MR sensor with blunt contiguous junction and slow-milling-rate read gap
US6198608A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 18, 1999 |
| Grant date | Mar 6, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 18, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S977/934
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A magnetoresistive sensor has a read gap that is made of a slow ion milling rate material. The slow milling rate read gap allows a blunt end to be formed for the sensor without excessive overmilling into the read gap. The read gap may also be formed of plural layers with at least one of the layers having a low milling rate. This allows the other read gap layer to have complimentary attributes, such as high thermal conductivity, low stress, less pinholes and/or better dielectric properties. The electromagnetic characteristics of MR sensors having such steeply sloped ends are enhanced both in reading signals and reducing noise. The track width of such a sensor can be more accurately formed due to the blunt shape of the contiguous junction, quantizing signals and reducing errors from reading adjacent tracks. The sensor can also be made to have a sharper linear bit resolution, due to a thinner, high-integrity read gap. Barkhausen noise is reduced, as well as signal biasing improved, with blunt contiguous junctions formed between the sensor ends and lead or bias layers.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.