| Patent Number |
Title Of Patent |
Date Issued |
| 7606009 |
Read sensor stabilized by bidirectional anisotropy |
October 20, 2009 |
| A read sensor stabilized by bidirectional anisotropy is disclosed. The read sensor includes a longitudinal flux-closure structure comprising an antiferromagnetic pinning layer, a ferromagnetic bias layer, a nonmagnetic spacer layer, and a ferromagnetic sense layer. In this longitudin |
| 7599153 |
Method and apparatus providing a stabilized top shield in read head for magnetic recording |
October 6, 2009 |
| A method and apparatus providing a stabilized top shield in a read head used for the longitudinal or perpendicular magnetic recording is disclosed. The top shield includes a laminate structure including at least three layers of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic films in a frame. Un |
| 7570462 |
Read sensor with a uniform longitudinal bias stack |
August 4, 2009 |
| A read sensor with a uniform longitudinal bias (LB) stack is proposed. The read sensor is a giant magnetoresistance (GMR) sensor used in a current-in-plane (CIP) or a current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) mode, or a tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) sensor used in the CPP mode. The tr |
| 7554775 |
GMR sensors with strongly pinning and pinned layers |
June 30, 2009 |
| A giant magnetoresistance (GMR) sensor with strongly pinning and pinned layers is described for magnetic recording at ultrahigh densities. The pinning layer is an antiferromagnetic (AFM) iridium-manganese-chromium (Ir--Mn--Cr) film having a Mn content of approximately from 70 to 80 a |
| 7506429 |
Method of constructing a magnetic sensor |
March 24, 2009 |
| A magnetoresistive sensor having a well defined track width and method of manufacture thereof. |
| 7488609 |
Method for forming an MgO barrier layer in a tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) device |
February 10, 2009 |
| A method of forming a barrier layer of a tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) device by forming first and second MgO barrier layers by different sputtering methods, but in the same sputtering system module. A first magnesium-oxide (MgO) barrier layer is formed over one of the TMR device' |
| 7472469 |
Method for fabricating a magnetic head having a sensor stack and two lateral stack |
January 6, 2009 |
| A method is disclosed for fabricating a read sensor for a magnetic head for a hard disk drive having a read sensor stack and two lateral stacks. The method of fabrication includes forming lateral stacks on a gap layer, surrounding a groove to form a template. The read sensor stack is the |
| 7469465 |
Method of providing a low-stress sensor configuration for a lithography-defined read sensor |
December 30, 2008 |
| One illustrative method of fabricating a read sensor of a magnetic head includes the steps of forming a plurality of read sensor layers on a wafer; etching the read sensor layers to form a read sensor structure with a trench in front of the read sensor structure; forming a highly por |
| 7467458 |
Method for use in making a read head |
December 23, 2008 |
| Methods of making a read sensor with a selectively deposited lead layers are disclosed. In one illustrative example, the method includes the acts of forming a plurality of read sensor layers over a wafer; forming a monolayer photoresist to mask the plurality of read sensor layers in a |
| 7443637 |
Giant magnetoresistance sensor with side longitudinal bias stacks and method for forming same |
October 28, 2008 |
| A giant magnetoresistance (GMR) sensor with side longitudinal bias (LB) stacks is proposed for magnetic recording at ultrahigh densities. The GMR sensor extends from a read region into two side regions. The side LB stacks overlies the GMR sensor in the two side regions, rigidly pinning |
| 7413636 |
Method for manufacturing a dual spin valve sensor having a longitudinal bias stack |
August 19, 2008 |
| A dual spin valve (SV) sensor is provided with a longitudinal bias stack sandwiched between a first SV stack and a second SV stack. The longitudinal bias stack comprises an antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer sandwiched between first and second ferromagnetic layers. The first and second SV |
| 7394624 |
Read sensor with a uniform longitudinal bias stack |
July 1, 2008 |
| A read sensor with a uniform longitudinal bias (LB) stack is proposed. The read sensor is a giant magnetoresistance (GMR) sensor used in a current-in-plane (CIP) or a current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) mode, or a tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) sensor used in the CPP mode. The tr |
| 7367109 |
Method of fabricating magnetic sensors with pinned layers with zero net magnetic moment |
May 6, 2008 |
| A method for achieving a nearly zero net magnetic moment of pinned layers in GMR sensors, such as Co--Fe/Ru/Co--Fe, is described. The method determines a thickness of the first pinned layer which will yield the desired net magnetic moment for the pinned layers. A series of test struc |
| 7344330 |
Topographically defined thin film CPP read head fabrication |
March 18, 2008 |
| A method of constructing a small trackwidth magnetorsesistive sensor by defining a trench between first and second hard bias layers and depositing the sensor into the trench. |
| 7324311 |
Rie defined CPP read heads |
January 29, 2008 |
| A magnetoresistive sensor having a trackwidth defined by AFM biasing layers disposed beneath a free layer of the sensor. The present invention provides a current in plane magnetoresistive sensor that includes a non-magnetic, electrically conductive layer in a trackwidth region. The n |
| 7244169 |
In-line contiguous resistive lapping guide for magnetic sensors |
July 17, 2007 |
| An in-line lapping guide uses a contiguous resistor in a cavity to separate a lithographically-defined sensor from the in-line lapping guide. As lapping proceeds through the cavity toward the sensor, the resistance across the sensor leads increases to a specific target, thereby indic |
| 7239489 |
Tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) sensor having a magnesium oxide barrier layer formed by a multi |
July 3, 2007 |
| A tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) sensor includes a first ferromagnetic (FM) layer (e.g. a sense or reference layer), a barrier layer formed over the first FM layer, and a second FM layer (e.g. a sense or reference layer) formed over the barrier layer. The barrier layer is made of m |
| 7230801 |
Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) read head with reactive-ion-etch defined read width and fabricatio |
June 12, 2007 |
| The GMR read head includes a GMR read sensor and a longitudinal bias (LB) stack in a read region, and the GMR read sensor, the LB stack and a first conductor layer in two overlay regions. In its fabrication process, the GMR read sensor, the LB stack and the first conductor layer are |
| 7228617 |
Method for fabricating a GMR read head portion of a magnetic head |
June 12, 2007 |
| The GMR read head includes a GMR read sensor and a longitudinal bias (LB) stack in a read region, and the GMR read sensor, the LB stack and a first conductor layer in two overlay regions. In its fabrication process, the GMR read sensor, the LB stack and the first conductor layer are |
| 7227728 |
Method and apparatus for a current-perpendicular-to-plane Giant Magneto-Resistance sensor with e |
June 5, 2007 |
| A Current-Perpendicular-to-Plane (CPP) Giant Magneto-Resistance (GMR) sensor (700/800) has either a composite film (708) embedded into a ferromagnetic reference layer (710) or a composite film (806) embedded into a ferromagnetic keeper layer (804). The embedded composite film is depo |
| 7187524 |
Giant magnetoresistance sensor with stitched longitudinal bias stacks and its fabrication proces |
March 6, 2007 |
| A giant magnetoresistance (GMR) magnetic head that includes a GMR read sensor with a stitched longitudinal bias (LB) stack. The GMR read sensor includes seed, pinning, pinned, spacer, sense and cap layers in a read region, and its seed and pinning layers are extended into two side re |
| 7161771 |
Dual spin valve sensor with a longitudinal bias stack |
January 9, 2007 |
| A dual spin valve (SV) sensor is provided with a longitudinal bias stack sandwiched between a first SV stack and a second SV stack. The longitudinal bias stack comprises an antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer sandwiched between first and second ferromagnetic layers. The first and second SV |
| 7133264 |
High resistance sense current perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) giant magnetoresistive (GMR) head |
November 7, 2006 |
| A current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) spin valve (SV) sensor and fabrication method with a contiguous junction type geometry that increases sensor resistance by up to two orders of magnitude over conventional CPP GMR geometry for a particular track read-width. The superior CPP GMR c |
| 7133263 |
Magnetoresistive sensor having a self aligned lead overlay structure and method of fabrication t |
November 7, 2006 |
| A self aligned magnetoresistive sensor having a narrow and well defined track width and method of manufacture thereof. |
| 7126796 |
Read sensor with overlaying lead layer top surface portions interfaced by hard bias and tapered |
October 24, 2006 |
| A read head, which has a head surface facing a moving magnetic medium, includes a read sensor that has first and second side top surface portions and a central top surface portion located between the first and second side top surface portions. First and second overlaying lead layers |
| 7062838 |
Method of forming an embedded read element |
June 20, 2006 |
| A method of forming an embedded read element is used in the fabrication process of a magnetic head assembly including write and read heads. In this method, three photolithographic patterning steps are applied for defining the designed height of the embedded read element, defining its |
| 7054085 |
Use of shunt resistor with large RA product tunnel barriers |
May 30, 2006 |
| A read head for use with an interconnect transmission line having a characteristic impedance of Z.sub.0 includes a tunnel valve device and a shunt resistor RS that is connected in parallel across the tunnel valve device. The tunnel valve device has a device resistance R.sub.T corresp |
| 7020951 |
Method of making a merged magnetic read head and write head |
April 4, 2006 |
| An antiferromagnetic stabilization scheme is employed in a magnetic head for magnetically stabilizing a free layer of a spin valve. This is accomplished by utilizing an antiferromagnetic oxide film below a spin valve sensor in a read region and first and second lead layers in end reg |
| 6989971 |
Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) read head with reactive-ion-etch defined read width and fabricatio |
January 24, 2006 |
| The GMR read head includes a GMR read sensor and a longitudinal bias (LB) stack in a read region, and the GMR read sensor, the LB stack and a first conductor layer in two overlay regions. In its fabrication process, the GMR read sensor, the LB stack and the first conductor layer are |
| 6937448 |
Spin valve having copper oxide spacer layer with specified coupling field strength between multi |
August 30, 2005 |
| A magnetic head including a spin valve sensor having a sensor layer stack that includes a pinned magnetic layer, a spacer layer formed on the pinned magnetic layer, and a free magnetic layer formed on the spacer layer. In a preferred embodiment the spacer layer is comprised of CuO.sub.x. |
| 6910259 |
Method of making a spin valve read head with antiferromagnetic oxide film as longitudinal bias l |
June 28, 2005 |
| An antiferromagnetic stabilization scheme is employed in a magnetic head for magnetically stabilizing a free layer of a spin valve. This is accomplished by utilizing an antiferromagnetic oxide film below a spin valve sensor in a read region and first and second lead layers in end reg |
| 6896975 |
Spin-valve sensor with pinning layers comprising multiple antiferromagnetic films |
May 24, 2005 |
| A spin-valve sensor with pinning layers comprising multiple antiferromagnetic films is disclosed. The multiple antiferromagnetic films are preferably selected from the same Mn-based (Ni--Mn or Pt--Mn) alloy system. The Mn content of the antiferromagnetic film in contact with the refe |
| 6876525 |
Giant magnetoresistance sensor with stitched longitudinal bias stacks and its fabrication proces |
April 5, 2005 |
| A giant magnetoresistance (GMR) magnetic head that includes a GMR read sensor with a stitched longitudinal bias (LB) stack. The GMR read sensor includes seed, pinning, pinned, spacer, sense and cap layers in a read region, and its seed and pinning layers are extended into two side re |
| 6873499 |
Read head having high resistance soft magnetic flux guide layer for enhancing read sensor effici |
March 29, 2005 |
| A read head has a flux guide layer that is immediately adjacent (abuts) the back edge of a read sensor. The flux guide layer is made of a high resistance soft magnetic material that conducts magnetic flux from the back edge of the read sensor so that the magnetic response at the back |
| 6822838 |
Dual magnetic tunnel junction sensor with a longitudinal bias stack |
November 23, 2004 |
| A dual magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) sensor is provided with a longitudinal bias stack sandwiched between a first MTJ stack and a second MTJ stack. The longitudinal bias stack comprises an antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer sandwiched between first and second ferromagnetic layers. The fi |
| 6788499 |
Spin valve sensor with insulating and conductive seed layers |
September 7, 2004 |
| A spin valve sensor with insulating and conductive seed layers is provided. The sensor comprising Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 /Ni--Cr--Fe/Ni--Fe/Co--Fe/Cu/Co--Fe/Ru/Co--Fe/Pt--Mn films is formed by depositing an insulating Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 seed layer in a first chamber by reactively pulsed DC m |
| 6785099 |
Read gap improvements through high resistance magnetic shield layers |
August 31, 2004 |
| A read head is provided having having ultrathin read gap layers with improved insulative properties between a magnetoresistive sensor and ferromagnetic shield layers. The read head comprises a magnetoresistive sensor with first and second shield cap layers made of high resistivity pe |
| 6780524 |
In-situ oxidized films for use as gap layers for a spin-valve sensor and methods of manufacture |
August 24, 2004 |
| Disclosed is a spin-valve sensor disposed between first and second gap layers and formed of one or more in-situ oxidized films. The improved spin valve sensor helps eliminate electrical shorting between the spin-valve sensor and shield layers. A fabrication method of the gap layers compr |
| 6775111 |
Trilayer seed layer structure for spin valve sensor |
August 10, 2004 |
| A trilayer seed layer structure is employed between a first read gap layer and a spin valve sensor for improving the magnetic and giant magnetoresistive properties and the thermal stability. In the spin valve sensor, the trilayer seed layer structure is located between a first read g |
| 6747852 |
Magnetoresistance sensors with Pt-Mn transverse and longitudinal pinning layers and a decoupling |
June 8, 2004 |
| A magnetoresistance sensor structure is formed of a magnetoresistance sensor having a transverse biasing stack including a transverse pinning layer made of a transverse-pinning-layer antiferromagnetic material, and a transverse pinned layer structure overlying the transverse pinning laye |
| 6735058 |
Current-perpendicular-to-plane read head with an amorphous magnetic bottom shield layer and an a |
May 11, 2004 |
| A current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) read head with an amorphous magnetic bottom shield layer and an amorphous nonmagnetic bottom lead gap layer is disclosed. The amorphous magnetic bottom shield layer and amorphous nonmagnetic bottom lead layer provide a planar surface for the CPP rea |
| 6731477 |
Current-perpendicular-to-plane spin-valve sensor with metallic oxide barrier layer and method of |
May 4, 2004 |
| Disclosed is a system and method for forming a current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) spin-valve sensor with one or more metallic oxide barrier layers in order to provide a low junction resistance and a high GMR coefficient. In disclosed embodiments, the metallic oxide barrier layers a |
| 6709767 |
In-situ oxidized films for use as cap and gap layers in a spin-valve sensor and methods of manuf |
March 23, 2004 |
| Disclosed is a spin-valve sensor employing one or more in-situ oxidized films as cap and/or gap layers in order to achieve an increased GMR coefficient and improved thermal stability. A fabrication method comprises depositing multilayer metallic films on a wafer in ion-beam and DC-ma |
| 6592725 |
Fabrication method for spin valve sensor with insulating and conducting seed layers |
July 15, 2003 |
| A method is described comprising forming an insulating polycrystalline seed layer in a first chamber by reactively pulsed DC magnetron sputtering, then forming an insulating amorphous-like seed layer in a second chamber by reactively pulsed DC magnetron sputtering, then forming a conduct |
| 6521098 |
Fabrication method for spin valve sensor with insulating and conducting seed layers |
February 18, 2003 |
| A method is described comprising forming an insulating polycrystalline seed layer in a first chamber by reactively pulsed DC magnetron sputtering, then forming an insulating amorphous-like seed layer in a second chamber by reactively pulsed DC magnetron sputtering, then forming a conduct |
| 6519120 |
Ap-pinned spin valves with enhanced GMR and thermal stability |
February 11, 2003 |
| An SV sensor with the preferred structure Substrate/Seed/Free/Spacer/Pinned/AFM/Cap where the seed layer is a non-magnetic Ni--Fe--Cr or Ni--Cr film and the AFM layer is preferably Ni--Mn. The non-magnetic Ni--Fe--Cr seed layer results in improved grain structure in the deposited lay |
| 6411476 |
Trilayer seed layer structure for spin valve sensor |
June 25, 2002 |
| A trilayer seed layer structure is employed between a first read gap layer and a spin valve sensor for improving the magnetic and giant magnetoresistive properties and the thermal stability. In the spin valve sensor, the trilayer seed layer structure is located between a first read g |
| 6262869 |
Spin valve sensor with encapsulated keeper layer and method of making |
July 17, 2001 |
| A spin valve sensor is provided with a keeper layer which forms a partial flux-closure with a reference layer so as to minimize sensitivity of readback signal asymmetry to the sensor stripe height while maintaining a high readback signal. The keeper layer is encapsulated with top and bot |
| 6223420 |
Method of making a read head with high resistance soft magnetic flux guide layer for enhancing r |
May 1, 2001 |
| A read head has a flux guide layer that is immediately adjacent (abuts) the back edge of a read sensor. The flux guide layer is made of a high resistance soft magnetic material that conducts magnetic flux from the back edge of the read sensor so that the magnetic response at the back |
| 6185078 |
Spin valve read head with antiferromagnetic oxide film as longitudinal bias layer and portion of |
February 6, 2001 |
| An antiferromagnetic stabilization scheme is employed in a magnetic head for magnetically stabilizing a free layer of a spin valve. This is accomplished by utilizing an antiferromagnetic oxide film below a spin valve sensor in a read region and first and second lead layers in end reg |
