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US 8,336,194 B2Granted
Method of fabricating a tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) reader
AssigneeWestern Digital (Fremont), LLC
InventorsLu Yuan, Jian X. Shen, Geoffrey W. Anderson, Christopher Ng
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Abstract
A method of fabricating a tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) reader is disclosed. A TMR structure comprising at least one ferromagnetic layer and at least one nonmagnetic insulating layer is provided. A first thermal annealing process on the TMR structure is performed. A reader pattern definition process performed on the TMR structure to obtain a patterned TMR reader. A second thermal annealing process is performed on the patterned TMR reader.
Claims19
A method of fabricating a tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) reader, the method comprising:
- providing a TMR structure comprising at least one ferromagnetic layer and at least one nonmagnetic insulating layer;
- performing a first thermal annealing process on the TMR structure;
- performing a reader pattern definition process on the TMR structure to obtain a patterned TMR reader;
- and
- performing a second thermal annealing process on the patterned TMR reader,
- wherein the at least one ferromagnetic layer comprises a pinning layer, a pinned layer, and a free layer;
- and the at least one nonmagnetic insulating layer comprises a tunneling barrier layer disposed between the pinned layer and the free layer.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.