Title :
Design, fabrication, and wafer level testing of (NiFe/Cu)xn dual stripe GMR sensors
Author :
Freitas, Paulo P. ; Caldeira, M.C. ; Reissner, Markus ; Almeida, Bernardo G. ; Sousa, Joao B. ; Kung, Harriet
Author_Institution :
INESC, Lisbon, Portugal
fDate :
9/1/1997 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
In this paper, a new head design, the dual stripe GMR (DS-GMR) is proposed. It consists of two self biased GMR sensors of thickness t, carrying opposite sense currents I, separated by an oxide layer with thickness g. Modeling of the head shows that outputs of 1 mV/μm trackwidth, with a D50 of 300 kfci and PW50≅0.1 μm can be achieved, which make it suitable for very high density operation. In order to test this DS-GMR sensor, (NiFe/Cu)xn GMR multilayers were developed with MR=12% and sensitivity of 0.25%/Oe. DS-GMR sensors were fabricated and tested at wafer level with bottom and top GMR of 4 to 5% for 5 μm trackwidths and a gap g=0.2 μm
Keywords :
copper; giant magnetoresistance; iron alloys; magnetic heads; magnetic multilayers; magnetic sensors; magnetoresistive devices; modelling; nickel alloys; soft magnetic materials; testing; (NiFe/Cu)xn; 0.1 to 5 micron; GMR multilayers; NiFe-Cu; dual stripe GMR sensors; fabrication; head design; high density operation; oxide layer; self biased GMR sensors; wafer level testing; Fabrication; Giant magnetoresistance; Magnetic heads; Magnetic materials; Magnetic multilayers; Magnetic sensors; Magnetic separation; Magnetostatic waves; Nonhomogeneous media; Semiconductor device modeling; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Testing;
Journal_Title :
Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on
