Giant magnetoresistive electrostatic discharge damage by a surrounding trigger

Through an electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage case study of giant magnetoresistive (GMR) head in shunting process of head gimbal assemblies (HGA), this paper unveils that GMR heads would be damaged by a combination of field-induced voltage on HGA and surrounding trigger event. This investigation further demonstrates that the ESD protection technique, which derives from metal-to-metal contact to GMR terminals and thus focuses on eliminating metal-to-metal contact to GMR terminals, is not sufficient to prevent ESD. The electromagnetic interference caused by nearby trigger event needs to be noted also in the ESD control.