Patent · US Active

Magnetoresistive device, thin film magnetic head, head gimbal assembly, head arm assembly, magnetic disk apparatus, synthetic antiferromagnetic magnetization pinned layer, magnetic memory cell, and current sensor

US7609490B2 · kind B2 · utility

9Cited by
4References
13Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 21, 2006
Grant dateOct 27, 2009
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 5, 2027

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11B2005/3996
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An MR device includes a magnetization pinned film having a nonmagnetic intermediate layer positioned on the opposite side of a magnetization free layer while sandwiching a nonmagnetic spacer layer and made of RuCu. In the case of passing read current in the stacking direction via lower and upper electrodes, decrease in a resistance change amount caused by a second magnetization pinned layer can be suppressed. Further, a first magnetization pinned layer and the second magnetization pined layer which are thicker can be antiferromagnetically coupled to each other in magnetic fields in a wider range. Thus, both increase in the resistance change amount and magnetic field stability can be achieved. Therefore, while maintaining stable operations by reducing the influence of external noise, the invention can address higher recording density by the increase in the resistance change amount as a whole.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.