Micromagnetic study of narrow track orthogonal giant magnetoresistive heads

Orthogonal narrow track magnetoresistive heads using giant magnetoresistive multilayers have been studied by micromagnetic modeling. The modeling shows that the hysteresis arises from irreversible switching of the edge-curling wall (ECW) on the side edges of the giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensor layers. Effects of thickness and interlayer exchange coupling on the switching of the ECW are analyzed. It is also found that if the interlayer exchange coupling is ferromagnetic, the GMR orthogonal head has significant high signal amplitude.