The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 27, 1992
Filed:
Feb. 08, 1991
Bernard Dieny, San Jose, CA (US);
Bruce A Gurney, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Serhat Metin, San Francisco, CA (US);
Stuart S Parkin, San Jose, CA (US);
Virgil S Speriosu, San Jose, CA (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A magnetoresistive (MR) sensor comprising a layered structure formed on a substrate includes a first and a second thin film layer of magnetic material separated by a thin film layer of non-magnetic metallic material such as Cu, Au, or Ag, with at least one of the layers of ferromagnetic material formed of either cobalt or a cobalt alloy. The magnetization direction of the first ferromagnetic layer, at zero applied field, is set substantially perpendicular to the magnetization direction of the second ferromagnetic layer which is fixed in position. A current flow is produced through the sensor, and the variations in voltage across the MR sensor are sensed due to the changes in resistance produced by rotation of the magnetization in the front layer of ferromagnetic material as a function of the magnetic field being sensed.