Fabrication and Recording Study of All-Metal Dual-Spin-Valve CPP Read Heads

Author

Childress, J.R. ; Carey, M.J. ; Cyrille, M.-C. ; Carey, K. ; Smith, Neil ; Katine, J.A. ; Boone, T.D. ; Driskill-Smith, A.A.G. ; Maat, S. ; Mackay, K. ; Tsang, Ching H.

Author_Institution

Hitachi Global Storage Technol., San Jose, CA

Volume

42

Issue

10

fYear

2006

Firstpage

2444

Lastpage

2446

Abstract

Magnetic recording read heads have been fabricated and tested using a dual-spin-valve (dual-SV) current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensor stack. Thin IrMn antiferromagnetic layers are used for top- and bottom-pinned layers, resulting in a total sensor stack height of 50 nm. Operational read heads with physical sensor trackwidths ranging from 60 to 30 nm have been achieved. Successful readback testing is obtained using perpendicular recording media, with observed magnetic read widths as low as 46 nm

Keywords

antiferromagnetic materials; galvanomagnetic effects; giant magnetoresistance; magnetic heads; magnetic sensors; perpendicular magnetic recording; spin valves; 30 to 60 nm; IrMn; antiferromagnetic layers; current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistive sensor; dual spin valve; magnetic recording read heads; perpendicular recording media; readback testing; sensor stack; Antiferromagnetic materials; Fabrication; Giant magnetoresistance; Magnetic heads; Magnetic recording; Magnetic sensors; Perpendicular magnetic recording; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Testing; Tunneling magnetoresistance; Current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) giant magnetoresistive (GMR) read heads; dual spin-valve; magnetic recording;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2006.878815

Filename

1704326