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:
Jul. 23, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 03, 2000
Marcos M. Lederman, San Francisco, CA (US);
Daniel A. Nepela, San Jose, CA (US);
Hua-Ching Tong, San Jose, CA (US);
Read-Rite Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
A magnetoresistive read sensor fabricated on a substrate includes a ferromagnetic layer that is exchange coupled with an antiferromagnetic layer made of a defined composition of iridium manganese. A tantalum layer is used so that the exchange field and coercivity do not change with variations in annealing temperature. The antiferromagnetic layer is formed with a material composition of Ir Mn , wherein x is in the range of 15<x>23. In an embodiment of a spin valve structure, the tantalum layer is disposed over the substrate and the antiferromagnetic layer is in direct contact with a pinned ferromagnetic layer. In another embodiment, the IrMn layer is formed over a soft active layer. In a third embodiment using exchange pinning, spaced IrMn regions are formed over the active magnetoresistive layer to define the sensor track width.