Noble metal coated plasmonic waveguide blocker for heat assisted magnetic recording head
The present embodiments relate to a noble metal coating on a parabolic waveguide blocker surface to future improve thermal gradient for HAMR head which can provide an improved thermal spot confinement over other designs. More particularly, the present embodiments relate to a component in the near field transducer (NFT), made of a metallic parabolic shaped waveguide blocker (PWB) with noble metal coating on the PWB surface. The designs as described herein can include a noble metal coating (e.g., Au, Rh, Ir, Pt, Aluminum (Al), etc.) which can enable a plasmonic effect on the PWB surface for HAMR thermal gradient improvement.
1. A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) write head comprising:
a main pole;
a waveguide core;
a bilayer transducer disposed between the main pole and the waveguide core;
a dielectric spacer layer disposed adjacent to the waveguide core, wherein the dielectric spacer layer comprises a dielectric material that includes any of: Silicon Oxide (SiOx), Aluminum Oxide (AlOx), Titanium Oxide (TiOx), or Magnesium Oxide (MgOx);
a parabolic waveguide blocker (PWB); and
a noble metal layer disposed between the PWB and the dielectric spacer layer.
2. The HAMR write head of claim 1 , wherein the noble metal layer comprises a thickness of between 20-100 nanometers.
3. The HAMR write head of claim 1 , wherein the noble metal layer comprises any of Ruthenium (Ru), Iridium (Ir), Platinum (Pt), and Gold (Au) and their alloy.
4. The HAMR write head of claim 1 , wherein the noble metal layer comprises a parabolic shape to match a shape of the PWB, and wherein the PWB comprises a taper angle in the range of about 10-90 degrees with respect to ABS normal degrees.
5. The HAMR write head of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric spacer layer comprises a dielectric material, and the waveguide core comprises a high index material.
6. A device comprising:
a waveguide core;
a dielectric spacer layer disposed adjacent to the waveguide core, wherein the dielectric spacer layer comprises a dielectric material that includes any of: Silicon Oxide (SiOx), Aluminum Oxide (AlOx), Titanium Oxide (TiOx), or Magnesium Oxide (MgOx);
a waveguide blocker; and
a noble metal layer disposed between the waveguide blocker and the dielectric spacer layer.
7. The device of claim 6 , further comprising:
a main pole; and
a bilayer transducer disposed between the main pole and the waveguide core.
8. The device of claim 6 , wherein the waveguide blocker is triangular prism shaped or parabolic shaped.
9. The device of claim 6 , wherein the noble metal layer comprises a thickness of between 20-100 nanometers.
10. The device of claim 6 , wherein the noble metal layer comprises any of Ruthenium (Ru), Iridium (Ir), Platinum (Pt), and Gold (Au) and their alloy.
11. The HAMR write head of claim 1 , wherein the noble metal layer comprises a parabolic shape to match a shape of the PWB, and wherein the PWB comprises a taper angle of around 10-90 degrees with respect to ABS normal degrees.
12. A method for manufacturing a parabolic-shaped waveguide blocker with a noble metal layer, the method comprising:
depositing a metallic layer on top of a leading shield;
applying a first photoresist (PR) mask over at least a part of the metallic layer;
etching a portion of the metallic layer to form a tapered edge of the metallic layer with a taper angle;
applying a second PR mask over at least part of the leading shield;
depositing a noble metal layer over the metallic layer and the second PR mask;
depositing a first oxide layer over the noble metal layer; and
depositing a second oxide layer over the first oxide layer to serve as a waveguide core.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the metallic layer comprises Ruthenium (Ru).
14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
shaping the first PR mask into a parabolic shape; and
shaping the second PR mask into the parabolic shape.
15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the etching the portion of the metallic layer is performed via an Ion Beam Etching (IBE) process, and wherein the taper angle is in the range of about 10-90 degrees with respect to ABS normal degrees.
16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
removing the first PR mask.
17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
removing the second PR mask.
18. The method of claim 12 , wherein the noble metal layer comprises any of Ruthenium (Ru), Iridium (IR) and Gold (Au), and their alloy, and wherein a thickness of the noble metal layer is between 20-80 nanometers.
19. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
planarizing the second oxide layer using a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process.
20. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first oxide layer comprises a dielectric material and wherein the waveguide core comprises a high index material.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the first oxide layer comprises any of: Silicon Oxide (SiOx), Aluminum Oxide (AlOx), Titanium Oxide (TiOx), or Magnesium Oxide (MgOx) and wherein the high index material comprises any of: Niobium Oxide (NbOx), or Tantalum Oxide (TaOx).