Focused ion beams in future nanoscale probe recording

Focused ion beam (FIB) applications in the field of nanoscale probe recording are explored. A detailed description of how to use FIBs for trimming longitudinal and perpendicular magnetic recording and playback devices to dimensions of less than 100 nm is presented. An experiment was conducted to demonstrate that the magnetoresistive property of a read element, e.g. a giant-magnetoresistive sensor, strongly depends on the focused ion current and the beam accelerating voltage.