Study Of Recessed MR Sensors With Unlaminated And Multi-Laminated Flux-Guides

Abstract

We have fabricated unshielded and shielded MR sensors with various flux-guide configurations, and studied their behavior using MR response and Kerr effect techniques. Results show numerous interesting effects from interactions of the MR sensors to the flux-guides and the shielding environment. In particular, the multi-laminated flux-guides are shown to be much better in noise behavior compared to the unlaminated flux-guides, although small amounts of jumps are still present as expected from edge-curling wall magnetics. Finally, the presence of a long back flux-guide enhances the read sensitivity distinctly, but might also render flux-guide noise problems more critical in the operation of the sensor. © 1992 IEEE