CONDUCTIVE FILM, THIN FILM MAGNETIC HEAD AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THIN FILM MAGNETIC HEAD

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid damaging a magnetoresistive effect element when patterning an electrode lead layer and narrow the effective playback track width. SOLUTION: An electrode lead layer 13 is formed and overlapped with a magnetoresistive effect element 15. A base layer 12 of the lead layer 13 is formed of ruthenium having the orientation plane (100) of a hexagonal crystal structure, and a low-resistance tantalum having a body-centered lattice structure is epitaxially grown on the ruthenium base layer 12 and laminated to form a tantalum conductive layer 11. This conductive layer 11 is etched with halogen gas while the ruthenium base layer 12 remains unetched to avoid damaging the underlying magnetoresistive effect element 15. The ruthenium base layer 12 is etched with oxygen. Thus a sense current flows largely in this element 15 to result in a good playback sensitivity thereof. The effective playback track width can be narrowed.