Flux guide type tunnel-valve head for tape storage applications

Author

Nakashio, E. ; Sugawata, J. ; Onoe, S. ; Kumagai, S.

Author_Institution

Sendai Technol. Center, Sony Miyagi Corp., Japan

Volume

38

Issue

5

fYear

2002

fDate

9/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1925

Lastpage

1927

Abstract

The feasibility of tunnel magnetoresistive read heads with flux-guide (FG) layers was investigated for helical-scan tape storage applications. In order to stabilize tunnel-valve elements, a long-range exchange coupling bias scheme was employed, consisting of a Cu layer and an antiferromagnet deposited on top of a free layer in the tunnel-valve element. The maximum output of the FG type reader was about four times larger than that of a conventional anisotropic magnetoresistive reader, and thermal asperity noise of the magnetoresistance reader could be reduced drastically. The tunnel-valve readers have symmetrical track profiles, which are suitable for nontracking tape systems.

Keywords

exchange interactions (electron); magnetic heads; magnetic multilayers; magnetic recording noise; magnetic tape storage; magnetoresistive devices; tunnelling; Cu layer; Cu-PtMn-CoFe-Ru-CoFe-Al-Al₂O₃-CoFe-NiFe; TiW-Ta-PtMn-CoFe-Ru-CoFe-Al-Al₂O₃-CoFe-NiFe; antiferromagnet; flux guide type tunnel-valve head; flux-guide layers; helical-scan tape storage; long-range exchange coupling bias scheme; magnetic tunnel junction; nontracking tape systems; symmetrical track profiles; tape storage applications; thermal asperity noise; tunnel magnetoresistive read heads; tunnel-valve element free layer; tunnel-valve element stabilization; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Antiferromagnetic materials; Geometry; Giant magnetoresistance; Hard disks; Magnetic anisotropy; Magnetic heads; Magnetic tunneling; Tunneling magnetoresistance; Valves;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2002.802807

Filename

1042046