Patent ID: 6038107
Filing Date: 2000-03-14
Classification: B82Y,G11B

Abstract:
A disk drive system, comprising:a magnetic recording disk;a spin valve magnetoresistive sensor for sensing magnetically recorded data on the disk, the spin valve sensor comprising:a free ferromagnetic layer;an antiparallel pinned layer including:an antiparallel coupling layer;first and second ferromagnetic layers separated from each other by said antiparallel coupling layer, said antiparallel coupling layer being in contact with said first and second ferromagnetic layer, said first ferromagnetic layer further comprising first and second ferromagnetic sub-layers, and wherein the thickness of the first ferromagnetic sub-layer is less than the thickness of the second ferromagnetic sub-layer and the second ferromagnetic layer;an antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer in contact with said said first ferromagnetic sub-layer for pinning the magnetization of said first ferromagnetic layer; anda spacer layer disposed between said free ferromagnetic layer and said antiparallel pinned layer, said spacer layer being in contact with said free ferromagnetic layer and said second ferromagnetic layer;an actuator for moving said spin valve sensor across the magnetic recording disk so the spin valve sensor may access different regions of magnetically recorded data n the magnetic recording disk; andmeans electrically coupled to the spin valve sensor for detecting changes in resistance of the sensor caused by rotation of the magnetization axis of the free ferromagnetic layer relative to the fixed magnetizations of the antiparallel coupled first and second ferromagnetic layers in the laminated antiparallel pinned layer in response to magnetic fields from the magnetically recorded data.