摘要 |
An MR element in a CPP structure includes a spacer layer made of Cu, a magnetic pinned layer containing CoFe and a free layer containing CoFe that are laminated to sandwich the spacer layer. The free layer is located below the magnetic pinned layer. The free layer is oriented in a (001) crystal plane, the spacer layer is formed and oriented in a (001) crystal plane on the (001) crystal plane of the free layer. Therefore, in a low resistance area where an area resistivity (AR) of the MR element is, for example, lower than 0.3 &OHgr;·μm2, an MR element that has a large variation of a resistance is obtained. |