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. 13, 2009
Filed:
Jun. 22, 2005
Rachid Sbiaa, Tokyo, JP;
Isamu Sato, Tokyo, JP;
Haruyuki Morita, Tokyo, JP;
TDK Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A magnetoresistive element is provided as a spin valve having a synthetic free layer. More specifically, the synthetic free layer includes a low perpendicular anisotropy layer that is separated from a high perpendicular anisotropy layer by a spacer. Thus, the high anisotropy material introduces an out-of-plane component by exchange coupling. The high perpendicular anisotropy material also has low spin polarization. Further, the low anisotropy material positioned closer to the pinned layer has a high spin polarization. As a result, the magnetization of the low anisotropy material is re-oriented from an in-plane direction to an out-of-plane direction. Accordingly, the overall free layer perpendicular anisotropy can be made small as a result of the low anisotropy material and the high anisotropy material. Adjusting the thickness of these layers, as well as the spacer therebetween, can further lower the anisotropy and thus further increase the sensitivity.