公开(公告)号：US5380548A

公开(公告)日：1995-01-10

申请号：US213883

申请日：1994-03-15

Applicant: Tsann Lin ,  James K. Howard ,  Cherngye Hwang ,  Daniele Mauri ,  Norbert Staud

Inventor： Tsann Lin ,  James K. Howard ,  Cherngye Hwang ,  Daniele Mauri ,  Norbert Staud

IPC: G11B5/39 ,  H01F10/02

CPC classification number: G11B5/3903 ,  G11B5/3932

Abstract: A magnetoresistive (MR) sensor comprising a sputtered layer of ferromagnetic material and a sputtered layer of antiferromagnetic nickel-manganese (Ni-Mn) to provide an exchange coupled longitudinal bias field in the MR element is described. The antiferromagnetic layer overlays the MR layer and may be patterned to provide the longitudinal bias field only in the end regions of the MR layer. Alternatively, the antiferromagnetic layer can underlay the MR layer with a Zr underlayer to enhance the exchange-coupled field. As initially deposited, the Ni-Mn layer is face-centered-cubic and exhibits little or no exchange-coupled field. After one annealing cycle at a relatively low temperature, the Ni-Mn layer is face-centered-tetragonal and exhibits increased crystallographic ordering and provides sufficient exchange coupling for the MR element to operate. Addition of chromium to the Ni-Mn alloy provides increased corrosion resistance.

Abstract translation: 描述了一种磁阻（MR）传感器，其包括铁磁材料的溅射层和反铁磁镍锰（Ni-Mn）的溅射层，以在MR元件中提供交换耦合的纵向偏置场。 反铁磁层覆盖MR层，并且可以被图案化以仅在MR层的端部区域中提供纵向偏置场。 或者，反铁磁层可以用Zr底层来衬底MR层以增强交换耦合场。 最初沉积时，Ni-Mn层是面心立方体，表现出很少或没有交换耦合场。 在相对较低温度下的一个退火循环之后，Ni-Mn层是面对中心的四边形，并且显示出增加的晶体学顺序，并提供用于MR元件操作的足够的交换耦合。 向Ni-Mn合金中添加铬提高了耐腐蚀性。