Magnetoresistive shield with coupled lateral magnet bias
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsEric W. Singleton, Junjie Quan, Shaun E. McKinlay
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In accordance with various embodiments, at least one magnetic shield for a magnetoresistive (MR) element has one or more lateral hard magnets and a coupling layer contactingly adjacent both the MR element and the hard magnet. The coupling layer concurrently magnetically decouples the MR element while magnetically coupling the hard magnet.
Claims20
An apparatus comprising a magnetic shield comprising one or more lateral hard magnets and a coupling layer contactingly adjacent a magnetoresistive (MR) element and each of the lateral hard magnets, the coupling layer comprising a non-magnetic layer and a buffer layer, the non-magnetic layer disposed between each lateral hard magnet and the buffer layer to concurrently magnetically decouple the MR element from the magnetic shield while magnetically coupling each lateral hard magnet to a ferromagnetic layer of the magnetic shield.
A method comprising providing a magnetic shield for a magnetoresistive (MR) element, the magnetic shield having one or more lateral hard magnets and a coupling layer comprising a non-magnetic layer and a buffer layer, the non-magnetic layer disposed between each lateral hard magnet and the buffer layer, and decoupling the MR element from the magnetic shield with the coupling layer while concurrently coupling each lateral hard magnet to a ferromagnetic layer of the magnetic shield, the coupling layer being contactingly adjacent both the MR element and each lateral hard magnet.
A magnetic element comprising:
- a magnetoresistive (MR) element disposed between lateral hard magnets;
- a coupling layer contactingly adjacent the MR element and the lateral hard magnets, the coupling layer comprising a non-magnetic layer and a buffer layer, the non-magnetic layer disposed between each lateral hard magnet and the buffer layer;
- and
- a ferromagnetic layer contactingly adjacent the buffer layer, the coupling layer enabling the lateral hard magnets to set a predetermined magnetization in the ferromagnetic layer while magnetically decoupling the MR element from the ferromagnetic layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.