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:
Dec. 11, 2001
Filed:
Jun. 11, 1999
Kenneth E. Knapp, Livermore, CA (US);
Robert E. Rottmayer, Fremont, CA (US);
Francis Ryan, Martinez, CA (US);
Read-Rite Corporation, Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
A magnetoresistive device includes an insulating barrier formed of carbon. In particular, the carbon can be diamond-like carbon, and more particularly, the carbon can be tetrahedral amorphous carbon (t-aC). The insulating barrier can be disposed between the free layer and pinned layer of a spin valve read sensor or otherwise incorporated with other various read sensor configurations. The insulating barrier is configured to increase a resistance of the read sensor with which it is incorporated, and thereby to increase the read signal. Such a barrier can be formed by cathodic arc deposition techniques, with substantially defect-free thicknesses from about 5 Å and above, and band gap values in the range of about 1 eV to about 5.4 eV.