Transfer-printed near-field transducer and heat sink

1. A method comprising:

forming a plurality of non-metallic heat sinks on a layer via a first process, the first process being incompatible with growth on a wafer on which a plurality of read/write heads are formed;

transfer printing the heat sinks to the plurality of read/write heads via a second process; and

using photolithography, shaping or aligning the plurality of heat sinks on the read/write heads after the transfer printing.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the temperature of the first process is between 220 degrees Celsius to 700 degrees Celsius.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heat sinks comprises at least one of diamond and diamond-like carbon.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first process comprises forming a fully crystalline material on a crystalline substrate.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first process comprises forming a material stack comprising of at least two of a plasmonic material layer, adhesion layer, protection layer, carrier layer, bonding layer, and chemical mechanical planarization stop material layer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first process comprises forming a sacrificial layer on a substrate, and forming the heat sinks on the sacrificial layer, and wherein the second process comprises bonding the heat sinks to the wafer and applying a separation force to separate the heat sinks from the sacrificial layer.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heat sinks are thermally coupled to magnetic poles of the read/write heads.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heat sinks are thermally coupled to optical components of the read/write heads.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heat sinks are thermally coupled to read transducers of the read/write heads.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heat sinks comprise boron nitride.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming additional components of the read/write heads over the heat sinks.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the additional components are formed using photolithography.

13. A method comprising:

forming a plurality of non-metallic heat sinks on a layer via a first process, the first process being incompatible with growth on a wafer on which a plurality of read/write heads are formed;

transfer printing the heat sinks to the plurality of read/write heads via a second process;

forming a plurality of near-field transducers of plasmonic material on the layer via the first process; and

transfer printing the near-field transducers to the wafer together with the heat sinks via the second process.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first process comprises forming a sacrificial layer on a substrate, forming the heat sinks on the sacrificial layer, and wherein the transfer printing comprises bonding the heat sinks to the wafer and applying a separation force to separate the heat sinks from the sacrificial layer.

15. A method comprising:

forming a plurality of non-metallic heat sinks on a layer via a first process, the first process being incompatible with growth on a substrate on which a plurality of read/write heads are formed;

bonding the plurality of heat sinks to the read/write heads on the substrate via transfer printing;

forming additional components of the read/write heads over the heat sinks via a process that is compatible with growth on the substrate;

forming a plurality of near-field transducers on the layer via the first process; and

bonding the near-field transducers to the substrate together with the heat sinks via the transfer printing.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the process that is compatible with growth on the substrate comprises photolithography and layer deposition.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising, using photolithography, shaping or aligning the plurality of heat sinks on the read/write heads after the transfer printing.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first process comprises forming a fully crystalline material on a crystalline substrate.