CPP-GMR reader and wraparound shield writer for perpendicular recording

Current perpendicular-to-plane-giant magnetoresistance (CPP-GMR) read heads with 80 nm sensor width and wraparound shielded write heads with 150 nm pole width are fabricated and tested. A perpendicular medium of 6.2 kOe coercivity and 520 emu/cm/sup 3/ is used for read-write testing. Both wraparound shield and unshielded write heads show a similar overwrite performance of about 40 dB. Half-widths of the heads were almost the same, but the 10% amplitude width of the shielded head was slightly narrower by 20 nm than the unshielded one.