Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090059441 | CPP device with improved current confining structure and process - Plasma nitridation, in place of plasma oxidation, is used for the formation of a CCP layer. Al, Mg, Hf, etc. all form insulating nitrides under these conditions. Maintaining the structure at a temperature of at least 150° C. during plasma nitridation and/or performing post annealing at a temperature of 220° C. or higher, ensures that no copper nitride can form. Additionally, unintended oxidation by molecular oxygen of the exposed magnetic layers (mainly the pinned and free layers) is also avoided | 03-05-2009 |
20090121710 | Novel free layer design for TMR/CPP device - A TMR sensor and a CPP GMR sensor all include a free layer that is of the form CoFe | 05-14-2009 |
20090122450 | TMR device with low magnetostriction free layer - A high performance TMR sensor is fabricated by employing a free layer comprised of CoB | 05-14-2009 |
20090166184 | Perpendicular magnetic medium with shields between tracks - A track shield structure is disclosed that enables higher track density to be achieved in a patterned track medium without increasing adjacent track erasure and side reading. This is accomplished by placing a soft magnetic shielding structure in the space that is present between the tracks in the patterned medium. A process for manufacturing the added shielding structure is also described. | 07-02-2009 |
20090251829 | Seed layer for TMR or CPP-GMR sensor - A composite seed layer that reduces the shield to shield distance in a read head while improving Hex and Hex/Hc is disclosed and has a SM/A/SM/B configuration in which the SM layers are soft magnetic layers, the A layer is made of at least one of Co, Fe, Ni, and includes one or more amorphous elements, and the B layer is a buffer layer that contacts the AFM layer in the spin valve. The SM/A/SM stack together with the S | 10-08-2009 |
20090257151 | Thin seeded Co/Ni multilayer film with perpendicular anisotropy for spintronic device applications - A spin valve structure for a spintronic device is disclosed and includes a composite seed layer made of at least Ta and a metal layer having a fcc(111) or hcp(001) texture to enhance perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in an overlying (Co/Ni) | 10-15-2009 |
20090269617 | Ultra low RA sensors - A high performance TMR sensor with a spacer including at least one Cu layer and one or more MgO layers is disclosed. Optionally, Cu may be replaced by one of Au, Zn, Ru, or Al. In addition, there may be a dopant such as Zn, Mn, Al, Cu, Ni, Cd, Cr, Ti, Zr, Hf, Ru, Mo, Nb, Co, or Fe in the MgO layer. In an alternative embodiment, the MgO layer may be replaced by other low band gap insulating or semiconductor materials. A resonant tunneling mechanism is believed to be responsible for achieving an ultra-low RA of <0.4 μohm-cm | 10-29-2009 |
20100073827 | TMR device with novel free layer structure - A TMR sensor that includes a free layer having at least one B-containing (BC) layer made of CoFeB, CoFeBM, CoB, COBM, or CoBLM, and a plurality of non-B containing (NBC) layers made of CoFe, CoFeM, or CoFeLM is disclosed where L and M are one of Ni, Ta, Ti, W, Zr, Hf, Tb, or Nb. One embodiment is represented by (NBC/BC) | 03-25-2010 |
20100073828 | TMR device with novel free layer - A TMR sensor with a free layer having a FL1/FL2/FL3 configuration is disclosed in which FL1 is FeCo or a FeCo alloy with a thickness between 2 and 15 Angstroms. The FL2 layer is made of CoFeB or a CoFeB alloy having a thickness from 2 to 10 Angstroms. The FL3 layer is from 10 to 100 Angstroms thick and has a negative λ to offset the positive λ from FL1 and FL2 layers and is comprised of CoB or a CoBQ alloy where Q is one of Ni, Mn, Tb, W, Hf, Zr, Nb, and Si. Alternatively, the FL3 layer may be a composite such as CoB/CoFe, (CoB/CoFe) | 03-25-2010 |
20100085666 | Low noise magneto-resistive sensor utilizing magnetic noise cancellation - A magnetic sensor, formed from a pair of magnetically free layers located on opposing sides of a non-magnetic layer, and method for its manufacture, are described. Biasing these free layers to be roughly orthogonal to one another causes them to be magnetostatically coupled in a weak antiferromagnetic mode. This enables the low frequency noise spectra of the two free layers to cancel one another. Careful control of the SH/TW ratio is an important feature of the device | 04-08-2010 |
20100091412 | Method for manufacturing a magneto-resistance effect element and magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus - A method for manufacturing a magneto-resistance effect element is provided. The magneto-resistance effect element includes a first magnetic layer including a ferromagnetic material, a second magnetic layer including a ferromagnetic material and a spacer layer provided between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer, the spacer layer having an insulating layer and a conductive portion penetrating through the insulating layer. The method includes: forming a film to be a base material of the spacer layer; performing a first treatment using a gas including at least one of oxygen molecules, oxygen atoms, oxygen ions, oxygen plasma and oxygen radicals on the film; and performing a second treatment using a gas including at least one of helium ions, helium plasma, helium radicals, neon ions, neon plasma and neon radicals on the film submitted to the first treatment. | 04-15-2010 |
20100091414 | Method for manufacturing a magneto-resistance effect element and magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus - A method for manufacturing a magneto-resistance effect element is provided. The magneto-resistance effect element includes a first magnetic layer including a ferromagnetic material, a second magnetic layer including a ferromagnetic material and a spacer layer provided between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer, the spacer layer having an insulating layer and a conductive portion penetrating through the insulating layer. The method includes: forming a film to be a base material of the spacer layer; performing a first treatment using a gas including at least one of oxygen molecules, oxygen atoms, oxygen ions, oxygen plasma and oxygen radicals on the film; and performing a second treatment using a gas including at least one of krypton ions, krypton plasma, krypton radicals, xenon ions, xenon plasma and xenon radicals on the film submitted to the first treatment. | 04-15-2010 |
20100091415 | Method for manufacturing a magneto-resistance effect element and magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus - A method for manufacturing a magneto-resistance effect element is provided. The magneto-resistance effect element includes a first magnetic layer including a ferromagnetic material, a second magnetic layer including a ferromagnetic material and a spacer layer provided between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer, the spacer layer having an insulating layer and a conductive portion penetrating through the insulating layer. The method includes: forming a film to be a base material of the spacer layer; performing a first treatment using a gas including at least one of oxygen molecules, oxygen atoms, oxygen ions, oxygen plasma and oxygen radicals on the film; and performing a second treatment using a gas including at least one of nitrogen ions, nitrogen atoms, nitrogen plasma, and nitrogen radicals on the film submitted to the first treatment. | 04-15-2010 |
20100092803 | Method for manufacturing a magneto-resistance effect element and magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus - A method for manufacturing a magneto-resistance effect element is provided. The magneto-resistance effect element includes a first magnetic layer including a ferromagnetic material, a second magnetic layer including a ferromagnetic material and a spacer layer provided between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer, the spacer layer having an insulating layer and a conductive portion penetrating through the insulating layer. The method includes: forming a film to be a base material of the spacer layer; performing a first treatment using a gas including at least one of oxygen molecules, oxygen atoms, oxygen ions, oxygen plasma and oxygen radicals on the film; and performing a second treatment using a gas including at least one of hydrogen molecules, hydrogen atoms, hydrogen ions, hydrogen plasma, hydrogen radicals, deuterium molecules, deuterium atoms, deuterium ions, deuterium plasma and deuterium radicals on the film submitted to the first treatment. | 04-15-2010 |
20100119874 | Laminated high moment film for head applications - A laminated high moment film with a non-AFC configuration is disclosed that can serve as a seed layer for a main pole layer or as the main pole layer itself in a PMR writer. The laminated film includes a plurality of (B/M) stacks where B is an alignment layer and M is a high moment layer. Adjacent (B/M) stacks are separated by an amorphous layer that breaks the magnetic coupling between adjacent high moment layers and reduces remanence in a hard axis direction while maintaining a high magnetic moment and achieving low values for Hch, Hce, and Hk. The amorphous material layer may be made of an oxide, nitride, or oxynitride of one or more of Hf, Zr, Ta, Al, Mg, Zn, Ti, Cr, Nb, or Si, or may be Hf, Zr, Ta, Nb, CoFeB, CoB, FeB, or CoZrNb. Alignment layers are FCC soft ferromagnetic materials or non-magnetic FCC materials. | 05-13-2010 |
20100123208 | MR device with synthetic free layer structure - A magneto-resistive device having a large output signal as well as a high signal-to-noise ratio is described along with a process for forming it. This improved performance was accomplished by expanding the free layer into a multilayer laminate comprising at least three ferromagnetic layers separated from one another by antiparallel coupling layers. The ferromagnetic layer closest to the transition layer must include CoFeB while the furthermost layer is required to have low Hc as well as a low and negative lambda value. One possibility for the central ferromagnetic layer is NiFe but this is not mandatory. | 05-20-2010 |
20100128377 | Electric field assisted magnetic recording - We describe a system for electric field assisted magnetic recording where a recordable magnetic medium includes a magnetic recording layer of high coercivity and vertical magnetic anisotropy that is adjacent to an electrostrictive layer which can be placed in a state of stress by a electric field or which is already pre-stressed and which pre-stress can be turned into strain by an electric field. When the magnetic medium is acted on simultaneously by a magnetic writing field and an electric field, the stress in the elctrostrictive layer is transferred to a magnetostrictive layer which is the magnetic recording layer by itself or is coupled to the magnetic recording layer, whereupon the magnetic recording layer is made more isotropic and more easily written upon. Residual stresses in the electrostrictive layer can then be removed by an additional electric field of opposite sign to the stress-producing field. | 05-27-2010 |
20100177449 | TMR device with novel free layer stucture - A composite free layer having a FL1/insertion/FL2 configuration is disclosed for achieving high dR/R, low RA, and low λ in TMR or GMR sensors. Ferromagnetic FL1 and FL2 layers have (+) λ and (−) λ values, respectively. FL1 may be CoFe, CoFeB, or alloys thereof with Ni, Ta, Mn, Ti, W, Zr, Hf, Tb, or Nb. FL2 may be CoFe, NiFe, or alloys thereof with Ni, Ta, Mn, Ti, W, Zr, Hf, Tb, Nb, or B. The thin insertion layer includes at least one magnetic element such as Co, Fe, and Ni, and at least one non-magnetic element selected from Ta, Ti, W, Zr, Hf, Nb, Mo, V, Cr, or B. In a TMR stack with a MgO tunnel barrier, dR/R>60%, λ˜1×10 | 07-15-2010 |
20100276272 | Method for fabricating a high coercivity hard bias structure for magnetoresistive sensor - A hard bias (HB) structure for longitudinally biasing a free layer in a MR sensor is disclosed that includes a mildly etched seed layer and a hard bias (HB) layer on the etched seed layer. The HB layer may contain one or more HB sub-layers stacked on a lower sub-layer which contacts the etched seed layer. Each HB sub-layer is mildly etched before depositing another HB sub-layer thereon. The etch may be performed in an IBD chamber and creates a higher concentration of nucleation sites on the etched surface thereby promoting a smaller HB average grain size than would be realized with no etch treatments. A smaller HB average grain size is responsible for increasing Hcr in a CoPt HB layer to as high as 2500 to 3000 Oe. Higher Hcr is achieved without changing the seed layer or HB material and without changing the thickness of the aforementioned layers. | 11-04-2010 |
20100330395 | Thin seeded Co/Ni multiplayer film with perpendicular anisotropy for read head sensor stabilization - A hard bias (HB) structure for producing longitudinal bias to stabilize a free layer in an adjacent spin valve is disclosed and includes a composite seed layer made of at least Ta and a metal layer having a fcc(111) or hcp(001) texture to enhance perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in an overlying (Co/Ni) | 12-30-2010 |
20110096443 | MTJ incorporating CoFe/Ni multilayer film with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy for MRAM application - A MTJ for a spintronic device is disclosed and includes a thin composite seed layer made of at least Ta and a metal layer having fcc(111) or hcp(001) texture as in Ta/Ti/Cu to enhance perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in an overlying laminated layer with a (CoFe/Ni) | 04-28-2011 |
20110188157 | TMR device with novel free layer structure - A composite free layer having a FL | 08-04-2011 |
20110205669 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING MAGNETO-RESISTANCE EFFECT ELEMENT, MAGNETIC HEAD ASSEMBLY, AND MAGNETIC RECORDING AND REPRODUCING APPARATUS - According to one embodiment, a method for manufacturing a magneto-resistance effect element is disclosed. The element has first and second magnetic layers, and an intermediate layer provided between the first and second magnetic layers. The intermediate layer has an insulating layer and a conductive portion penetrating through the insulating layer. The method can include forming a structure body having the insulating layer and the conductive portion, performing a first treatment including irradiating the structure body with at least one of ion including at least one selected from the group consisting of argon, xenon, helium, neon and krypton and a plasma including at least one selected from the group, and performing a second treatment including at least one of exposure to gas containing oxygen or nitrogen, irradiation of ion beam containing oxygen or nitrogen, irradiation of plasma containing oxygen or nitrogen, to the structure body submitted to the first treatment. | 08-25-2011 |
20110215800 | MR sensor with flux guide enhanced hard bias structure - A CPP MR sensor interposes a tapered soft magnetic flux guide (FG) layer between a hard magnetic biasing layer (HB) and the free layer of the sensor stack. The flux guide channels the flux of the hard magnetic biasing layer to effectively bias the free layer, while eliminating instability problems associated with magnetostatic coupling between the hard bias layers and the upper and lower shields surrounding the sensor when the reader-shield-spacing (RSS) is small. | 09-08-2011 |
20110260270 | MR enhancing layer (MREL) for spintronic devices - The performance of an MR device has been improved by inserting one or more Magneto-Resistance Enhancing Layers (MRELs) into approximately the center of one or more of the active layers (such as API, SIL, FGL, and Free layers). An MREL is a layer of a low band gap, high electron mobility semiconductor such as ZnO or a semimetal such as Bi. | 10-27-2011 |
20110273802 | Side shielded magnetoresistive(MR) read with perpendicular magnetic free layer - A MR sensor is disclosed that has a free layer (FL) with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) which eliminates the need for an adjacent hard bias structure to stabilize free layer magnetization and minimizes shield-FL interactions. In a TMR embodiment, a seed layer, free layer, junction layer, reference layer, and pinning layer are sequentially formed on a bottom shield. After patterning, a conformal insulation layer is formed along the sensor sidewall. Thereafter, a top shield is formed on the insulation layer and includes side shields that are separated from the FL by a narrow read gap. The sensor is scalable to widths <50 nm when PMA is greater than the FL self-demag field. Effective bias field is rather insensitive to sensor aspect ratio which makes tall stripe and narrow width sensors a viable approach for high RA TMR configurations. Side shields may be extended below the seed layer plane. | 11-10-2011 |
20110279921 | CoFe/Ni Multilayer film with perpendicular anisotropy for microwave assisted magnetic recording - A spin transfer oscillator with a seed/SIL/spacer/FGL/capping configuration is disclosed with a composite seed layer made of Ta and a metal layer having a fcc(111) or hcp(001) texture to enhance perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in an overlying (A1/A2) | 11-17-2011 |
20110293967 | Multilayer structure with high perpendicular anisotropy for device applications - Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and Hc are enhanced in magnetic devices with a Ta/M1/M2 seed layer where M1 is preferably Ti, and M2 is preferably Cu, and including an overlying (Co/Ni) | 12-01-2011 |
20110318608 | TMR device with novel pinned layer - The invention discloses how the insertion of a layer of CoFeB serves to increase the robustness of an MTF device by smoothing the interface between the tunnel barrier and the pinned layer. | 12-29-2011 |
20120038012 | TMR device with novel free layer structure - A composite free layer having a FL1/insertion/FL2 configuration is disclosed for achieving high dR/R, low RA, and low λ in TMR or GMR sensors. Ferromagnetic FL1 and FL2 layers have (+) λ and (−) λ values, respectively. FL1 may be CoFe, CoFeB, or alloys thereof with Ni, Ta, Mn, Ti, W, Zr, Hf, Tb, or Nb. FL2 may be CoFe, NiFe, or alloys thereof with Ni, Ta, Mn, Ti, W, Zr, Hf, Tb, Nb, or B. The thin insertion layer includes at least one magnetic element such as Co, Fe, and Ni, and at least one non-magnetic element selected from Ta, Ti, W, Zr, Hf, Nb, Mo, V, Cr, or B. In a TMR stack with a MgO tunnel barrier, dR/R>60%, λ˜1+10 | 02-16-2012 |
20120113540 | MODIFIED FIELD GENERATION LAYER FOR MICROWAVE ASSISTED MAGNETIC RECORDING - A spin torque oscillator is described in which the conventional Field Generation Layer (FGL) is replaced by a bilayer, one of whose members exhibits perpendicular magnetic anisotropy while the other exhibits conventional in-plane anisotropy. Provided the layer with the perpendicular anisotropy is the one that is closest to the spacer layer, the device is able to generate microwaves at current densities as low as 1×10 | 05-10-2012 |
20120126905 | Assisting FGL oscillations with perpendicular anisotropy for MAMR - A spin transfer oscillator (STO) structure is disclosed that includes two assist layers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) to enable a field generation layer (FGL) to achieve an oscillation state at lower current density for MAMR applications. In one embodiment, the STO is formed between a main pole and write shield and the FGL has a synthetic anti-ferromagnetic structure. The STO configuration may be represented by seed layer/spin injection layer (SIL)/spacer/PMA layer 1/FGL/spacer/PMA layer 2/capping layer. The spacer may be Cu for giant magnetoresistive (GMR) devices or a metal oxide for tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) devices. Alternatively, the FGL is a single ferromagnetic layer and the second PMA assist layer has a synthetic structure including two PMA layers with magnetic moment in opposite directions in a seed layer/SIL/spacer/PMA assist 1/FGL/spacer/PMA assist 2/capping layer configuration. SIL and PMA assist layers are laminates of (CoFe/Ni)x or the like. | 05-24-2012 |
20120128870 | TMR DEVICE WITH IMPROVED MGO BARRIER - A method of forming a high performance magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) is disclosed wherein the tunnel barrier includes at least three metal oxide layers. The tunnel barrier stack is partially built by depositing a first metal layer, performing a natural oxidation (NOX) process, depositing a second metal layer, and performing a second NOX process to give a M | 05-24-2012 |
20120129007 | Fabrication of a coercivity hard bias using FePt containing film - The free layer of a CPP-TMR sensor is biased by laterally disposed hard bias (HB) layers that include a seedlayer structure, a magnetic layer structure of high coercivity material and a capping layer structure. The magnetic layer structure is a layer of FePt-containing material, such as FePtCu, while the seedlayers and capping layers include layers of Cr, CrTi, Fe, FeCo or FeCoMo. These combinations enable the promotion of the L10 phase of the FePt-containing material which provides a high coercivity magnetic layer structure at much lower annealing temperatures than in the prior art. | 05-24-2012 |
20120139649 | FIELD TUNABLE SPIN TORQUE OSCILLATOR FOR RF SIGNAL GENERATION - A spin transfer oscillator (STO) device is disclosed with a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) junction comprising a magnetic resistance layer (MRL)/spacer/magnetic oscillation layer (MOL) configuration, and a MR sensor including a sensing layer/junction layer/reference layer configuration. MOL and sensing layer are magnetostatically coupled and separated by a conductive spacer. MRL has perpendicular magnetic anisotropy while MOL and sensing layer have a Mst (saturation magnetization×thickness) value within ±50% of each other. When a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the planes of the MOL and a high density current flows from the conductive spacer to the MRL, a MOL oscillation state with a certain frequency is induced. Consequently, the sensing layer oscillates with a similar RF frequency and when a low density current flows across the MR sensor, an AC voltage signal is generated to determine the sensing layer frequency that can be varied by adjusting the applied field. | 06-07-2012 |
20120193738 | TMR Device with Low Magnetorestriction Free Layer - A high performance TMR sensor is fabricated by employing a free layer with a trilayer configurations represented by FeCo/CoFeB/CoB, FeCo/CoB/CoFeB, FeCo/CoFe/CoB, or FeCo/FeB/CoB may also be employed. Alternatively, CoNiFeB or CoNiFeBM formed by co-sputtering CoB with CoNiFe or CoNiFeM, respectively, where M is V, Ti, Zr, Nb, Hf, Ta, or Mo may be included in a composite free layer or as a single free layer in the case of CoNiFeBM. A 15 to 30% in improvement in TMR ratio over a conventional CoFe/NiFe free layer is achieved while maintaining low Hc and RA <3 ohm-um | 08-02-2012 |
20120205757 | Pinning field in MR devices despite higher annealing temperature - The pinning field in an MR device was significantly improved by using the Ru 4A peak together with steps to minimize interfacial roughness of the ruthenium layer as well as boron and manganese diffusion into the ruthenium layer during manufacturing. This made it possible to anneal at temperatures as high as 340° C. whereby a high MR ratio could be simultaneously achieved. | 08-16-2012 |
20120235258 | TMR Device with Improved MgO Barrier - A method of forming a high performance magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) is disclosed wherein the tunnel barrier includes at least three metal oxide layers. The tunnel barrier stack is partially built by depositing a first metal layer, performing a natural oxidation (NOX) process, depositing a second metal layer, and performing a second NOX process to give a M | 09-20-2012 |
20130001189 | TMR Device with Novel Free Layer Structure - A composite free layer having a FL | 01-03-2013 |
20130029035 | CoFe/Ni Multilayer Film with Perpendicular Anisotropy for Microwave Assisted Magnetic Recording - A spin transfer oscillator with a seed/SIL/spacer/FGL/capping configuration is disclosed with a composite seed layer made of Ta and a metal layer having a fcc(111) or hcp(001) texture to enhance perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in an overlying (A1/A2) | 01-31-2013 |
20130029182 | CoFe/Ni Multilayer Film with Perpendicular Anisotropy for Microwave Assisted Magnetic Recording - A spin transfer oscillator with a seed/SIL/spacer/FGL/capping configuration is disclosed with a composite seed layer made of Ta and a metal layer having a fcc(111) or hcp(001) texture to enhance perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in an overlying (A1/A2) | 01-31-2013 |
20130069626 | Perpendicular spin torque oscillator FMR frequency measurement method - A method for measuring the frequency in a spin torque oscillator having at least a magnetic oscillation layer (MOL), junction layer, and magnetic reference layer (MRL) is disclosed. In a first embodiment, a small in-plane magnetic field is applied to the STO after a DC current is applied to excite the MOL into an oscillation state. The MRL has a perpendicular magnetization that is tilted slightly to give an in-plane magnetization component to serve as a reference layer for measuring the oscillation frequency of the MOL in-plane magnetization component. An AC voltage change is produced in the DC current as a result of variable STO resistance and directly correlates to MOL oscillation frequency. Alternatively, a field having both perpendicular and in-plane components may be applied externally or by forming the STO between two magnetic poles thereby producing an in-plane magnetization reference component in the MRL. | 03-21-2013 |
20130082787 | Spin injection layer robustness for microwave assisted magnetic recording - A spin transfer (torque) oscillator (STO) with a non-magnetic spacer formed between a spin injection layer (SIL) and a field generation layer (FGL), and with an interfacial layer comprised of Fe | 04-04-2013 |
20130084452 | Very thin high coercivity film and process for making it - High Hc (>4,000 Oe) and high Hk (>1 Tesla) has been achieved in FePt films as thin as 70 Angstroms. This was accomplished by starting with a relatively thick film having the required high coercivity, coating it with a suitable material such as Ta, and then using ion beam etching to remove surface material until the desired thickness was reached. | 04-04-2013 |
20130088797 | CPP Device with Improved Current Confining Structure and Process - Plasma nitridation, in place of plasma oxidation, is used for the formation of a CCP layer. Al, Mg, Hf, etc. all form insulating nitrides under these conditions. Maintaining the structure at a temperature of at least 150° C. during plasma nitridation and/or performing post annealing at a temperature of 220° C. or higher, ensures that no copper nitride can form. Additionally, unintended oxidation by molecular oxygen of the exposed magnetic layers (mainly the pinned and free layers) is also avoided | 04-11-2013 |
20130089675 | CPP Device with Improved Current Confining Structure and Process - Plasma nitridation, in place of plasma oxidation, is used for the formation of a CCP layer. Al, Mg, Hf, etc. all form insulating nitrides under these conditions. Maintaining the structure at a temperature of at least 150° C. during plasma nitridation and/or performing post annealing at a temperature of 220° C. or higher, ensures that no copper nitride can form. Additionally, unintended oxidation by molecular oxygen of the exposed magnetic layers (mainly the pinned and free layers) is also avoided | 04-11-2013 |
20130277780 | TMR Device with Low Magnetoresistive Free Layer - A high performance TMR sensor is fabricated by employing a free layer with a trilayer configuration represented by FeCo/CoFeB/CoB, FeCo/CoB/CoFeB, FeCo/CoFe/CoB, or FeCo/FeB/CoB may also be employed. Alternatively, CoNiFeB or CoNiFeBM formed by co-sputtering CoB with CoNiFe or CoNiFeM, respectively, where M is V, Ti, Zr, Nb, Hf, Ta, or Mo may be included in a composite free layer or as a single free layer in the case of CoNiFeBM. A 15 to 30% in improvement in TMR ratio over a conventional CoFe/NiFe free layer is achieved while maintaining low Hc and RA<3 ohm-um | 10-24-2013 |
20140106182 | High Coercivity Magnetic Film for Use as a Hot Seed in a Magnetic Write Head and Method to Grow It - A sub-structure, suitable for use as a hot seed on which to form a perpendicular magnetic main write pole, is described. It is made up of a buffer layer of atomic layer deposited alumina on which there are one or more seed layers having a body-centered cubic (bcc) crystal structure. Finally, the high coercivity magnetic film lies on the seed layer(s). It is critical that the high coercivity magnetic film be deposited at a very low deposition rate (around 1 Angstrom per second). | 04-17-2014 |
20140138783 | MR Device with Synthetic Free Layer Structure - A magneto-resistive device having a large output signal as well as a high signal-to-noise ratio is described along with a process for forming it. This improved performance was accomplished by expanding the free layer into a multilayer laminate comprising at least three ferromagnetic layers separated from one another by antiparallel coupling layers. The ferromagnetic layer closest to the transition layer must include CoFeB while the furthermost layer is required to have low Hc as well as a low and negative lambda value. One possibility for the central ferromagnetic layer is NiFe but this is not mandatory. | 05-22-2014 |
20140183673 | Magnetic Read Head with MR Enhancements - A TMR stack or a GMR stack, ultimately formed into a sensor or MRAM element, include insertion layers of Fe or iron rich layers of FeX in its ferromagnetic free layer and/or the AP1 layer of its SyAP pinned layer. X is a non-magnetic, metallic element (or elements) chosen from Ta, Hf, V, Co, Mo, Zr, Nb or Ti whose total atom percent is less than 50%. The insertion layers are between 1 and 10 angstroms in thickness, with between 2 and 5 angstroms being preferred and, in the TMR stack, they are inserted adjacent to the interfaces between a tunneling barrier layer and the ferromagnetic free layer or the tunneling barrier layer and the AP1 layer of the SyAP pinned layer in the TMR stack. The insertion layers constrain interdiffusion of B and Ni from CoFeB and NiFe layers and block NiFe crystalline growth. | 07-03-2014 |
20140210022 | Magnetic Seed for Improving Blocking Temperature and Shield to Shield Spacing in a TMR Sensor - The blocking temperature of the AFM layer in a TMR sensor has been raised by inserting a magnetic seed layer between the AFM layer and the bottom shield. This gives the device improved thermal stability, including improved SNR and BER. | 07-31-2014 |
20140220385 | MR Enhancing Layer (MREL) For Spintronic Devices - The performance of an MR device has been improved by inserting one or more Magneto-Resistance Enhancing Layers (MRELs) into approximately the center of one or more of the magnetic layers such as an inner pinned (AP1) layer, spin injection layer (SIL), field generation layer (FGL), and a free layer. An MREL is a layer of a low band gap, high electron mobility semiconductor such as ZnO or a semimetal such as Bi. The MREL may further comprise a first conductive layer that contacts a bottom surface of the semiconductor or semimetal layer, and a second conductive layer that contacts a top surface of the semiconductor or semimetal layer. | 08-07-2014 |
20140220708 | MR Enhancing Layer (MREL) For Spintronic Devices - The performance of an MR device has been improved by inserting one or more Magneto-Resistance Enhancing Layers (MRELs) into approximately the center of one or more of the magnetic layers such as an inner pinned (AP1) layer, spin injection layer (SIL), field generation layer (FGL), and a free layer. An MREL is a layer of a low band gap, high electron mobility semiconductor such as ZnO or a semimetal such as Bi. The MREL may further comprise a first conductive layer that contacts a bottom surface of the semiconductor or semimetal layer, and a second conductive layer that contacts a top surface of the semiconductor or semimetal layer. | 08-07-2014 |
20140252517 | Thin Seeded Antiferromagnetic Coupled Side Shield for Sensor Biasing Applications - A composite side shield structure is disclosed for providing biasing to a free layer in a sensor structure. The sensor is formed between a bottom shield and top shield each having a magnetization in a first direction that is parallel to an ABS. The side shield is stabilized by an antiferromagnetic (AFM) coupling scheme wherein a bottom (first) magnetic layer is AFM coupled to a second magnetic layer which in turn is AFM coupled to an uppermost (third) magnetic layer. First and third magnetic layers each have a magnetization aligned in the first direction and are coupled to bottom and top shields, respectively, for additional stabilization. The top shield may be modified to include an AFM scheme for providing additional stabilization and guidance to magnetic moments within AFM coupled magnetic layers in the top shield, and to the third magnetic layer in the side shield. | 09-11-2014 |
20140252518 | High Moment Wrap-Around Shields for Magnetic Read Head Improvements - A wrap around shield structure is disclosed for biasing a free layer in a sensor and includes a bottom shield, side shields, and top shield in which each shield element comprises a high moment layer with a magnetization saturation greater than that of Ni | 09-11-2014 |
20140287267 | TMR Device with Novel Free Layer - A TMR sensor with a free layer having a FL1/FL2/FL3 configuration is disclosed in which FL1 is FeCo or a FeCo alloy with a thickness between 2 and 15 Angstroms. The FL2 layer is made of CoFeB or a CoFeB alloy having a thickness from 2 to 10 Angstroms. The FL3 layer is from 10 to 100 Angstroms thick and has a negative λ to offset the positive λ from FL1 and FL2 layers and is comprised of CoB or a CoBQ alloy where Q is one of Ni, Mn, Tb, W, Hf, Zr, Nb, and Si. Alternatively, the FL3 layer may be a composite such as CoB/CoFe, (CoB/CoFe) | 09-25-2014 |
20140315045 | Supermalloy and Mu Metal Side and Top Shields for Magnetic Read Heads - The use of supermalloy-like materials for the side and top shields of a magnetic bit sensor is shown to provide better shielding protection from stray fields because of their extremely high permeability. | 10-23-2014 |