A semiconductor slider including an integral spin valve transistor (SVT)
having a read width of 250 nm or less disposed on a monolithic
semiconductor. substrate, useful in magnetic data storage applications.
The monolithic slider may also include other magnetic and semiconductor
transistor structures and is fabricated in a single process using
standard thin-film processing steps. The SVT includes a sensor stack
having a top surface and including a first ferromagnetic (FM) layer in
contact with and forming a Schottky barrier at the monolithic
semiconductor substrate, a FM shield layer disposed over the sensor stack
and in electrical contact with the top surface thereof, a SVT emitter
terminal coupled to the FM shield, a SVT collector terminal coupled to
the substrate and a SVT base terminal coupled to the first FM layer. The
sensor stack may include a spin valve (SV) stack or a tunnel valve (TV)
stack, for example.