ESD phenomena in GMR heads in the manufacturing process of HDD and GMR heads

Author

Matsugi, Junya ; Mizoh, Yoshiaki ; Nakano, Taro ; Nakamura, Kazuo ; Sakakima, Hiroshi

Author_Institution

Matsushita-Kotobuki Electron. Ind. Ltd., Ehime, Japan

Volume

28

Issue

3

fYear

2005

fDate

7/1/2005 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

206

Lastpage

212

Abstract

It is well known that giant magnetoresistive (GMR) heads used for hard disk drives (HDD) are very sensitive to electrostatic discharge (ESD). In this paper, we describe a method of categorizing ESD damage modes from a standpoint of magnetic influences on the heads as observed by quasi-static test (QST) characteristics as well as electromagnetic characteristics like off-track profiles. In addition, we report an example of GMR stack interlayer diffusion which is one type of hard ESD damage. We also present an example of ESD damage that happened in an actual production process and its preventive measures as guidelines.

Keywords

electrostatic discharge; failure analysis; giant magnetoresistance; hard discs; magnetic heads; manufacturing processes; quality control; ESD damage modes; GMR head; GMR heads; GMR stack inter-layer diffusion; HDD; QST; electrostatic discharge; giant magnetoresistive heads; hard ESD damage; hard disk drives; manufacturing process; off-track profiles; production process; quasi-static test; Ballistic magnetoresistance; Colossal magnetoresistance; Electrostatic discharge; Extraordinary magnetoresistance; Giant magnetoresistance; Hard disks; Magnetic heads; Manufacturing processes; Testing; Tunneling magnetoresistance;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electronics Packaging Manufacturing, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1521-334X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TEPM.2005.854299

Filename

1506867