Dissipative Gap Material in Tape Heads

Author

Soda, Yutaka ; Sekine, Masaaki

Volume

16

Issue

4

fYear

2010

Firstpage

48

Lastpage

54

Abstract

A giant magnetoresistive (GMR) head in tape-recording systems is affected by the electrostatic discharge (ESD) between the sensor and magnetic shields. Hence, Pt-doped Al₂O₃ was developed as a dissipative gap material to reduce the ESD current. Pt chips were sputtered on an alumina target to vary the film resistance. The decay time of a charged plate on Pt-doped Al₂O₃ was measured for various film thicknesses. The I-V characteristics indicated that, as the applied voltage increased, the Pt-doped Al₂O₃ film increased the current gradually, whereas the Al₂O₃ film increased the current rapidly over the breakdown voltage.

Keywords

alumina; doping profiles; electrostatic discharge; giant magnetoresistance; magnetic heads; magnetic tape equipment; platinum; sputter deposition; Al₂O₃ film; Al₂O₃:Pt; I-V characteristics; Pt chip sputtering; Pt-doped Al₂O₃; alumina target; breakdown voltage; charged plate decay time; dissipative gap material; electrostatic discharge current; film resistance variation; giant magnetoresistive head; magnetic shields; sensor; tape heads; tape-recording systems;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Industry Applications Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1077-2618

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MIAS.2010.936974

Filename

5458381