising:
a substrate;
a first magnetic shield layer;
a thermally conductive stud disposed between the substrate and the first magnetic shield layer, wherein contact between the first magnetic shield layer and the thermally conductive stud is absent; and
an electrical insulator layer disposed between the first magnetic shield layer and the thermally conductive stud, wherein the electrical insulator layer provides electrical insulation between the first magnetic shield layer and the thermally conductive stud; and
accessing the data on the magnetic tape with the thin film magnetic head.