摘要 |
A magnetoresistive head has a magnetoresistive element including an antiferromagnetic layer, a second magnetic layer on the antiferromagnetic layer, a non-magnetic interlayer on the second magnetic layer, and a first magnetic layer on the non-magnetic interlayer. The first magnetic layer has at least one region at an end thereof which has a smaller saturation magnetization than the central part of the first magnetic layer. The end region has a width Xe (in the track width direction) defined by 0.08<=Xe/Twr<=0.2, where Twr denotes the track width. The magnetoresistive element is held between an upper shield and a lower shield. The effect of this construction is that the end regions of the first magnetic layer are more affected by the longitudinal bias field than the central part of the first magnetic layer. Consequently, the occurrence of magnetic domains is efficiently suppressed in the end regions of the first magnetic layer.
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