Methods of forming near field transducers and near field transducers formed thereby
A method of forming a near field transducer (NFT), the method including the steps of depositing a plasmonic material; depositing an encapsulant material on at least a portion of the plasmonic material; and implanting ions into at least a portion of the plasmonic material through the encapsulant material.
1. A method of forming a near field transducer (NFT), the method comprising the steps of:
depositing a plasmonic material;
depositing an encapsulant material on at least a portion of the plasmonic material; and
implanting ions into at least a portion of the plasmonic material through the encapsulant material.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plasmonic material is at least partially fabricated before the encapsulant material is deposited thereon.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein at least partially fabricated comprises defining a peg, forming a peg, or some combination thereof.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the encapsulant material is deposited on plasmonic material that forms a peg of a NFT, on plasmonic material that forms a disc of a NFT, or on plasmonic material that forms both a peg and a disc of a NFT.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the encapsulant material comprises dielectric material.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the encapsulant material comprises diamond like carbon (DLC), and the plasmonic material is present on a device that includes a plurality of magnetic recording heads.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the encapsulant material is deposited to a thickness from about 2 nm to about 50 nm.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein implanting ions into at least a portion of the plasmonic material comprises patterning steps.
9. The method according to claim 1 further comprising etching at least a portion of the encapsulant material after implanting ions into at least a portion of the plasmonic material.
10. The method according to claim 1 further comprising depositing additional encapsulant material after implantation of ions into at least a portion of the plasmonic material.
11. A method of forming a near field transducer (NFT), the method comprising the steps of:
depositing a plasmonic material;
depositing an encapsulant material on at least a portion of the plasmonic material;
implanting ions into at least a portion of the plasmonic material through the encapsulant material; and
forming a NFT from the plasmonic material.
12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the NFT is formed from the plasmonic material before the encapsulant material is deposited thereon.
13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the NFT includes a peg, a disc, and a heat sink and the encapsulant material is deposited on at least a portion of the peg, the disc and the heat sink.
14. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the encapsulant material comprises a dielectric material and the dielectric material is deposited to a thickness from about 2 nm to about 50 nm.
15. The method according to claim 11 further comprising etching at least a portion of the encapsulant material after implanting ions into at least a portion of the plasmonic material and depositing additional encapsulant material after implantation of ions into at least a portion of the plasmonic material.
16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein implanting ions into at least a portion of the plasmonic material comprises patterning steps.