Anisotropy control in fabrication process for NiMn spin-valve dual element heads

Abstract

NiMn antiferromagnets with a high blocking temperature are attractive for application to the pinning layer in spin-valve heads, because a highly stable exchange coupling field is expected through their use. We have fabricated NiMn spinvalve heads having a CoZrTa bottom shield and a CoZrTaNiFe write element, using an anisotropy control process which provides a desirable magnetization configuration in each magnetic layer. These heads showed highly stable, symmetrical, and Barkhausen noise free readback waveforms with output voltage of over 800 pV,&m.