SPIN VALVE READ SENSOR HAVING PINNING LAYER OF LOW MAGNETIC MOMENT AND HIGH COERCIVE LEVEL, MAGNETIC HEAD AND ITS MANUFACTURE AND MAGNETIC DISK DRIVE

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a spin valve sensor having a pinning layer improving heat stability and not adversely influencing coercive force of a free layer, a magnetic head and a manufacture and a magnetic disk drive. SOLUTION: A spin valve sensor has a spacer layer 204 held between a free layer 202 and a pin stop layer 206. The pin stop layer 206 is fixed by a pinning layer 302 of a material of high coercive force and low magnetic moment. The high coercive force fixes the pin stop layer 206, while the low magnetic moment compensates for a stray magnetic field without adversely influencing the coercive force of the free layer 202. The magnetic moment is preferably smaller than 300 emu/cc and the coercive force preferably exceeds 5000 e. A magnetic orientation of the pin stop layer 206 is set at room temperatures by a magnetic field which can be applied at a suspension level. The material that can form the pinning layer 302 using a hard magnetic material H.M. is amorphous TbFeCo and CoSm, and CoPtCr which is not amorphous.