4 Gbit/in.(2) inductive write heads using high moment FeAlN poles

Thin film inductive write heads incorporating 2-mu m-thick single and multilayer FeAlN/SiO2 poles were fabricated. The poles were trimmed to 1 mu m trackwidth using focused ion beam etching from the air bearing surface of the sliders. Tests on 2950 Oe media show satisfactory media saturation. Overwrite in excess of -43 dB and hard transition peak shift <2 nm were measured for wide trackwidth heads with 0.2 mu m gap lengths. Tracks written using a 1 mu m track width head were imaged using magnetic force microscopy, showing well defined transitions at linear densities up to 6500 flux changes per millimeter. A written track width of approximately 1.1 mu m and a side erase band of less than 0.1 mu m were observed. Assuming a coding scheme with a density ratio of 1.33, these heads promise a recording density of over 4 Gbit/in.(2) (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.