Abstract
The failure mode of spin valve head was studied at various oven temperature and applied current density conditions. The effects on device reliability due to Joule-heat temperature rise, current density, and stress current polarity were investigated by in-situ quasistatic transfer curve measurements. Arrhenius plots of the time to failure (TTF) data show similar activation energy of /spl sim/1 eV for failure criteria of 0.2% resistance decrease and 10% amplitude loss. The device reliability is shown to depend predominantly on the peak sensor temperature. The magnetic field produced by the bias current affects primarily magnetic instability and causes mainly the scattering of life test results.
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