Patent ID: 7497007
Filing Date: 2009-03-03
Classification: B82Y,G11C,H01F,H01L,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of forming a TMR sensor in a read head, comprising: (a) forming a seed layer on a substrate, an AFM layer on the seed layer, and a pinned layer on the AFM layer, said pinned layer is comprised of a composite layer having a CoFe (b) treating said pinned layer with oxygen plasma to form an oxygen surfactant layer (OSL) on said CoFe (c) depositing an Al layer on said oxygen surfactant layer (OSL); (d) oxidizing said Al layer to form an AlOx tunnel barrier layer; (e) forming a free layer on the AlOx tunnel barrier layer and a cap layer on the free layer to form a TMR stack of layers having the seed/AFM/pinned/OSL/tunnel barrier/free/cap layer configuration; and (f) patterning said TMR stack of layers to form a TMR sensor.