Thermal domain stability of advanced digital recording (ADR) thin film heads

Abstract In this paper the thermal domain stability of electroplated Nickel–Iron flux guides is studied. During the thin film deposition process of ADR magnetic heads these magnetic structures are heated up to about 300°C on a few occasions and it is shown that this has a pronounced effect on the stress state of the deposited flux-guide layers. Domain observations are carried out on both NiFe strips of varying widths as well as on as-deposited test structures and annealed NiFe on product level of a data head.