Electrostatic modeling and ESD damage of magnetoresistive sensors

Author

Wallash, Albert J.

Author_Institution

Storage Syst. Div., IBM Corp., San Jose, CA, USA

Volume

32

Issue

1

fYear

1996

fDate

1/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

49

Lastpage

53

Abstract

The response of a thin-film sensor to the excessive current and/or voltage during an electrostatic discharge (ESD) event is studied. An unshielded magnetoresistive (MR)-like recording head structure is analyzed and modeled from the viewpoint of electrostatic theory. An electrical model for the MR head structure is proposed and used in circuit simulations to study the current flow through the thin-film resistor during a Human Body Model ESD transient. A thermal model for the thin-film resistor burnout is compared with experiment and 2D modeling of the fields and voltages are presented. Finally, Maxwell´s method is used to calculate the induced charge on the MR structure when a charged external conductor is present

Keywords

electrostatic discharge; equivalent circuits; magnetic heads; magnetic sensors; magnetic thin film devices; magnetoresistive devices; modelling; thermal analysis; transients; 2D modeling; ESD damage; Maxwell´s method; charged external conductor; circuit simulations; current flow; electrical model; electrostatic discharge; electrostatic modeling; human body model ESD transient; induced charge calculation; magnetoresistive recording head; magnetoresistive sensors; thermal model; thin-film resistor burnout; thin-film sensor response; unshielded MR head structure; Biological system modeling; Electrostatic analysis; Electrostatic discharge; Magnetic heads; Magnetic sensors; Magnetoresistance; Resistors; Thin film circuits; Thin film sensors; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.477549

Filename

477549