DC resistance instability in magnetoresistive recording heads

Author

Du, Shawn X. ; Villaume, Garrick M. ; Henderson, Michael R.

Author_Institution

Recording Head Oper., Seagate Technol., Minneapolis, MN, USA

Volume

36

Issue

5

fYear

2000

fDate

9/1/2000 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2493

Lastpage

2495

Abstract

A resistance instability under DC bias condition in anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) recording heads has been observed. AC-coupled reader output voltage fluctuation across the biased sensor shows a square wave pulse profile with pulse width ranging from 1 to 500 μs. An irregular pattern of pulse amplitude, width, and occurrence has been observed. Such instability has been found sensitive to the bias current, but not to external magnetic fields up to 200 Oe. Surface treatment has been found effective in eliminating this instability in AMR recording heads. Intermittent shorting due to metal smearing has been suggested as the mechanism that supports the above observations

Keywords

giant magnetoresistance; magnetic heads; magnetoresistive devices; surface treatment; 1 to 500 mus; AC-coupled reader; DC bias condition; DC resistance instability; anisotropic magnetoresistive recording heads; bias current; external magnetic fields; intermittent shorting; metal smearing; output voltage fluctuation; pulse width; square wave pulse profile; surface treatment; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Frequency; Giant magnetoresistance; Low-frequency noise; Magnetic fields; Magnetic heads; Magnetic noise; Magnetic recording; Noise level; Space vector pulse width modulation;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.908484

Filename

908484