A HISTORY OF NICKEL-IRON (NiFe) CMP AS USED IN THE MAGNETIC HEADS INDUSTRY

摘要

NiFe CMP, a process unique to the magnetic heads industry, was first introduced five years ago. In this paper, the progress of NiFe CMP is discussed, from the post-CMP process characteristics prior to the introduction of slurries designed to polish nickel-iron compounds to the current methods of simultaneously polishing nickel-iron compounds and other metals on the same surface. Defects and drawbacks inherent to NiFe CMP are also discussed.