MAGNETORESISTIVE ELEMENT OF CPP STRUCTURE

Title:

MAGNETORESISTIVE ELEMENT OF CPP STRUCTURE

Document Type and Number:

WIPO Patent Application WO/2003/079331

Kind Code:

A1

Abstract:

A magnetoresistive film (43) spreads from a medium opposing plane (28) of a head slider toward its rear side. An upper electrode layer (46) is stacked on an upper boundary surface (43b) of the magnetoresistive film. In the upper electrode layer (46), a low resistance region (46a) is formed to spread from the front end exposed to the medium opposing plane (28) along the upper boundary surface (43b) toward the rear side and a high resistance region (46b) having a higher resistivity than the low resistance region is formed to spread from the rear end of the low resistance region (46a) along the upper boundary surface (43b) toward the rear side. In the magnetoresistive film (43), the high resistance region (46b) functions to shift a sense current passage toward the side of the medium opposing plane (28). Sense current flow is concentrated along the medium opposing plane (28). When magnetization rotation is realized with a sufficient rotation amount in the magnetoresistive film (43) in the vicinity of the medium opposing plane (28), a sufficient resistance change can be maintained in the magnetoresistive element of the CPP structure. It is possible to obtain a sufficient sensitivity.

Inventors:

OSHIMA HIROTAKA (JP)
SHIMIZU YUTAKA (JP)
TANAKA ATSUSHI (JP)

Application Number:

PCT/JP2002/002684

Publication Date:

September 25, 2003

Filing Date:

March 20, 2002

Export Citation:

Click for automatic bibliography generation Help

Assignee:

FUJITSU LTD (JP)
OSHIMA HIROTAKA (JP)
SHIMIZU YUTAKA (JP)
TANAKA ATSUSHI (JP)

International Classes:

G01R33/09; G11B5/39; G11B5/31; (IPC1-7): G11B5/39

Foreign References:

JPH1055512A	1998-02-24
US20010015877A1	2001-08-23
US5731937A	1998-03-24

Other References: