CAREER: Fundamental Electrical and Thermal Limitations of Patterned Thin Film Multilayer Magnetic Field Sensors

9702419 Burkett磁性材料研究的进展在过去十年中对数据存储行业产生了显着的影响。随着对更快的操作和增加的密度的需求的增强，很明显，必须减小器件尺寸。未来密度的增加将需要激进的新发展。 然而，任何新的重大技术的出现都会带来各种各样的技术问题。 在磁阻（MR）场感测装置的情况下，这些问题中的许多与材料有关。一个这样的问题，得到令人惊讶的关注少，是电迁移。 在MR技术的应用中感兴趣的其他问题是电噪声和热致寄生输出信号的起源。 一个改进的微观理解的故障模式的电子传导的磁性多层膜的小尺寸，可用于磁阻传感设备具有巨大的技术意义。其他的研究包括图案化多层膜的热完整性的调查，和一个特殊的多层结构，“自旋阀”，以及信号噪声比（SNR）的测量图案化多层膜的噪声，微观结构和绝对物理尺寸之间的关系进行评估的字段传感元件。 拟议职业发展计划的主要目标包括：磁性材料的电迁移技术的发展，高电流密度下的电迁移效应的研究，磁性多层膜中相关热降解效应的评估，介观多层膜中的噪声测量，研究课题与工程课程的整合，研究项目的创建，以帮助教育本科生/研究生，以及提供受过充分培训的工程师，以便在磁性工业中任职。 ***

9702419 Burkett Advances in magnetic materials research have had a remarkable impart on the data storage industry in the last decade. As the demands for faster operation and increased density intensify, it is clear that device dimensions must be reduced. Future increases in density will require radical new developments. However, the advent of any new major technology brings with it a wide variety of technical problems. In the case of magnetoresistive (MR) field-sensing devices, a number of these problems are materials related. One such problem, receiving surprisingly little attention, is that of electromigration. Other problems of interest in the application of MR technology are the origins of electrical noise and of thermally induced spurious output signals. An improved microscopic understanding of the failure modes of electronic conduction in magnetic multilayers of small dimensions that may be used in magnetoresistive sensing devices has vast technological implications. Additional studies include investigation of thermal integrity of patterned multilayers, and a special multilayer structure, the "spin-valve" as well as signal to noise ratio (SNR) measurements on patterned multilayers for evaluation of the relationship between noise, microstructure, and absolute physical size of field-sensing elements. The primary objectives in the proposed career development plan include: development of photolithographic techniques for magnetic materials, the study of electromigration effects under high current densities, evaluation of related thermal degradation effects in magnetic multilayers, noise measurements in mesoscopic multilayers, integration of research topics to the engineering curriculum, creation of research projects to aid in educating undergraduate/graduate students, and provision of adequately trained engineers for placement in the magnetics industry. ***