The invention relates to a magnetic head having a head face and a layer structure with a transducing element.
Such a magnetic head is known from JP-A 63-37811 (herewith incorporated by reference). The known magnetic head has a thin-film structure provided on a substrate which comprises a magnetic yoke with a magnetoresistive element and a transducing gap. The magnetic head also has a head face in which the transducing gap as well as magnetic flux guides for guiding magnetic information towards the magnetoresistive element terminate. The head face of the known magnetic head is used for guiding a magnetic record carrier, particularly a magnetic tape.
In magnetic heads which have a layer structure, soft materials, notably the soft-magnetic materials of the flux guides occur along with relatively hard materials, notably the substrate materials, for example Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 /TiC. Due to the abrasive action of the record carrier moving across the head face during operation, the relatively soft materials may wear on the head face, which results in a depression of the layer structure of the head face. Such a depression results in an increase of the distance between the record carrier and the layer structure and hence a reduced information transfer from the record carrier to the magnetic head. Consequently, a long lifetime cannot be guaranteed for the known magnetic head, whose head face also serves as a contact face.
It is to be noted that it is known per se to provide wear-resistant layers on a head face in order to inhibit wear. It has been proposed in EP-A 0 123 826 (herewith incorporated by reference) to provide a bulk head with a sputtered wear-resistance layer of a metal carbide or a metal nitride which is thinner than 0.2 .mu.m. In IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 11, no. 10, March 1969, page 1199 (herewith incorporated by reference) it has been proposed to provide Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3 by means of flame plating on heat-resistant magnetic heads for forming wear-resistant layers. It has been proposed in JP-A 55-73917 (herewith incorporated by reference) to provide core limbs of permalloy comprising Cr with a layer of Cr oxide having a thickness of more than 0.5 .mu.m and to form a layer of Cr oxide by means of sputtering on core limbs of permalloy not comprising Cr.