Method and system for fabricating a cavity in a substrate of a magnetic recording head
View Patent ↗A method for fabricating an air-bearing surface (ABS) in a substrate having a surface is described. The substrate is for a magnetic recording head. The method includes providing a mask on the surface of substrate. The mask has an edge adjacent to a portion of the substrate exposed by the mask. The method also includes forming a taper in the portion of the substrate adjacent to the edge. The taper has an angle from the surface of the substrate of at least thirty degrees and not more than seventy degrees. The method also includes performing a reactive ion etching (RIE) to remove the portion of the substrate to form a cavity in the substrate. The angle of the taper is configured to substantially eliminated redeposition from the RIE on the edge.
1. A method for fabricating an air-bearing surface (ABS) in a substrate having a surface, the substrate being for a magnetic recording head, the method comprising:
providing a mask on the surface of substrate, the mask having an edge adjacent to a portion of the substrate exposed by the mask;
forming a taper in the portion of the substrate adjacent to the edge using an ion beam etch at an etch angle from normal to the surface, the taper having an angle from the surface of the substrate of at least thirty degrees and not more than seventy degrees;
performing a reactive ion etching (RIE) to remove the portion of the substrate to form a cavity in the substrate, the angle of the taper being configured to substantially eliminate redeposition from the RIE on the edge.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the angle is at least forty-five degrees and not more than sixty degrees.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the etch angle is at least twenty degrees and not more than forty-five degrees.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the substrate includes AITiC.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the substrate includes a ceramic.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein at least the portion of the substrate consists of a single material.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of performing the RIE forms a cavity edge, the cavity edge having a cavity angle with respect to the surface, the cavity angle being greater than twenty degrees.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the cavity angle is at least fifty degrees and not greater than eighty degrees.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of performing the RIE forms the cavity having a depth of at least twenty micro-inches.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein the depth is not more than two hundred micro-inches.
11. A method for fabricating an air-bearing surface (ABS) in an AITiC substrate having a surface and being for a magnetic recording head, the method comprising:
providing a mask on the surface of the AITiC substrate, the mask having an edge adjacent to a portion of the AITiC substrate, the portion of AITiC the substrate being exposed by the mask;
ion beam etching the portion of the AITiC substrate at an etch angle of at least twenty and not more than forty-five degrees to form a taper in the AITiC substrate adjacent to the edge, the taper having an angle from the surface of the AITiC substrate of at least forty-five degrees and not more than sixty degrees; performing a reactive ion etching (RIE) to remove the portion of the AITiC substrate to form a cavity in the AITiC substrate, the angle of the taper being configured to substantially eliminated redeposition from the RIE on the edge, the cavity having an angle of at least fifty degrees from the surface.