Electrodeposition of magnetic materials for thin-film heads

Author

Liao, Simon H.

Author_Institution

Imprimis Technol., Minneapolis, MN, USA

Volume

26

Issue

1

fYear

1990

fDate

1/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

328

Lastpage

332

Abstract

Electrodeposition processes have been extensively used in thin-film head fabrication. Extremely fine features can be produced using photolithographic pattern definition followed by electroplating. Permalloy has been exclusively used for the pole material. Some critical aspects, such as film composition, magnetostriction, and stress level, were found to have a significant effect on head performance. Attempts were made to produce single-domain pole structures by lamination to eliminate output instability caused by nonrepeatable domain wall motions. Alternative improvements were brought about by increasing H _k and thus reducing the size of the closure domains. Electroplated CoFe and CoFe ternary alloy thin films were found to have very high saturation magnetization (~1.9 T). The CoFe ternary alloy has rotatable anisotropy. Higher permeability can be obtained by electroplating under an alternatingly switched field

Keywords

cobalt alloys; electrodeposits; ferromagnetic properties of substances; magnetic anisotropy; magnetic heads; magnetic thin film devices; magnetostriction; photolithography; alternatingly switched field; closure domains; electroplating; head fabrication; lamination; magnetostriction; nonrepeatable domain wall motions; output instability; photolithographic pattern definition; pole material; rotatable anisotropy; saturation magnetization; single-domain pole structures; stress level; thin-film heads; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Fabrication; Lamination; Magnetic films; Magnetic heads; Magnetic materials; Magnetostriction; Saturation magnetization; Stress; Transistors;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.50562

Filename

50562