U.S. patent application number 13/723870 was filed with the patent office on 2014-06-26 for multi-reader method and apparatus.
This patent application is currently assigned to SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC. The applicant listed for this patent is SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC. Invention is credited to Thomas Roy Boonstra, Mark T. Kief.
Application Number | 20140177102 13/723870 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 49916820 |
Filed Date | 2014-06-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140177102 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kief; Mark T. ; et
al. |
June 26, 2014 |
MULTI-READER METHOD AND APPARATUS
Abstract
In accordance with one embodiment, a multi-reader can be
manufactured so as to be able to read from multiple regions of a
storage device contemporaneously during operation. Such a device
can be configured, for example, by forming a first wall; forming a
second wall; and utilizing the first wall and the second wall to
form two adjacent reader stacks
Inventors: |
Kief; Mark T.; (Lakeville,
MN) ; Boonstra; Thomas Roy; (Chaska, MN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC |
Cupertino |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC
Cupertino
CA
|
Family ID: |
49916820 |
Appl. No.: |
13/723870 |
Filed: |
December 21, 2012 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
360/128 ; 216/22;
360/110; 427/127; 427/58 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01J 2237/334 20130101;
G11B 5/3909 20130101; G11B 5/3958 20130101; G11B 5/3912 20130101;
G11B 2005/3996 20130101; G11B 5/112 20130101; H01J 37/32009
20130101; Y10T 29/49052 20150115; G11B 5/3163 20130101; G11B 5/3948
20130101; Y10T 29/49046 20150115; G11B 5/1272 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
360/128 ;
360/110; 427/127; 216/22; 427/58 |
International
Class: |
G11B 5/11 20060101
G11B005/11; G11B 5/127 20060101 G11B005/127 |
Claims
1-12. (canceled)
13) An apparatus comprising: a first reader stack; a second reader
stack disposed within no more than about 100 nanometers of the
first reader stack.
14) The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 and further comprising: a
symmetrical junction between the first reader stack and the second
reader stack.
15) The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 and further comprising: a
clear valley disposed between the first reader stack and the second
reader stack.
16) The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 and further comprising: at
least one divided shield wherein a first portion of the divided
shield is in electrical contact with the first reader stack and a
second portion of the divided shield is in electrical contact with
the second reader stack and wherein the first portion of the
divided shield and second portion of the divided shield are
separated by an electrical insulator.
17) The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 wherein the first reader
stack and the second reader stack are configured from a common
layer.
18) The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 and further comprising:
electrical isolation material disposed between the first reader
stack and the second reader stack.
19) The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 and further comprising:
shielding material disposed above the first reader stack and the
second reader stack; shielding material disposed below the first
reader stack and the second reader stack; electrical isolation
material disposed to the side of at least one of the first reader
stack and the second reader stack.
20) The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 and further comprising:
shielding material disposed above the first reader stack and the
second reader stack; shielding material disposed below the first
reader stack and the second reader stack; electrical isolation
material disposed between the first reader stack and the second
reader stack.
21) An apparatus comprising: a first reader stack; a second reader
stack disposed within no more than about 100 nanometers of the
first reader stack along an axis running through both the first
reader stack and the second reader stack.
22) The apparatus as claimed in claim 21 wherein the first reader
stack and the second reader stack are configured to read from
different tracks contemporaneously.
23) The apparatus as claimed in claim 21 wherein the first reader
stack and the second reader stack are configured to read from a
single track contemporaneously.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] Magnetic storage devices often store data on what are
commonly referred to as "tracks." These tracks can store long
sequences of binary data that can be read by a reader. The tracks
are often formed in close proximity to one another. For example,
hard disk drives often utilize disks that store data with the
tracks formed as concentric rings.
SUMMARY
[0002] This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of
concepts in simplified form that are further described below in the
Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key
features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor
is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject
matter. Other features, details, utilities, and advantages of the
claimed subject matter will be apparent from the following more
particular written Detailed Description of various implementations
and implementations as further illustrated in the accompanying
drawings and defined in the appended claims.
[0003] In accordance with one embodiment, a multi-reader can be
manufactured so as to be able to read from multiple regions of a
storage device contemporaneously during operation. Such a device
can be configured, for example, by forming a first wall; forming a
second wall; and utilizing the first wall and the second wall to
form two adjacent reader stacks.
[0004] In another embodiment, a multi-reader can be configured, for
example, by forming a first reader stack and a second reader stack
within not more than about 100 nanometers of one another.
[0005] These and various other features and advantages will be
apparent from the following detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the
present technology may be realized by reference to the figures,
which are described in the remaining portion of the
specification.
[0007] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a hard disk drive device
that can be used with a multi-reader head.
[0008] FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, and 2H show a process of
manufacturing a multi-reader in accordance with one embodiment.
[0009] FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E, and 3F illustrates an example of a
process of manufacturing a split-shield for use with a
multi-reader, in accordance with one embodiment.
[0010] FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, 4F, 4G, and 4H illustrate examples
of different split readers in accordance with different
embodiments.
[0011] FIG. 5 shows a flow chart illustrating a method in
accordance with one embodiment.
[0012] FIG. 6 shows another flow chart illustrating a method in
accordance with another embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] The density of tracks used on memory devices continues to
improve. As one example, the density of tracks used on hard disk
drives continues to improve so that tracks are being placed closer
and closer together. In accordance with one embodiment, multiple
tracks may now be read contemporaneously. For example, one reader
of a multi-track reader may be used to read one track while a
second reader of the multi-track reader may be used to read a
second track. In accordance with one embodiment, a technique may be
used so as to form a multi-reader in which the read stacks are
placed in close proximity to one another, such as with a spacing of
not more than about 100 nanometers between the adjacent edges of
the reader stacks.
[0014] Referring now to FIG. 1, an example of a multi-reader device
can be seen. FIG. 1 shows a hard disk drive. The hard disk drive
can be read by a reader head. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the
reader head is shown having two readers for reading from two
regions contemporaneously. FIG. 1 shows this as reading from a
first track of the hard disk and reading from a second track of the
hard disk at the same time. This is accomplished by fabricating the
read head so as to have a first reader stack and a second reader
stack. The hard disk drive may for example be more efficient
because it can read at least two tracks at the same time.
[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates a plan view of an example transducer head
120 with multiple read sensors 116. A disc 108 rotates about a disc
axis of rotation during operation. Further, the disc 108 includes
an outer diameter 102 and inner diameter 104 between which are a
number of concentric data tracks 106, illustrated by circular
dashed lines. The data tracks 106 are substantially circular and
are made up of regularly spaced patterned bits, for example,
indicated as dots or ovals on the disc 108 as well as in exploded
view. It should be understood, however, that the described
technology may be employed with other types of storage media,
including continuous magnetic media and discrete track (DT)
media.
[0016] Information may be written to and read from the patterned
bits on the disc 108 in different data tracks 106. The transducer
head 120 is mounted on an actuator assembly at an end distal to an
actuator axis of rotation and flies in close proximity above the
surface of the disc 108 during disc operation. The actuator
assembly 110 rotates during a seek operation about the actuator
axis of rotation positioned adjacent to the disc 108. The seek
operation positions the transducer head 120 over target data
tracks. The exploded view shows the transducer head with two read
sensors 116 (with the actuator assembly 110 omitted.
[0017] For purposes of illustration, a data track direction
represents a direction along a circumference or a tangent of a data
track and a cross track direction represents a direction that
crosses the width of a track (e.g., along a radius). "Up-track"
refers to the direction of head travel relative to the track.
[0018] It should also be understood that the multi-reader could be
oriented so as to read from a single track. For example, the
multi-reader could read from two different regions of the same
track contemporaneously. Thus, for example, one embodiment might
allow servo data on a track to be read from a first reader while
the stored data on the track is read with the second reader. This
might be more difficult because of the geometry of the tracks. It
might work more readily for wider tracks.
[0019] Referring now to FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, and 2H, a
process for configuring a multi-reader device can be seen. In FIG.
2A, the device 200 has been formed from basecoat layer 204, a
shield layer, a stack layer, and a hardmask layer. The shield layer
in this example is shown as a divided shield with portions 208 and
212 electrically isolated from one another by insulator 216. The
insulator may be formed, for example, from Al.sub.2O.sub.3. The
basecoat may be formed, for example, from Al.sub.2O.sub.3,
SiO.sub.2 or other insulators. Material for the shield may be
formed, for example, from NiFe, NiFeX, CoNiFe(X), Co(X), CoFe(X),
FeSiAl (where X=Transition metal) or other suitable magnetically
soft alloys. The stack material may be formed, for example, from a
tunnel junction stack material or giant magnetoresistance (GMR)
stack material. The hardmask may be formed, for example, from
amorphous Carbon, SiC, Ta(N) or other etch resistance material. The
plane of the air bearing surface of the read head would effectively
be parallel to the plane in which FIG. 2A is drawn.
[0020] It should be noted that typical readers today are
current-perpendicular-to-the-plane (CPP) in which current flows
through the thickness of the stack material. The shield material
provides magnetic shielding for improved resolution. Both
electrical and magnetic functions are maintained for two or more
readers. It should also be understood that the shields may serve as
electrical leads for electrically coupling the reader in a
circuit.
[0021] FIG. 2B shows that a mandrel 228 can be deposited. The
mandrel may be formed, for example, as a carbon block. The mandrel
may be positioned symmetrically between the predetermined positions
of the readers. As will be seen below, the readers are subsequently
formed relative to the location of the mandrel. So, the positioning
of the mandrel not only allows the readers to be formed close to
one another but it also can be used to dictate the position of the
readers.
[0022] The mandrel may then be covered by a conformal coat 232. The
conformal coat may be formed, for example, from SiO.sub.2,
Al.sub.2O.sub.3 or other oxide or nitride. One aspect of the
conformal coat is that it may be applied to the sides of the
mandrel so as to produce side deposition. "Highly conformal
coating" may be used in which the coating can produce sidewall
deposition that is equivalent to that of the field deposition.
However, it also should be appreciated that "partial conformal
coating" in which the sidewall deposition is thinner than the field
deposition may be used. The term conformal coating is intended to
be inclusive of highly conformal coating and partial conformal
coating. A significant portion of the conformal coat may then be
removed, for example by an anisotropic etch, so as to clear the
conformal material along the horizontal plane in FIG. 2B. This
exposes the mandrel and retains most, if not all, of the conformal
material along the sidewalls of the mandrel. The mandrel itself may
then be removed. For example, the mandrel may be etched out with a
selective etch. The result is that the sidewalls of the conformal
material are retained as a first wall 236 and a second wall
240.
[0023] Once the walls 236 and 240 are formed, they may be used in
forming the reader stacks. FIG. 2C shows that the hardmask layer
may be removed except for the hardmask material beneath the walls.
For example, the hardmask material may be removed by an inductively
coupled plasma (ICP) etch or other reactive ion etch (RIE) process.
This produces a substantially straight transfer from the spacer
pattern. This process results in the hardmask below the walls 240
and 236 being left in place while the remainder of the hardmask
layer 224 is removed. In a different embodiment where only a
hardmask cap exists, the wall hardmask could be used directly to
pattern the stack.
[0024] The structure shown in FIG. 2D may then be etched to form
reader stacks 256 and 252 in FIG. 2E. For example, a reactive ion
etch (RIE) may be used to transfer the pattern down into the stack
layer so as to define a first and second reader. One may also use
other etch techniques such as milling or reactive ion beam etching
(RIBE) As can be seen, the reader stacks are formed symmetrically
relative to the original position of the mandrel. The structure in
FIG. 2E may then be covered with a conformal layer 260. The
conformal layer may be formed, for example, from an atomic layer
volatilization (ALV) or a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process
as shown in FIG. 2F.
[0025] FIG. 2G shows that an isolation layer may be deposited over
the structure shown in FIG. 2F. The isolation layer can
electrically isolate the first reader stack 252 from the second
reader stack 256, for example.
[0026] Finally, FIG. 2H shows that the structure shown in FIG. 2G
may be planarized to remove the remaining hardmask. And a top
shield layer 264 may be added. The result is two reader stacks that
are configured in close proximity to one another. For example, the
reader stacks may be formed to be within about 100 nanometers of
one another. When the readers are used to read from a hard disk
drive, they may be used to read from tracks that have a track pitch
of approximately 50 nanometers, in accordance with this example.
For example, each reader may have a width of 25 nanometers and be
separated from the other reader by 25 nanometers. This allows each
reader to be centered over a first and second track wherein each
track is 50 nanometers wide.
[0027] It is not necessary that a split bottom shield be used in
all embodiments. However, when a split bottom shield is desired,
the process shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E, and 3F may be used.
Fig. 3A shows that a basecoat layer 304 may be deposited. A first
shield portion 308 may be deposited above the basecoat layer. Once
the first shield portion is configured, it can be covered by a
hardmask layer 311.
[0028] FIG. 3B shows that an isolation material 310 may be
deposited. The sidewall deposition of the isolation material 310
can be used to form an electrical isolation between the first
shield portion and a subsequent shield portion.
[0029] In FIG. 3C, the isolation material is shown as having been
etched away so as to leave just the sidewall isolation and hardmask
layer 311. The isolation material may be formed, for example, from
Al.sub.2O.sub.3, SiO.sub.2, or a magnetic insulator such as
ferrite. The magnetic insulator can provide good electrical
isolation and reduce the effect upon shield magnetization
structure.
[0030] In FIG. 3D, additional shield material is shown as having
been deposited. This structure may then be planarized to produce
the second shield portion. The planarization may be performed, for
example, by chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) or etch. The
resulting structure is shown by FIG. 3E. Finally, FIG. 3F shows
that the remaining hardmask layer may be removed and the structure
may be planarized to produce a subtantially planar surface. The
resulting structure shown in FIG. 3F has a divided shield comprised
of a first shield portion 308 and a second shield portion 312
separated by insulator 316.
[0031] Once the split bottom shield in FIG. 3F is produced, it may
be further configured with a stack layer and a hardmask layer to
arrive at the structure shown in FIG. 2A. The insulator between the
two shield portions provides electrical isolation between the two
shield portions.
[0032] FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E, and 3F illustrate an embodiment
for forming a split botttom shield structure. It should be
appreciated that a similar process could be followed to form a
split top shield, as well. Moreover, it should be appreciated that
various combinations of bottom shields and top shields may be used.
Referring now to FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, 4F, 4G, and 4H different
shielding arrangements can be seen.
[0033] FIG. 4A shows an example of a split bottom shield and an
un-split top shield. FIG. 4B shows an example of a split top shield
and an un-split bottom shield. FIG. 4C shows a split top shield and
a split bottom shield.
[0034] FIG. 4D shows a split bottom shield and an un-split top
shield. However, this embodiment differs from that shown in FIG. 4A
in that an optional synthetic antiferromagnet (SAF) shield layer,
such as CoFe/Ru/CoFe or NiFe/CoFe/Ru/CoFe/NiFe, is disposed between
the un-split top shield and the tops of the reader stacks. FIG. 4E
shows a split top shield and an un-split bottom shield. An optional
SAF shield layer is disposed between the un-split bottom shield and
the reader stacks.
[0035] FIG. 4F shows an alternative process approach where the two
readers are formed with the split top shield by etching a trench in
center of larger feature.
[0036] FIG. 4G shows another alternative with separate leads formed
on top of the stacks which provide both downtrack shielding and
individual electrical connections. Furthermore, these structures
are electrically isolated from the top shield and avoid the need
for electrically sub-dividing the shield.
[0037] FIG. 4H illustrates that more than two readers can be
fabricated. For example, the embodiment shown in FIG. 4H shows that
three readers can be configured. FIG. 4H shows the three readers
having split top shields and split bottom shields. One might choose
to utilize more than three readers, as well.
[0038] Referring now to FIG. 5, a flow chart 500 is shown that
illustrates one embodiment. A first operation block from the flow
chart is shown as operation 502. In this operation, a first wall is
formed. In operation 504, a second wall is formed. The first and
second walls may be formed at the same time by semiconductor
processing techniques. The separate recitation of the formation of
the walls is not intended to imply that they must be formed at
different times. Once the first and second walls are formed,
operation 506 shows that the first and second walls may be utilized
to form two adjacent reader stacks.
[0039] Referring now to FIG. 6, another example of constructing a
multi-reader can be illustrated by flow chart 600. In operation
block 602, a mandrel material may be deposited. The position of the
mandrel material may be selected to be in symmetrical relation to
the selected positions of the reader stacks that will be
configured. For example, the mandrel may be centered along a center
line that is the symmetrical dividing line between the designated
positions for first and second reader stacks that will be
configured. This is shown by operation 604.
[0040] In operation 606, the material for the first and second
walls is deposited on the mandrel. This deposition includes
deposition of the material along the sidewalls of the mandrel.
After deposition, material along the top surface of the mandrel may
be removed. In one embodiment, any material deposited over the top
of the mandrel is removed by etching, as shown by operation 608.
Once the top surface of the mandrel is re-exposed, the mandrel
material may be removed. This is shown as operation 610.
[0041] The removal of the mandrel material results in the side
deposits that were made along the mandrel being left in place to
form first and second walls, as shown by operations 612 and 616.
The walls will be made from the material that was deposited in
operation 606. Thus, for example, operation 614 illustrates that
polysilicon can be used to form the first and second walls.
[0042] Once the first and second walls are established above the
layer of reader stack material, the reader stack material may be
etched to divide the reader stack material into separate portions.
This can be accomplished by removing the reader stack material
between the walls so as to form a valley. The material is removed
all the way down to the layer of material beneath the reader stack.
This allows electrical separation to be formed between the two
reader stacks that are formed. In this manner, the two readers are
formed symmetrically about the insulation between them, so as to
form a symmetrical junction. Thus, operation 618 shows that the
walls are used to form two adjacent reader stacks.
[0043] Because the reader stacks are formed from the same initial
layer of reader stack material, the reader stacks are effectively
formed in the same layer, as shown by operation 620. The reader
stacks may be placed in close proximity to one another with narrow
dimensions that allow the reading from multiple tracks. For
example, this technique described above allows the closest edges of
the reader stacks to be configured within about 100 nanometers of
one another. In accordance with another embodiment, the closest
edges of the reader stacks may be placed within about 25 nanometers
of one another. In accordance with still another embodiment, the
closest edges of the reader stacks may be placed within about 5
nanometers of one another.
[0044] Finally, operation 624 illustrates that at least one divided
shield may be used on either the bottom or top of the read
stacks.
[0045] The techniques described above permit the reader stacks to
be configured in close proximity to one another. This allows reader
stacks to be configured that can read from two tracks that are also
in close proximity to one another. The width of the mandrel allows
the walls to be configured in close proximity to one another. This
is accomplished by using side deposition of the material along the
mandrel, prior to the mandrel's removal. The walls then allow for
the etching of the reader stack material so as to form separate
reader stacks in close proximity to one another. The use of the
walls allows for readers to be configured that normally could not
be configured due to constraints of present day lithography tools.
Moreover, the process described herein can allow for the use of
less expensive lithography tools or processing. Potentially, this
can give improved uniformity of the reader stacks as well as
improved sigma control. The formation of two reader stacks at the
same time can reduce process steps relative to the number of steps
that would be required to form multiple readers if only standard
processing techniques were used. In addition, forming readers from
the same layer allows one to reduce variation in the qualities of
the resulting readers because both readers are based on material
deposited as part of the same reader stack formation process.
[0046] The walls also help to overcome shadowing problems that
might be incurred if an ion milling process were to be used to try
to form the reader stacks. The reader stacks may be formed with
symmetric shapes in the process described above without shadowing
effects. Shadowing can be reduced as well by using reactive ion
etch (RIE), a combination of reactive ion etch (RIE) and ion beam
etch (IBE), or reactive ion beam etch (RIBE).
[0047] The multi-reader structure described herein can be useful,
for example, as track density of a storage medium increases.
Increasing track density allows hard disk drive areal density
growth. Multi-readers allow improved TPI capability and increased
data rate from multiple simultaneous readers in accordance with one
embodiment. It does not appear that current TPH process technology
can pattern small close readers with good control and yield.
[0048] Although the diagrams and flowcharts disclosed herein
describe various embodiments in the context of storage devices for
purposes of illustration and explanation, it is to be understood
that the technology disclosed herein can be more broadly used for
storage media beyond simply disk drives.
[0049] The embodiments described herein may be implemented as
logical steps. Accordingly, the logical operations making up the
embodiments described herein are referred to variously as
operations, steps, objects, or modules. Furthermore, it should be
understood that logical operations may be performed in any order,
unless explicitly claimed otherwise or a specific order is
inherently necessitated by the claim language.
[0050] The above specification, examples, and data provide a
complete description of the structure and use of exemplary
embodiments. Since many embodiments can be made without departing
from the spirit and scope of the claimed invention, a claimed
invention is defined by its respective claim language and
supporting specification.
* * * * *