Magnetoresistive sensor shield

Abstract

The present application discloses a magnetoresistive sensor shield. Embodiments disclosed herein provide for a magnetoresistive (MR) sensor comprising a synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) structure magnetically coupled to a side shield element. The SAF structure includes at least one amorphous magnetic layer of an alloy of a ferromagnetic material and a refractory material. The amorphous magnetic layer may be in contact with the nonmagnetic layer and be antiferromagnetically coupled to the layer in contact with the opposite surface of the nonmagnetic layer.

Description

Background technique [0001] Typically, a magnetic hard drive includes a sensor head that reads and writes data encoded on a tangible magnetic storage medium. Magnetic flux detected from the surface of the magnetic medium causes a rotation of the magnetization vector of the sensing layer or layers of the magnetoresistive (MR) sensor within the sensor head, which in turn causes a change in the resistivity of the MR sensor. Changes in the resistivity of the MR sensor can be detected by passing a current through the MR sensor and measuring the resulting change in voltage across the MR sensor. Associated circuitry can convert the measured voltage change information into an appropriate format and process the information to recover the encoded data on the disc. [0002] With the pursuit of improvements in magnetic recording density capabilities, the size of sensor heads continues to shrink. Typically, the sensor head is formed as a multilayer thin film layer structure with MR senso...

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Problems solved by technology

However, existing thin-film processes and structural designs used to construct SAFs based on MR sensors have shown the effect of limiting the performance and stability of MR sensors.

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