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US 6,665,156 B2Granted
Magnetoresistive head, manufacture thereof, and magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus with such magnetic head
AssigneeYamaha Corporation
InventorsKenichi Miyazawa, Shuichi Sawada, Yukio Wakui
Life of this patent
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Abstract
By constituting a MR head with a pair of magnet films defining a recess on a lower gap layer, the recess having generally an inverted trapezoid shape in cross section; a magnetoresistive film covering a bottom and side wall of the recess and partial upper surfaces of the pair of magnet films; and a pair of electrically conductive films formed on the magnet films and being in contact with said magnetoresistive film only at a position outside of the recess, it becomes possible to reduce a variation in reading track widths of MR heads even under mass production.
Claims35
A magnetoresistive head, comprising:
- a lower shield layer formed on a substrate and made of soft magnetic material;
- a lower gap layer formed on said lower shield layer and made of insulating material;
- a pair of magnet films formed on said lower gap layer at a predetermined distance therebetween, said pair of magnet films defining a recess on said lower gap layer, the recess having generally an inverted trapezoid shape in cross section;
- a magnetoresistive film covering a bottom and side wall of the recess and partial upper surfaces of said pair of magnet films;
- and
- a pair of electrically conductive films, one of which is formed on one magnet film of said pair of magnet films and the other is formed on the other magnet film of said pair of magnet films, and being in contact with said magnetoresistive film only at a position outside of the recess.
3 more elements
A recording/reproducing magnetic head comprising:
- a reading-out magnetic head including (i) a lower shield layer formed on a substrate and made of soft magnetic material, (ii) a lower gap layer formed on said lower shield layer and made of insulating material, (iii) a pair of magnet films formed on said lower gap layer at a predetermined distance therebetween, said pair of magnet films defining a recess on said lower gap layer, the recess having generally an inverted trapezoid shape in cross section, (iv) a magnetoresistive film covering a bottom and side wall of the recess and partial upper surfaces of said pair of magnet films, (v) a pair of electrically conductive films, one of which is formed on one magnet film of said pair of magnet films and the other is formed on the other magnet film of said pair of magnet films, and being in contact with said magnetoresistive film only at a position outside of the recess, and (vi) an upper gap layer made of inorganic insulating material and covering said magnetoresistive film and said pair of electrically conductive films;
- and
- a writing head formed on said reading-out magnetic head, said writing head being an induction type magnetic head.
A method of manufacturing a magnetoresistive head, comprising:
- a preparing step of preparing a substrate including (i) a lower shield layer made of soft magnetic material, (ii) a lower gap layer formed on said lower shield layer and made of insulating material, (iii) a pair of magnet films formed on said lower gap layer at a predetermined distance therebetween, said pair of magnet films defining a recess on said lower gap layer, the recess having generally an inverted trapezoid shape in cross section, and (iv) a magnetoresistive film covering a bottom and side wall of the recess and partial upper surfaces of said pair of magnet films;
- and
- an electrically conductive film forming step of forming a pair of electrically conductive films, one of which is formed on one magnet film of said pair of magnet films and the other is formed on the other magnet film of said pair of magnet films, and being in contact with said magnetoresistive film only at a position outside of the recess.
A magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus, comprising:
- a magnetic recording medium;
- a magnetic head driving unit for rotating forward or backward rotating a rotary shaft;
- an arm mounted on the rotary shaft and moving along an arc path over said recording medium when driven by the rotary shaft;
- a suspension mounted on a front end of said arm;
- and
- a recording/reproducing magnetic head mounted on said suspension, said recording/reproducing magnetic head including:
- a reading-out magnetic head including (i) a lower shield layer formed on a substrate and made of soft magnetic material, (ii) a lower gap layer formed on said lower shield layer and made of insulating material, (iii) a pair of magnet films formed on said lower gap layer at a predetermined distance therebetween, said pair of magnet films defining a recess on said lower gap layer, the recess having generally an inverted trapezoid shape in cross section, (iv) a magnetoresistive film covering a bottom and side wall of the recess and partial upper surfaces of said pair of magnet films, (v) a pair of electrically conductive films, one of which is formed on one magnet film of said pair of magnet films and the other is formed on the other magnet film of said pair of magnet films, and being in contact with said magnetoresistive film only at a position outside of the recess, and (vi) an upper gap layer made of inorganic insulating material and covering said magnetoresistive film and said pair of electrically conductive films;
- and a writing head formed on said reading-out magnetic head, said writing head being an induction type magnetic head.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.