Magneto-resistive head and method of producing the same

摘要

A magneto-resistive head is provided with a substrate, a lower shield layer made of a Fe-system magnetic material and provided above the substrate, and a non-magnetic insulator layer provided above the lower shield layer. The non-magnetic insulator layer has a function of suppressing deterioration of surface roughness of the lower shield layer when subjected to an annealing process under a magnetic field in order to improve magnetic characteristics of the lower shield layer to desired magnetic characteristics.