MR Head Manufacturing Process

Wafer Cutting

The Wafer Cutting process is the first step in MR Head manufacturing, wherein wafers are cut into strips called row bars.

Lapping Stage

After the wafer cutting, the row bars go through the Lapping Process, wherein the bars are polished to expose the wafer's magnetic pole and reduce MR height to attain the needed MR resistance. A crown-like feature is also formed in this process to help prevent head crash.

Guppy Formation Process

Rowbars undergo the so called Guppy Formation wherein the rowbar is coated with silicon and diamond-like-carbon to form especially designed patterns. These patterns are then permanently etched thru ion milling. These patters are responsible fro attaining the required flying height to optimise the read and write capability of the Heads.

Head Gimbal Assembly

In this process, tiny gold ball are used to connect the terminals of the slider while vibration dampers are attached to achieve flying height stability.