Design and fabrication of unshielded dual-element horizontal MR heads

Author

Guzman, Javier I. ; Mountfield, Keith R. ; Kryder, Mark H. ; Bojko, Richard J. ; Jones, Robert E., Jr.

Author_Institution

Data Storage Syst. Center, Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Volume

30

Issue

6

fYear

1994

fDate

11/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

3864

Lastpage

3866

Abstract

An unshielded, dual-element horizontal MR head utilizing a differential detection technique was designed and fabricated. A new process was developed for etching MR sensor gaps utilizing a combination of direct-write e-beam lithography, reactive ion etching, and ion milling, which allowed heads to be fabricated with MR gap lengths as small as 0.15 μm. Fabricated heads were tested by quasi-statically passing them over prerecorded transitions on flexible particulate media. Calculations from two-dimensional analytical and finite-element models correlate well with readback data

Keywords

electron beam lithography; magnetic heads; magnetic thin film devices; magnetoresistive devices; sputter etching; 0.15 micron; MR sensor gaps etching; differential detection technique; direct-write e-beam lithography; dual-element horizontal MR heads; fabrication; ion milling; reactive ion etching; unshielded magnetic heads; Data storage systems; Electron beams; Fabrication; Lithography; Magnetic heads; Milling machines; Nanofabrication; Resists; Sputter etching; Sulfur hexafluoride;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.333926

Filename

333926