GMR devices
Principle
In hard disk drives, the binary data in terms
of zero’s(0) an one’s(1) are stored by
inducing magnetic moment in a thin magnetic
layer
GMR effect is used as the principle to read the
data in HDD. Here zero (0) represents When the induced magnetic field is greater
missing transition and one (1) represents than the coercivity of the recording media,
transition in the medium. then data is recorded in the form of 1.
Construction Thus one (1) is stored as data in the recording
medium as a magnetic transition.
The HD consists of recording medium made When there is no magnetic transition, then it
up of thin layer of magnetic garnets grown is referred as zero (0).
over the substrate. In this way the zero’s (0’s) and one’s (1’s) are
The GMR sensor, which is made up of ferrites stored in the recording medium.
and antiferromagnetic materials is used as Reading / Retrieving
reading element.
Giant Magnetoresistive (GMR) effect is the
The writing element is made up of inductive principle used to read / retrieve the data from
magnetic transducer. the recording medium.
The writing element and the GMR sensor When the GMR sensor is made to move near
shall be made to slide over the recording the recorded medium, then the resistance of
media in the longitudinal direction as shown the GMR sensor varies with respect to the
in figure. orientation of the magnetic moments as
Hence this method is also called as follows.
longitudinal recording. The flow of current When the layers are magnetised in parallel
through the GMR sensor and writing element manner, then the resistance in the GMR
shall be adjusted and in turn the sensor is minimum and therefore maximum
magnetization is sensed (or) controlled in the current flows through the sensor, which
recording media. represents the data as one (1)
Working Writing / Storing When the layers are magnetised in
antiparallel manner, then the resistance in
Initially the current is passed through the the GMR sensor is maximum and therefore
writing element and a magnetic field is minimum(or) almost no current
induced in between the gap of the inductive flows through the sensor, which represents
magnetic transducer. the data as zero (0)
During writing, the amplitude of current is Therefore, with the help of the reading
kept constant, and the direction of current is current, the zero’s (0’s) and one’s (1’s) can be
reversed. retrieved from the magnetic hard disk drive.
Due to reversal of current, the magnetization
orientation is reversed in the recording Advantages
medium i.e., from south → North as shown in • HDD can store the data in terabytes
figure
• It has very large storage capacity
• It is compact in size and can be easily
transferred from one place to another.
• The size of recording medium is reduce up to
few nano meter range using nanotechnology
• GMR sensor are non-diffusive and are very
sensitive in reading
Disadvantages
• HDD is slower than soli state drives
• Consume large power
• Data may be corrupted due to thermal radiation
• HDD has bulkier form factor
• GMR noise ratio is high for nano size recording
media
Applications
• Used as storage devices in cloud applications
• Used in coding and signal processing units
• Used in control systems, Nano electronics, etc.,
