GMR device of the CPP structure, thin-film magnetic head, head gimbal assembly, and hard disk system

摘要

In the GMR device of the CPP structure using the synthetic pinned layer as the fixed magnetization layer (pinned layer), the width W1 of the inner pin layer is set at 50 nm or less; the fixed magnetization layer is configured in such a way as to have a given angle range of tapers at both its ends as viewed from the medium opposite plane; the magnetic volume ratio between the inner and the outer pin layer is allowed to lie in the range of 0.9 to 1.1; and the magnetic thickness ratio between the inner and the outer pin layer is set at 0.8 or less. It is thus possible to make the outer pin layer thin at no cost of the thickness of the inner pin layer forming a part of the synthetic pinned layer yet without doing damage to the function of the synthetic pinned layer itself, viz., resistance to an external magnetic field.