SENSITIVITY OF ORTHOGONAL MAGNETORESISTIVE HEADS

In the orthogonal magnetoresistive (MR) sensor described by II. Suyama , et al. tile sense current runs orthogonal to the air hearing surface (ABS)[1]. With the active portion of the sensor recessed from the ABS , the design is more robust than conventional MR designs. Test devices were fabricated to assess the suitability of the design for high dens ity recording. The data show that the sensitivity is greatly reduced b y the magnetic field induced by the sense current. This leads to a sma ller signal compared to a conventional head design at present track wi dths. However, the signal is independent of the track width at a const ant current density, leading to the possibility of sub-micron track wi dth with peak to peak signal in excess of 400 mu V.