Fabrication and performance of high moment laminated FeAlN thin film inductive recording heads

Experimental thin film inductive heads using previously developed laminated FeAlN high moment soft magnetic materials have been designed, and fabricated to the wafer level. The heads, with a gap length of 0.2 μm and trackwidths varying from 6 to 84 μm, were fabricated with a mainly dry process. The dynamic domain patterns of the top magnetic poles were observed with a high speed wide-field Kerr microscope. Closure domains were not present, while multiple easy-axis domains were observed in the head yokes. The head inductances were measured from 1 to 50 MHz with a network analyzer. The electrical and magnetic testing results show that the fabricated heads function well at the wafer level and that laminated FeAlN high moment material is a very promising candidate for future high-density recording head applications