NIST-DEVELOPED PROCESS USED IN GMR MANUFACTURING.

The present generation of computer hard-disk drives uses a read-head based on giant magnetoresistance (GMR) thin films. The manufacturing process used in these systems incorporates key improvements developed at NIST's Magnetic Engineering Research Facility (MERF). Research at MERF demonstrated that two key measures of the quality of GMR thin films could be improved significantly if the films were made using a very small quantity of oxygen as a surfactant during film growth to suppress alloying at interfaces in the film and to produce smoother film growth. This approach changes two of the critical properties of the films: it produces an increase in the GMR value and a decrease in the magnetostatic coupling. Engineers at a private company have reproduced the MERF results and have now incorporated these advances into their state-of-the-art manufacturing systems.