Read performance of tunneling magnetoresistive heads

Author

Ishihara, K. ; Nakada, M. ; Fukami, E. ; Nagahara, K. ; Honjo, H. ; Ohashi, K.

Author_Institution

NEC Corp., Tokyo, Japan

Volume

37

Issue

4

fYear

2001

fDate

7/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1687

Lastpage

1690

Abstract

We discuss the read performance, including the off-track performance and noise characteristics, of TMR heads. A vortex-like sense current field in TMR heads creates insensitive zones in the free layer and affects the output voltage and effective read width. The 1/f noise in the MHz-order frequency range was observed. To achieve a low-noise TMR head for high-density recording with small junction area, a high-quality thin barrier is a key to obtaining low 1/f noise, as well as small R·A products to reduce the shot noise

Keywords

1/f noise; magnetic heads; magnetic recording noise; shot noise; tunnelling; 1/f noise; MHz-order frequency range; effective read width; free layer; high-density recording; high-quality thin barrier; insensitive zones; noise characteristics; off-track performance; output voltage; read performance; tunneling magnetoresistive heads; vortex-like sense current field; Acoustical engineering; Electrodes; Electronics industry; Frequency; Magnetic heads; Noise reduction; Oxidation; Permanent magnets; Tunneling magnetoresistance; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.950938

Filename

950938