RECORDING LIMITATIONS FOR SAL MR AND DUAL-STRIPE HEADS/

A micromagnetic modeling analysis is performed to investigate the area l recording density limitations of the soft adjacent layer (SAL) biase d and dual-stripe (DS) magnetoresistive recording head structures. The simulation analysis yielded four principle results: First, the higher output advantage of the DSMR head structure over the SAL head structu re is largely due to the ohmic shunting loss of the SAL layer in the p resent SAL heads. Second, both the SAL and DSMR head structures are ca pable of supporting read track width as narrow as W=0.5 pm. Third, in order to support high linear densities, the spacing between the two MR stripes in the DSMR structure must be narrowed to obtain the adequate spectral response. There is, however, a corresponding amplitude reduc tion that is due to the magnetostatic interaction between the two stri pes. Fourth, the track width broadening inherent in the DSMR structure when the two MR films are misaligned can be eliminated with a sense c urrent inversion.