Shield-related signal instability in magnetoresistive heads

Magnetoresistive (MR) heads with various upper shield materials were fabricated and their read-write performance was tested to clarify the shield-related effect on the signal instability in MR heads. Comparison of a head with an upper shield layer of higher magnetostriction and one with lower magnetostriction showed that the latter had better stability in the output signal of a repeated read-write test. The output amplitude of a head with an upper shield layer of Co52Ni27Fe21 film, which had a high magnetostriction of about +3×10−6, was varied by applying a low external longitudinal field, which affected just the shield layers. This change in the output corresponded well to the output variation in the repeated read-write test. The spin scanning electron micrograph image of this head revealed a distinct domain wall in the air bearing surface near the MR sensor. These results indicated that instability of the domain structure in a shield layer was one of the causes of the signal instability in MR heads; an unusual bias field from a domain wall of the shield layer, which could be moved easily by a repeated writing operation, caused a variation in the biased state of the MR layer which resulted in the signal variation, and that low magnetostriction was required for a shield material to achieve a stable head.