A preliminary study on random telegraph noise (RTN) is made. RTN is defined
as the magnetization states switching by thermal fluctuations. State jumpi
ng resulting in baseline shift from the media field could also be RTN-assoc
iated multi-states switching. Our analysis shows that the root cause of suc
h magnetization multi-states could be due to: 1) free layer edge states swi
tching caused by a weak PM field; 2) surface and/or interface roughness, es
pecially the lapped air bearing surface (ABS); and 3) random defects in the
stack layers. A thermal noise model with Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation
(LLG) was developed and was applied to RTN demonstration.