State-of-the-Art Magnetic Hard Disk Drives
field. This also ensures that the moment Table I shows typical values for these pa- independent scattering, a key feature for
rotates without any discontinuous jumps, rameters for AF materials that have been GMR transport.
which would result in noise. This small or are being used in GMR heads. The free layer is made up of two mag-
angle limits the read head to use only about The invention of the spin-valve head netic layers: CoFe and NiFe. The CoFe
20% of the total available MR. So, while a created an intense research effort into ex- layer is 1 nm thick and is in contact with
spin-valve film may have 15% GMR, the change anisotropy materials. The standard the Cu spacer. CoFe gives high GMR, but
head uses only 3%. materials in use today—PtMn for its high doesn’t have optimal magnetic properties.
The actual spin-valve read sensor is σ and Tb, and, more recently, IrMn for its The combination of CoFe/NiFe is mag-
much more complex than this simplified small Tcrit—were still in early development netically softer (responds more readily to
three-layer structure. A useful way to ex- when the first GMR heads were shipped low fields) than CoFe alone. Also, by ad-
plore the technology is to follow the con- in 1997. NiO, the antiferromagnet in the justing the composition of the NiFe, one
struction of the device layer by layer. first spin valve, has relatively low σ and can minimize the effects of strain (magneto-
The bottom shield is 1 µm thick and is Tb. The invention that made the NiO anti- striction) on the free layer. A further ad-
deposited on the substrate by electroplat- ferromagnet viable is contained in the “syn- vantage comes from the fact that Cu and
ing. Since the spin valve is composed of thetic antiferromagnet” used in the next CoFe do not alloy, making for sharp inter-
layers on the order of 1 nm thick, it is best three layers in the spin valve: the pinned faces, which also improves the GMR.
to smooth the shield by chemical– layer/AFC spacer layer/reference layer.16 The spin valve is capped with a Cu/Ta
mechanical polishing (CMP) before sensor These layers are most commonly bilayer structure. Electrons can pass
deposition. A thin (10 nm) alumina layer CoFe/Ru/CoFe. The CoFe layers are through the free layer and into the Cu
is deposited that electrically insulates the strongly coupled through the spacer layer layer with minimal scattering and loss of
sensor from the conductive shield. via an RKKY interaction, leading to a re- spin. This increases GMR by lowering R0
A typical underlayer structure is duced net moment similar to that described without changing ∆R. The free layer effec-
Ta(3 nm)/NiFeCr(3 nm)/NiFe(0.8 nm). for AFC media. Since Hex is inversely pro- tively “filters” the electrons, creating a po-
The Ta provides good adhesion and pro- portional to the net moment, making the larized electron current that flows through
motes a 〈111〉 texture, which is beneficial net moment close to zero can make the the nonmagnetic Cu layer.17 The Ta layer
for the magnetic properties of the free reference layer stable against field pertur- protects the spin valve from oxidation
layer. The NiFeCr/NiFe layers are possi- bations. The second advantage comes in during the processing.
bly the least appreciated recent advances biasing the spin valve. As noted after The spin valve, from the seed layers
in GMR technology. When the NiFe is de- Equation 3, the free and reference layer to the cap, is created in one deposition
posited, the NiFeCr recrystallizes, increas- moments are perpendicular to each other. without breaking vacuum and must be
ing the grain diameter from about 5 nm to When the sensor is patterned, the free and patterned afterwards. Due to the small
as much as 22 nm.14 This decreases grain- pinned layers couple magnetostatically, dimensions of the sensor, fine-line litho-
boundary scattering, which can cause the which favors an antiparallel configuration graphy techniques are already in use, and
electrons to lose spin information before of their moments. The strength of this an- electron-beam lithography will likely be
undergoing the spin-dependent GMR tiparallel coupling is again proportional to required in the future. Conductive leads
scattering, and increases the output of the net moment. By keeping this value are deposited on the patterned spin valve
current-generation spin valves by 20–30%. close to zero, it is much easier to keep the to provide the sense current. The “hard
The next layer is an antiferromagnet (in free layer moment perpendicular to the bias” portion of the leads (see Figure 3) are
Figure 3, this is IrMn) which, having no reference layer. typically a magnetically hard CoPtCr
net moment, does not respond to external If the free layer contacts the reference alloy, and they are aligned with the free
magnetic fields. When a ferromagnetic layer, the magnetic coupling will restrict layer to provide a small magnetic bias field
layer is grown in contact with the antifer- its ability to respond to a magnetic field. A to stabilize the free layer, reducing noise.
romagnetic (AF) layer, the AF layer “pins” nonmagnetic layer is required to physically To complete the read head, a top alu-
the ferromagnetic layer’s magnetic moment separate these magnetic layers. The Cu mina gap and magnetic shield layer are
through a mechanism called exchange spacer layer not only separates the mag- added. The write head is then fabricated
anisotropy.15 This prevents the moment of netic layers, but, since its band structure on top of this read head (this is a great
the ferromagnetic layer rotating in moder- closely matches that of CoFe, it also oversimplification of the process involved).
ate magnetic fields, making it useful as a allows electrons to pass with little spin- A single wafer contains approximately
reference layer. The key parameters of the
AF materials are
■ The interfacial exchange energy, σ, which
determines how much field can be ap- Table I: Typical Physical Parameters for Antiferromagnetic Materials Used in
plied before the ferromagnetic layer’s Giant Magnetoresistive Read Heads.
moment reverses, often called the ex-
change field, or Hex σ/Mrt. The value Hex Mrt Tb Tcrit
of σ depends not only on the AF material Material (ergcm2) (Oe*) (°C) (Å)
used, but also on the microstructure. NiO 0.06 150 225 400
■ The blocking temperature, Tb, at which σ
PtMn 0.4 1000 325 225
decreases to zero, important for a de-
vice that operates at over 100C. IrMn 0.4 1000 275 80
■ The critical thickness, Tcrit , below which
Notes: σ interfacial exchange energy; Hex exchange field; Mrt magnetic thickness of the
σ and Tb decrease due to thermal acti- pinned layer, where Mr is the remanent magnetization and t is the thickness; Tb blocking
vation of the AF grains (analogous to temperature; Tcrit critical thickness.
the superparamagnetism discussed in *The strength of the magnetic field (in Oersted) that has to be applied to a film of 0.4 milli-emu cm
the section on Longitudinal Media). to overcome the pinning from the antiferromagnet.
382 MRS BULLETIN • VOLUME 31 • MAY 2006
