Method and system for providing a magnetic transducer having an improved hard bias seed layer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9190080-B1
Application number	US-84011307-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 16, 2007
Priority date	Aug 16, 2007
Publication date	Nov 17, 2015
Grant date	Nov 17, 2015

Abstract

A method and system for providing a magnetic transducer is described. The method and system include providing an underlayer, a seed structure, and a magnetically hard layer. The underlayer has a surface. The seed structure resides on the surface and includes an amorphous layer and a seed layer. The amorphous layer wets the surface of the underlayer. The seed layer having a natural growth texture. The magnetically hard layer resides on the seed structure. The seed layer resides between the magnetically hard layer and the amorphous layer. The magnetically hard layer has a desired crystal orientation corresponding to the natural growth texture of the seed layer.

First claim

We claim:

1. A magnetic transducer comprising:
an underlayer having a top surface;
a magnetoresistive sensor residing on a first portion of the top surface;
a seed structure on a second portion of the top surface, the seed structure including an amorphous layer and a seed layer, the amorphous layer wetting the second portion of the top surface of the underlayer, the seed layer having a natural growth texture, no portion of the seed structure residing between the underlayer and the magnetoresistive sensor such that no portion of the amorphous layer and no portion of the seed layer are between the underlayer and the magnetoresistive sensor; and
a magnetically hard layer on the seed structure, the seed layer residing between the magnetically hard layer and the amorphous layer, the magnetically hard layer having a desired crystal orientation corresponding to the natural growth texture of the seed layer.

2. The magnetic transducer of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the magnetically hard layer adjoins the magnetoresistive sensor.

3. The magnetic transducer of claim 1 wherein the amorphous layer includes a layer having a high melting point.

4. The magnetic transducer of claim 3 wherein the high melting point is at least 1200° Celsius.

5. The magnetic transducer of claim 4 wherein the amorphous layer includes at least one of Ti and Ta.

6. The magnetic transducer of claim 1 wherein the amorphous layer has a thickness of not more than one hundred Angstroms.

7. The magnetic transducer of claim 6 wherein the amorphous layer has a thickness of not more than forty Angstroms.

8. The magnetic transducer of claim 6 wherein the amorphous layer has a thickness of at least ten Angstroms.

9. The magnetic transducer of claim 3 wherein the magnetically hard layer includes at least one of CoPt, CoSm, and CoCrPt.

10. The magnetic transducer of claim 9 wherein the magnetically hard layer includes CoPt and wherein the CoPt includes at least five percent and not more than forty percent Pt.

11. The magnetic transducer of claim 1 wherein the seed layer has a body centered cubic (BCC) crystal structure and the natural growth texture is (110).

12. The magnetic transducer of claim 11 wherein the desired crystal orientation is (10*0).

13. The magnetic transducer of claim 12 wherein the magnetically hard layer includes at least one of CoPt, CoSm, and CoCrPt.

14. The magnetic transducer of claim 13 wherein the magnetically hard layer includes CoPt and wherein the CoPt includes at least five percent and not more than forty percent Pt.

15. The magnetic transducer of claim 11 wherein the seed layer has a first lattice constant, the magnetically hard layer has a second lattice constant, and wherein the first lattice constant has a lattice mismatch from the second lattice constant of not more than twenty percent.

16. The magnetic transducer of claim 11 wherein the seed layer includes W.

17. The magnetic transducer of claim 11 wherein the seed layer has a thickness of at least ten Angstroms.

18. The magnetic transducer of claim 17 wherein the thickness is at least fifteen Angstroms.

19. A magnetic transducer comprising:
an underlayer having a top surface;
a magnetoresistive sensor residing on a first portion of the top surface;
a seed structure on a second portion of the top surface, the seed structure including an amorphous layer and a seed layer, the amorphous layer consisting of at least one of Ti and Ta, the seed layer including W, no portion of the seed structure residing between the underlayer and the magnetoresistive sensor such that no portion of the amorphous layer and no portion of the seed layer are between the underlayer and the magnetoresistive sensor; and
a magnetically hard layer on the seed structure, the seed layer residing between the magnetically hard layer and the amorphous layer, the magnetically hard layer having a desired crystal orientation corresponding to a natural growth texture of the seed layer.

20. The magnetic transducer of claim 19 wherein the magnetically hard layer includes at least one of CoPt, CoSm, and CoCrPt.

21. A magnetic head comprising:
an underlayer having a top surface;
a magnetoresistive sensor residing on a first portion of the top surface;
a seed structure on a second portion of the top surface, the seed structure including an amorphous layer and a seed layer, the amorphous layer wetting the second portion of the top surface of the underlayer, the seed layer having a natural growth texture, no portion of the seed structure residing between the underlayer and the magnetoresistive sensor such that no portion of the amorphous layer and no portion of the seed layer are between the underlayer and the magnetoresistive sensor; and
a magnetically hard layer on the seed structure, the seed layer residing between the magnetically hard layer and the amorphous layer, the magnetically hard layer having a desired crystal orientation corresponding to the natural growth texture of the seed layer.

22. The magnetic head of claim 21 wherein at least a portion of the magnetically hard layer adjoining the magnetoresistive sensor.

23. The magnetic head of claim 22 wherein the amorphous layer includes a layer having a high melting point.

24. The magnetic head of claim 23 wherein the high melting point is at least 1200° Celsius.

25. The magnetic head of claim 24 wherein the amorphous layer includes at least one of Ti and Ta.

26. The magnetic head of claim 25 wherein the amorphous layer has a thickness of not more than forty Angstroms.

27. The magnetic head of claim 26 wherein the amorphous layer has a thickness of at least ten Angstroms.

28. The magnetic head of claim 23 wherein the magnetically hard layer includes at least one of CoPt, CoSm, and CoCrPt.

29. The magnetic head of claim 28 wherein the magnetically hard layer includes CoPt and wherein the CoPt includes at least five percent and not more than forty percent Pt.

30. The magnetic head of claim 21 wherein the seed layer has a body centered cubic (BCC) crystal structure and the natural growth texture is (110).

31. The magnetic head of claim 30 wherein the desired crystal orientation is (10*0).

32. The magnetic head of claim 31 wherein the magnetically hard layer includes at least one of CoPt, CoSm, and CoCrPt.

33. The magnetic head of claim 32 wherein the magnetically hard layer includes CoPt and wherein the CoPt includes at least five percent and not more than forty percent Pt.

34. The magnetic head of claim 30 wherein the seed layer has a first lattice constant, the magnetically hard layer has a second lattice constant, and wherein the first lattice constant has a lattice mismatch from the second lattice constant of not more than twenty percent.

35. The magnetic head of claim 30 wherein the seed layer includes W.

36. The magnetic head of claim 30 wherein the seed layer has a thickness of at least ten Angstroms.

37. The magnetic head of claim 30 further comprising:
a write transducer.

38. A method for providing a magnetic head comprising:
depositing an underlayer having a top surface;
providing a magnetoresistive sensor residing on a first portion of the top surfa

Assignees

• Roy Anup Ghosh
• Dang Xiaozhong
• Western Digital Fremont Llc

Inventors

• Roy Anup Ghosh
• Dang Xiaozhong

Classifications

• G11B5/732

  Physics · mapped topic

• G11B5/3903 Primary

  using magnetic thin film layers or their effects, the films being part of integrated structures · CPC title

• G11B5/3906

  Details related to the use of magnetic thin film layers or to their effects · CPC title

• G11B5/3932 Primary

  Magnetic biasing films · CPC title

• G11B5/7379

  Seed layer, e.g. at least one non-magnetic layer is specifically adapted as a seed or seeding layer · CPC title