Storage Technology Corporation

Herman C Kluge

Mark Lee Watson

Edward Virgil Denison

Joseph M Schmalhorst

A dual-stripe element magnetroresistive read head for reading information from a magnetic tape. The read head includes a first insulating layer, a first active magnetoresistive layer formed on the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer formed on the first active magnetoresistive layer, a second active magnetoresistive layer formed on the second insulating layer, and a third insulating layer formed on the second active magnetoresistive layer. The second active magnetoresistive layer is magnetostatically coupled to the first active magnetoresistive layer. A periodic structure is formed on a surface of the first insulator layer. As the remaining layers are formed on the first insulating layer, the periodic structure is replicated throughout the read head. Thus, the periodic structure formed on the first insulator layer stabilizes both the first and second active layers via magnetic domain pinning for both layers along the edges of the periodic structure.

Method and system for providing a dual-stripe magnetoresistive element having periodic structure stabilization

The present invention divides the recording head into multiple sections, each section accessing a subset of the total number of channels arranged such that one section reads and writes only a subset of the data channels. The sections may be either independently actuated for both coarse (data band) and fine (track-following) positioning, or linked by a common actuator for data band positioning with independent fine position actuators for fine track following.

Growing community of inventors

Erie, CO, United States of America

Herman C Kluge