Current perpendicular-to-the-plane spin valve type magnetoresistive transducer
AssigneeQuantum Peripherals Colorado, Inc.
InventorsJohn West Dykes, Young Keun Kim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A transducer includes a spin valve ("SV") structure comprising a pinned ferromagnetic layer adjoining a first end portion thereof and a freely rotating ferromagnetic layer adjoining an oppositely disposed second end portion thereof. First and second current conductors adjoin the first and second end portions of the spin valve structure respectively in a current perpendicular-to-the-plane configuration ("CPP"). In a particular embodiment disclosed herein, a differential CPP transducer includes a pair of SV structures having first and second current conductors with a common current conductor intermediate the SV structures.
Claims55
A spin valve CPP magnetic data transducer having a read-only gap, said transducer comprising:
- a self-biased spin valve stack of parallel and planar elements, said stack having a planar pinned ferromagnetic layer that adjoins a first end of said stack, and said stack having a planar freely rotating ferromagnetic layer that adjoins a second end of said stack;
- each of said ferromagnetic layers having an outer planar surface;
- a first planar electrical current conductor electrically contacting said outer surface of said freely rotating ferromagnetic layer;
- a second planar electrical current conductor electrically contacting said outer surface of said pinned ferromagnetic layer;
- each of said conductors having an outer surface;
- a first soft magnetic shield adjoining said outer surface of said first conductor;
- a second soft magnetic shield adjoining said outer surface of said second conductor;
- a physical spacing of said first and second magnetic shields defining said read-only gap;
- and
- at least one of said magnetic shields having an outer surface.
A differential spin valve CPP magnetic data transducer having a read-only gap, said transducer comprising:
- first and second spin valve stacks having parallel and planar elements;
- each of said stacks having a planar pinned ferromagnetic layer that adjoins a first end of said stack, and a planar freely rotating ferromagnetic layer that adjoins a second end of said stack;
- a first planar current conductor adjoining said freely rotating layer of said first spin valve stack;
- a second planar current conductor adjoining said pinned layer of said second spin valve stack;
- a common planar current conductor adjoining said pinned layer of said first spin valve stack and said freely rotating layer of said second spin valve stack;
- a first planar magnetic shield adjoining said first current conductor;
- a second planar magnetic shield adjoining said second current conductor;
- and
- a physical spacing of said first and second magnetic shields defining said read-only gap.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.