Correlation of magnetoresistive sensitivity mapping (MSM) with spin stand performance

Abstract

Magnetoresistive sensitivity mapping (MSM) uses an AFM tip coated with a hard magnetic film as a flux source to provide a read sensitivity profile on a biased MR head. The resulting MSM signal is monitored using a modified electronics package attached to a standard probe microscope. MSM scans are compared with standard trackscans and /spl mu/-tracks of the same heads and are shown to detect the same anomalies in the read sensitivity profile.