Seagate Technology Incorporated

Khoung T Tran

Janusz Josef Nowak

Zheng Gao

Mark Thomas Kief

Sining Mao

Konstantin Nikolaev

Jian Chen

A magnetoresistive (MR) sensor having a decreased electrical profile due to a confining of the device sense current within a conductive nanoconstriction. The MR sensor includes a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) stack and a layer of high resistivity material within the GMR stack. The layer of high resistivity material includes a nanoconstriction precursor. When a punch current is applied at the nanoconstriction precursor, a conductive nanoconstriction is formed through the layer of high resistivity material at the nanoconstriction precursor.

Method of making a current-perpendicular to the plane (CPP) magnetoresistive (MR) sensor

A tunneling magnetoresistive stack configured to operate in a current-perpendicular-to-plane mode has a plurality of layers including a barrier layer. The TMR stack has a plurality of layers including a barrier layer, wherein the barrier layer is comprised of an insulating material selected from a group consisting of HfO, HfAlO, ZrO, TiO, TaO or NdO. The TMR stack exhibits a low resistance-area (RA) product, a stable magnetoresistive (MR) ratio, a lower RA product, a higher breakdown voltage of the TMR stack and enhanced thermal stability.

Tunneling barrier material for a magnetic recording head

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Fridley, MN, United States of America

Khoung T Tran