Magnetoresistance effect element, magnetic head, magnetic head assembly, magnetic storage system
US6338899B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 14, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jan 15, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 14, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10T428/265
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Disclosed are a high-sensitivity and high-reliability magnetoresistance effect device (MR device) in which bias point designing is easy, and also a magnetic head, a magnetic head assembly and a magnetic recording/reproducing system incorporating the MR device. In the MR device incorporating a spin valve film, the magnetization direction of the free layer is at a certain angle to the magnetization direction of a second ferromagnetic layer therein when the applied magnetic field is zero. In this, the pinned magnetic layer comprises a pair of ferromagnetic films as antiferromagnetically coupled to each other via a coupling film existing therebetween. The device is provided with a means of keeping the magnetization direction of either one of the pair of ferromagnetic films constituting the pinned magnetic layer, and with a nonmagnetic high-conductivity layer as disposed adjacent to a first ferromagnetic layer on the side opposite to the side on which the first ferromagnetic layer is contacted with a nonmagnetic spacer layer. With that constitution, the device has extremely high sensitivity, and the bias point in the device is well controlled.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.