Hardayal Singh is a well-renowned engineer who graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Ph.D. in Solid State Physics. He was part of the class of 1978 and is given a lot to the community with his contributions in the field of electronics engineering. He has numerous other contributions associated with different technological organizations that are renowned all over the world.
Hardayal Singh started his career in 1978 as a design engineer at National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA. The company got facilitated by his work to design and develop the highest capacity bubble memory chips. According to one of his research, he researched that computer systems use auxiliary storage devices, especially if someone wants to store media-related data. Hardayal suggested that for a direct access storage device, like a disk drive, using rotating magnetic disks can be an essential element for storing data in magnetic form. Hardayal worked for National Semiconductor Corporation for three years and established its department of Magnetic Bubble Memory group.
Hardayal switched to Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto Ca, in 1981 and he was part of the organization for the next nine years. He started as a Member of the technical staff, where he researched that magnetic storage medium has a motor that moves to read data via the Magneto Resistive (MR) sensor. Additionally, he also worked with Magnetic Thin Film Device Designs which included MR sensors that detected the magnetic field through changing resistance on its layer. His contributions to the Hewlett Packard franchise were immense, given that he became a project manager for the remaining five years; as the head of Thin Film and MR’s research and development.
One of Hardayal’s patents on Self-Pinned Spin Valve Sensor discussed that high capacity disk drives with MR sensors could read data through the thin films on the magnetic layers. His research also suggested that the MR sensor’s layer works based on the direction and strength of the magnetic flux sensed on the coat.
Hardayal’s contributions with Hewlett Packard lasted for almost a decade before he resigned from his position. Afterward, he got associated with IBM Corporation, San Jose, CA for another 12 years. As the Distinguished Engineer, he worked with the scientists there to develop magnetic storage devices like Hard Disk Drives (HDD) for reading and writing information to and from media storage. The HDD included a rotary actuator, along with a suspension mounted on its arm and a slider bonded on the suspension.
Hardayal’s contribution inaugurated the new film heads, which provided successful components for the HDD present in the contemporary era. Additionally, IBM became the first company that started developing MR heads in 1990, while the HP began in 1994 and the rest of the companies in 1996.
In his research on his tenure at IBM, he suggested that the conventional MR sensor uses the Anisotropic Magneto Resistive (AMR) effect,where MR resistance changes as the square of the cosine with an angle between magnetization of the MR element and the direction of the current. He established the fact that the recorded data extracted from the magnetic medium causes a change in the direction of magnetization.
Hardayal also got involved with a Giant Magneto Resistive (GMR) sensor, where the resistance of the MR sensing layer changes in comparison as a functionality of the spin-dependent transference of electrons between the spacer (non-magnetic layer) and the magnetic coatings. He suggested that the GMR sensors using two surfaces of the ferromagnetic material such as cobalt-iron, nickel-iron-cobalt and nickel-iron) which were separated by a non-magnetic layer such as copper.
He was awarded anIBM Distinguished Engineer honor in 1997 for the contributions for GMR heads. Upon researching GMR, Hardayal came up with the invention of the spin valve sensor for sensing magnetic fields from rotating magnetic disks. It also includes a nonmagnetic conductive layer which is in between the first and the second ferromagnetic layers. Additionally, he placed both leads to the spin valve sensor which conducted a sense current thoroughly.
Hardayal’s other research was a successful procedure to fabricate multilayer thin film MR sensors which further reduces the damage of Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ) sensors during the build-up of air bearing surface. In the procedure proposed by Hardayal, an MTJ sensor system, along with the method of fabrication, go together. It includes a first lead layer, with a tunnel valve sensor. He suggested that the magnetization direction of the pinned layer is extensively perpendicular to the magnetization’s direction within a zero magnetic field barrier.
His extensive research in the field of thin-film and memory chips across his tenure as a distinguished engineer at IBM. In 2002, he resigned from his position and became a part of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.
In 2004, he became the Distinguished Engineer at Hitachi Global Storage Technologies due to his collaboration with the current perpendicular to plane CPP GMR sensor with a recessed pinning stack. The invention fixes magnetization, which occurs between pinned layers of the sensors. The invention has an excellent future prospect where they can get used different perpendicular recording systems.
After his work of 8 years with Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Hardayal Singh started to work with Western Digital Corporation till 2016. Due to his vast experience of three decades, he became the Magnetic Recording Head Developmentthere. Hardayal’s years of research with other technological industries resulted in creating heads for disk drives and, more importantly, to MTJ devices.
In the contemporary era, magnetic films are an essential aspect of any electronic device. Due to their capabilities to store and transfer information quickly. Especially the usage of ferromagnetic materials can improve the flow of electrons in the device, which results in the faster transference of data. Additionally, it also makes the device more reliable. Based on the nature of innovation in technological devices, ferromagnetic materials make them flexible and also make them shockproof.
Additionally, magnetic films also make sensors, tunnel junctions, and microwave devices. Ideally, they are not relentless given that they cannot handle stress. Microelectronic chips have different layers of materials, insulators and conductors which are applied to each other. When the devices are always working, heat is generated; hence, creating a need for magnetic films. These magnetic films can make the devices last long and provide them with strength.