Patent ID: 9021685
Filing Date: 2015-05-05
Classification: B82Y,G01R,G11B,G11C,H01L,Y10T

Abstract:
1. An annealing process for a spin valve in a magnetic read head, said spin valve is comprised of a plurality of layers including at least one AFM layer and at least one pinned layer, and has a ferromagnetic free layer consisting of one or more of CoFe, CoB, CoFeB, FeB, CoFeNi, and CoNiFeB that includes at least one amorphous layer, comprising: (a) a first anneal step comprised of applying a first temperature and a magnetic field along a desired pinning direction for a first period of time to pin a magnetization in the at least one AFM layer and at least one pinned layer; (b) a second anneal step comprised of applying a second temperature and a magnetic field along said desired pinning direction for a second period of time to crystallize the at least one amorphous layer and further develop pinning of the AFM layer and at least one pinned layer in the desired pinning direction and wherein said second temperature is greater than said first temperature and said first period of time is longer than said second period of time; and (c) a third step between the first anneal step and the second anneal step which is a heat treatment of the magnetic read head wherein the first temperature is ramped to the second temperature during a period of 5 to 10 minutes in a chamber that is used for the first and second anneal steps.