A SELF-BIASED SPIN-VALVE SENSOR WITH A LONGITUDINALLY PINNED LAYER

We have developed a novel self-biased spin valve sensor in which a fre e layer is magnetostatically coupled to;a longitudinally and moderatel y pinned layer. Such spin-valve sensors are more appropriate for GMR/I nductive head processes than conventional spin-valve sensors because t he direction of pinning is parallel to the desired magnetic anisotropy for the free layer and shields. To fabricate the spin valves, we depo sited nm)/NiFe(3nm)/Cu(2.5nm)/NiFe(8nm)/NiMn(15nm)/Ta(3n m) films, pat terned the spin valve, and attached an Au lead to each of its sides. T he transfer curve of this spin valve sensor exhibits excellent lineari ty without Barkhausen noise. Dynamic range is great in proportion to t he sense current, while sensitivity is slightly less than that of conv entional spin valve sensors at high sense current levels.