The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 25, 2012
Filed:
Mar. 10, 2009
Shinji Hara, Tokyo, JP;
Yoshihiro Tsuchiya, Tokyo, JP;
Tsutomu Chou, Tokyo, JP;
Hironobu Matsuzawa, Tokyo, JP;
Shinji Hara, Tokyo, JP;
Yoshihiro Tsuchiya, Tokyo, JP;
Tsutomu Chou, Tokyo, JP;
Hironobu Matsuzawa, Tokyo, JP;
TDK Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A magneto-resistive effect (MR) element includes a first magnetic layer and a second magnetic layer in which a relative angle of magnetization directions of the first and second magnetic layers changes according to an external magnetic field; and a spacer layer that is provided between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer. The spacer layer contains gallium nitride (GaN) as a main component. A thin film magnetic head according to one embodiment of the present invention is provided with the following structures: an MR element mentioned above that has a first magnetic layer and a second magnetic layer, as free layers, in which the magnetization direction in the two layers changes according to the external magnetic field; a bias magnetic field application layer that applies a bias magnetic field to the first and second magnetic layers in an orthogonal direction to an air bearing surface (ABS); the bias magnetic field application layer is formed in a rear side of the MR element seen from the ABS; and a sense current flows in an orthogonal direction to a layer surface of the MR element.