MICROMAGNETICS OF DUAL SPIN-VALVE GMR HEADS

Micromagnetic simulations were performed to study the biasing characte ristics and playback performance of actual dual spin-valve GMR heads. Both symmetric and asymmetric dual spin valve heads were analyzed. The study shows that the symmetric dual spin-valve head is not properly b iased in its patterned form, without any additional transverse biasing schemes. On the other hand, the asymmetric dual spin valve head is se lf-biased since in this form, the free layer is free from the demagnet izing fields arising from the pinned layers. However, opposite GMR eff ects with similar magnitudes would be required for the two spin valve structures in the same multilayer film. (C) 1996 American institute of Physics.