Top spin valve sensor that has an iridium manganese (IrMn) pinning layer and an iridium manganese oxide (IrMnO) seed layer
US6437950B1 · kind B1 · utility
10Cited by
6References
46Claims
0Family size
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Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 12, 2000 |
| Grant date | Aug 20, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 17, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11B5/3932
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A top spin valve sensor includes an iridium manganese (IrMn) pinning layer which has been formed by ion beam sputter deposition. The magnetoresistive coefficient of the spin valve sensor is increased by employing an iridium manganese oxide (IrMnO) seed layer between a free layer of the spin valve sensor and a first read gap layer of the read head. The free layer is preferably a nickel iron free film located between first and second cobalt iron (CoFe) free films.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.