Abstract: A suspended resist bridge suitable for lithographically patterning MR sensors having trackwidths narrower than 0.2 micron is fabricated using the method of the present invention. First, PMGI is spun onto a substrate to form a first thin resist layer. Next, PMMA is spun onto the first resist layer to form a second resist layer. The PMMA layer is exposed to an electron beam to pattern the trackwidth of the MR sensors. E-beam exposed PMMA is then developed in an IPA solution. The resist structure is then placed in a basic solution for dissolving PMGI, which results in a fully undercut resist bridge that is used for patterning the MR sensors.

Abstract: A method and tool for measurement of the roll static attitude and y-misalignment of magnetic recording sliders within the head stack assembly having reference elements placed on the deposited end of the magnetic recording slider, which are optically analyzed by a video camera connected to a computer. For fast measurement the head stack assembly is clamped in a fixture mounted on motorized stages, which move each slider into the measurement position. In a two step imaging and analyzing process, the orientation and location of one or more edges of the reference element are computed and compared with known control parameters.

Abstract: The current invention provides for magnetic sensor devices with reduced gap thickness and improved thermal conductivity. Gap structures of the current invention are integrated in laminated Magneto-Resistive and Spin-Valve sensors used in magnetic data storage systems. The gap structures are produced by depositing metal layers and oxidizing portions of or all of the metal layers to form thin high quality oxidized metal dielectric separator layers. The oxidized metal layer provides for excellent electrical insulation of the sensor element and any remaining metallic portions of the metal layers provide a thermally conducting pathway to assist the dissipation of heat generated by the sensor element. Because of the combined qualities of electrical insulation and thermal conductivity, magnetic sensor devices of this invention can be made with thinner gap structures and operated at higher drive currents.

Abstract: Flying height Adjustment for Air Bearing Sliders An air bearing slider for sliding over a medium surface of a recording medium and having an air bearing surface facing the disk surface, a back surface perpendicular to the air bearing surface and a head at the back surface. During operation the head is maintained at a flying height above the disk surface with the aid of a flying height adjustment mechanism consisting of one or more ducts, each having an inlet at the air bearing surface and an outlet at the back surface. A valve mechanism controls an air flow through the duct or ducts by opening and closing the valve or valves together or independently. Alternatively, a deformable surface feature located on the back surface of the slider is used to alter the air flow to thus control the flying height. The mechanism of the invention allows one to achieve accurate flying height control in a range between 5 and 50 nm and between 0 nm and 15 nm as required for near-field or contact disk drives.

Abstract: A read/write head is provided with an embedded planar dual coil write structure. The head includes generally parallel shield, shield/pole, and pole layers. The shield/pole layer abuts a generally coplanar planarization layer in one embodiment. A circuitous recess is defined in the shield/pole and planarization layer, spanning the junction twice and encircling a central hub of adjoining shield/pole and planarization layer material. A write structure is located in the recess, with the shield/pole layer, planarization layer, and embedded write structure forming a substantially flat surface for building the pole layer. The write structure includes first and second substantially co-planar multi-turn flat coils, where turns of the first write coil are interspersed with turns of the second write coil. The first and second write coils reside in the circuitous recess, winding around the central hub. An insulating material separates the first and second coils.

Abstract: A disk drive assembly in which the suspension and read/write transducer are integrated into a combination assembly and fabricated using thin film deposition techniques thereby producing an assembly which is very low in mass permitting contact recording. In one embodiment, transducers are deposited in a row and column configuration onto a release and support layer covering a wafer substrate having a thickness equal to a desired suspension length. The wafer is separated into a plurality of row sections, with each row section providing one thin film transducer from each column. A second release layer is formed on a separated side on the row section and thin layers of suitable materials are deposited to form a suspension layer including conductive lines extending to the thin film transducers. The first and second release layers are dissolved and the row section is further cut to form the individual combination assemblies.

Abstract: A longitudinal bias structure to be placed adjacent a ferromagnetic free layer or a sense layer which is responsive to an external magnetic field and belongs to a magnetic sensor, for example a magnetic readback sensor such as an anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensor, giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensor such as GMR spin valve sensor or GMR multilayer sensor or in tunnel valve sensor. The longitudinal bias structure is built up of a top ferromagnetic bias layer of first thickness t1 having a first magnetic moment M1, a bottom ferromagnetic bias layer of second thickness t2 having a second magnetic moment M2 which is anti-parallel to first magnetic moment M1 of the top ferromagnetic bias layer, and an exchange-coupling layer disposed between the top and bottom bias layers.

Abstract: The present invention is a magnetic head which has a preferably planar pole member having a yoke and a tip with a first planar pole P1 and a second planar pole P2 positioned above pole P1. The pole member is built up of two types of layers: a first type of layer with high magnetic permeability &mgr; and low anisotropy Hk, with the easy axis oriented substantially perpendicular to the flux propagation direction to ensure rapid response, and a second layer type which is non-magnetic. The magnetic head also has a domain control element whose magnetization in the vicinity of the pole tip P2 and in the absence of applied field is aligned along the length of the element so as to facilitate the conduction of flux between poles P1 and P2. The domain control element can be a non-laminated element made of a material with high saturation magnetization MS such as NiFe, Ni80Fe20, Ni45Fe55, NiFeCo, FeCo, CoZrNb, FeAlN and FeTaN and proper dimensioning of the element further increases the flux conduction efficiency.

Abstract: A read/write head is provided with an embedded planar dual coil write structure. The head includes generally parallel shield, shield/pole, and pole layers. The shield/pole layer abuts a generally coplanar planarization layer in one embodiment. A circuitous recess is defined in the shield/pole and planarization layer, spanning the junction twice and encircling a central hub of adjoining shield/pole and planarization layer material. A write structure is located in the recess, with the shield/pole layer, planarization layer, and embedded write structure forming a substantially flat surface for building the pole layer. The write structure includes first and second substantially co-planar multi-turn flat coils, where turns of the first write coil are interspersed with turns of the second write coil. The first and second write coils reside in the circuitous recess, winding around the central hub. An insulating material separates the first and second coils.

Abstract: A magnetic structure, such as a magnetoresistive sensor, having a continuous multi-region magnetic layer in which the magnetic and electrical characteristics of each region is locally defined. In the preferred embodiment, the continuous multi-region magnetic layer has high coercivity end regions separated by a low coercivity central region.

Abstract: A new method for making patterned magnetic storage media with magnetic and substantially non-magnetic zones utilizes a selective oxidation processes. Selective oxidation is achieved by subjecting a magnetic layer to an oxygen plasma through voids in a patterned mask. A high resolution patterned mask is made by embossing and reactive ion etch processes. The method is used to fabricate patterned magnetic disks media with alternating magnetic and non-magnetic zones ranging from 10 to 1000 Nanometers in width. Magnetic storage disks produced by this method have high-bit densities, minimal topography and reduced signal noise.

Abstract: A method planarizes a first pole piece layer of a write head by lapping without delaminating the first pole piece layer from an underlying second read gap layer on a wafer substrate. This is accomplished by separating or dicing the first pole piece material layer in a field region about rows and columns of first pole piece layers of magnetic head assemblies so as to reduce the stress of the first pole piece material layer in the field. Accordingly, when the wafer substrate is lapped, such as by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), a reduced stress prevents the first pole piece material layer from delaminating from the second read gap layer during the lapping operation.

Abstract: A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) memory cell uses a biasing ferromagnetic layer in the MTJ stack of layers that is magnetostatically coupled with the free ferromagnetic layer in the MTJ stack to provide transverse and/or longitudinal bias fields to the free ferromagnetic layer. The MTJ is formed on an electrical lead on a substrate and is made up of a stack of layers.

Abstract: A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) magnetoresistive (MR) read head has one fixed ferromagnetic layer and one sensing ferromagnetic layer on opposite sides of the tunnel barrier layer, and with a biasing ferromagnetic layer in the MTJ stack of layers that is magnetostatically coupled with the sensing ferromagnetic layer to provide either longitudinal bias or transverse bias or a combination of longitudinal and transverse bias fields to the sensing ferromagnetic layer. The magnetic tunnel junction in the MTJ MR head is formed on an electrical lead on a substrate and is made up of a stack of layers.

Abstract: A magnetic tunnel junction magnetoresistive read head has one fixed ferromagnetic layer and one generally rectangularly shaped sensing ferromagnetic layer on opposite sides of the tunnel barrier layer, and a biasing ferromagnetic layer located around the side edges and back edges of the sensing ferromagnetic layer. An electrically insulating layer separates the biasing layer from the edges of the sensing layer. The biasing layer is a continuous boundary biasing layer that has side regions and a back region to surround the three edges of the sensing layer. When the biasing layer is a single layer with contiguous side and back regions its magnetic moment can be selected to make an angle with the long edges of the sensing layer. In this manner the biasing layer provides both a transverse bias field to compensate for transverse ferromagnetic coupling and magnetostatic coupling fields acting on the sensing layer to thus provide for a linear response of the head and a longitudinal bias field to stabilize the head.

Abstract: A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) magnetoresistive read head for a magnetic recording system has the MTJ sensing or free ferromagnetic layer also functioning as a flux guide to direct magnetic flux from the magnetic recording medium to the tunnel junction. The MTJ fixed ferromagnetic layer and the MTJ tunnel barrier layer have their front edges substantially coplanar with the sensing surface of the head. Both the fixed and free ferromagnetic layers are in contact with opposite surfaces of the MTJ tunnel barrier layer but the free ferromagnetic layer extends beyond the back edge of either the tunnel barrier layer or the fixed ferromagnetic layer, whichever back edge is closer to the sensing surface. This assures that the magnetic flux is non-zero in the tunnel junction region.

Abstract: A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) magnetoresistive read head for a magnetic recording system has the MTJ device located between two spaced-apart magnetic shields. The magnetic shields, which allow the head to detect individual magnetic transitions from the magnetic recording medium without interference from neighboring transitions, also function as electrical leads for connection of the head to sense circuitry. Electrically conductive spacer layers are located at the top and bottom of the MTJ device and connect the MTJ device to the shields. The thickness of the spacer layers is selected to optimize the spacing between the shields, which is a parameter that controls the linear resolution of the data that can be read from the magnetic recording medium.

Abstract: A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) magnetoresistive read head for a magnetic recording system has the MTJ sensing or free ferromagnetic layer also functioning as a flux guide to direct magnetic flux from the magnetic recording medium to the tunnel junction. The MTJ fixed ferromagnetic layer has its front edge recessed from the sensing surface of the head. Both the fixed and free ferromagnetic layers are in contact with opposite surfaces of the MTJ tunnel barrier layer but the free ferromagnetic layer extends beyond the back edge of either the tunnel barrier layer or the fixed ferromagnetic layer, whichever back edge is closer to the sensing surface. This assures that the magnetic flux is non-zero in the tunnel junction region. The magnetization direction of the fixed ferromagnetic layer is fixed in a direction generally perpendicular to the sensing surface and thus to the magnetic recording medium, preferably by interfacial exchange coupling with an antiferromagnetic layer.

Abstract: A magnetic recording disk drive uses side-by-side read/write heads formed on head carriers that are identical for both top and bottom disk surfaces. Thus, a common head carrier functions as a single manufacturable part usable for both top and bottom disk surfaces. The common head carrier has a trailing end with a pattern of components formed on it that includes three side-by-side transducers (two read elements equally spaced about a center write element) and five terminal pads, one of which is a common pad, and all of the electrical connectors interconnecting the five terminal pads with the three transducers. There are only three terminal pads for the two read elements, with one of the read terminal pads being a common terminal pad that is electrically connected to both read elements. During assembly of the disk drive, the common carrier, when used as the top carrier, has a first read terminal pad and the common terminal pad connected to the leads on the suspension.

Abstract: A magnetoresistive (MR) head having a double self-aligned contiguous junction includes an MR sensor structure with a biased guide joined thereto. The guide is formed using a first resist mask applied over the MR sensor structure. A guide biasing structure is formed using the first resist mask and a second resist mask applied over the first resist mask and the guide. The first resist mask is configured to form a double self-aligned contiguous junction between the MR sensor structure and the guide and guide bias structure. In this manner, the position of the guide biasing structure is carefully controlled so that it does not overlap the MR sensor structure.