Abstract
The read performance of spin-valve heads with overlapping leads is studied by using a micromagnetic model. In the case of hard biased spin-valve heads without an overlapped region, the sensitivity (output per lead distance) falls significantly with decreasing lead distance because of the existence of dead zones at both ends of the track. However, heads with 0.5-μm-wide overlapped regions at the ends of the sensing film have high sensitivity even if the lead distance is reduced to 0.5μm. Their output for an effective track width of 1.0μm is 30% larger than that of heads without the overlapped region when the heat generation is the same. Their output has a smaller dependence on the longitudinal bias strength, indicating a larger margin for the longitudinal bias. Spin-valve heads with overlapping leads are promising for high-track-density recording.
