Patterned exchange stabilized spin valve heads at very narrow track width

Author

Zhu, Jian-Gang ; Zheng, Youfeng ; Liao, Simon

Author_Institution

Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Volume

37

Issue

4

fYear

2001

fDate

7/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1723

Lastpage

1726

Abstract

A micromagnetic study of synthetic antiferromagnet (SAF) biased spin valve heads with patterned exchange stabilization is presented. It is found that at deep sub-micron track widths, spin valve heads with the patterned exchange stabilization exhibit significantly higher read sensitivity than that stabilized with permanent magnet abutted junctions. It is also found that the canting of the exchange pinning field for the synthetic antiferromagnet layer of the vertical axis yields very different read sensitivity depending on the canting direction. Detailed analysis and explanation of the mechanism for the phenomenon are provided. It is concluded that the patterned exchange stabilization scheme can further extend the track density for the spin valve heads over the currently used stabilization scheme

Keywords

exchange interactions (electron); magnetic heads; magnetic thin films; spin valves; deep sub-micron track widths; exchange pinning field canting; higher read sensitivity; patterned exchange stabilized spin valve heads; permanent magnet abutted junctions; spin valve heads; stabilization scheme; synthetic antiferromagnet; track density; very narrow track width; Antiferromagnetic materials; Giant magnetoresistance; Hard disks; Magnetic analysis; Magnetic heads; Micromagnetics; Permanent magnets; Spin valves; Stability criteria; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.950949

Filename

950949