Micromagnetic simulation of 20 Gb/in/sup 2/ spin valve heads with heating effects

A micromagnetic model is described and used to study the behavior of spin valve recording heads. The finite difference method is used to solve for the magnetostatic potential, the electrostatic potential and the temperature. With this formulation we can investigate the effect of structure shapes, current distributions, and temperature on the magnetic performance of magnetoresistive read heads. Details of device response degradation due to increased resistivity is shown.