Patent ID: 7201947

Claim:
A process to manufacture a magnetic tunnel junction read head, comprising: providing a lower conductive lead layer and depositing thereon a magnetic shield layer followed by a seed layer; depositing a longitudinal bias stabilization layer on said seed layer; depositing a free layer on said longitudinal bias stabilization layer; on said free layer, depositing a dielectric layer; depositing a pinned layer on said dielectric layer, an antiferromagnetic pinning layer on said pinned layer, and an upper conductive lead layer on said antiferromagnetic pinning layer; through a mask that defines a magnetic tunnel junction stack having an output signal, etching all unexposed layers down as far as said dielectric layer, thereby forming a CPP SV magnetic read head; and heating said read head in a magnetic field for a period of time whereby said longitudinal bias stabilization layer acquires a magnetic exchange coupling field of between about 150 and 250 Oe, thereby providing longitudinal stabilization for said free layer and reducing said output signal from said magnetic read head by less than about 10%.