Recording head metrology at sub-100 nm device dimensions

A patterned InAs Hall cross was used to quantitatively image the magnetic field produced by magnetic recording write head as a function of current, obtaining field-current transfer functions for both poles. Using the same instrument, the magnetic field of current-carrying wires as small as 95 nm was measured using a magnetic recording read head in near-contact with the wire surface. The measured magnetic fields from the wire agree closely with the Biot-Savart law predictions for the field from a rectangular current carrying wire over a range of sub-500 nm wire widths. However, for narrow wires, a broadening of the wire field is observed. This broadening is likely due to the finite magnetic response width of the read head. These measurements demonstrate the potential of near-contact recording metrology for magnetic recording heads targeting 1 Tbit/in(2) areal-density information storage. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.