Spinvalve magnetoresistive head and method of manufacturing the same and magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus

A magnetic disk drive comprising:

• (a) a spinvalve magnetoresistive head comprising:
• a free magnetic layer made of soft magnetic material,
• a nonmagnetic intermediate layer overlapped with said free magnetic layer, and
• a pinning magnetic layer overlapped with said nonmagnetic intermediate layer and made of soft magnetic material,
• wherein a magnetization angle (.theta.f) of said free magnetic layer and a magnetization angle (.theta.p) of said pinning magnetic layer relative to a track core width direction are set such that an electric resistance-magnetic field curve is in a range of -10.about.10% in an asymmetry (Asym) defined by the formula;
• Asym(%)=((cos .theta.p/cos.sup.3 .theta.f-4.multidot.amr)/(cos .theta.p.multidot.tan .theta.f-sin .theta.p-4.multidot.amr.multidot.sin .theta.f).multidot.(.differential. sin .theta.f/.differential.H)+(.differential..sup.2 sin .theta.f/.differential.H.sup.2)/(.differential.sin .theta.f/.differential.H)).multidot..DELTA.H/2
• where amr is a ratio of resistance change due to spinvalve magnetoresistance effect and resistance change due to an anisotropic magnetoresistance effect;
• and
• (b) a magnetic recording medium to which said spinvalve magnetoresistance head is arranged to oppose.

A method of manufacturing a spinvalve magnetoresistive head comprising the steps of:

• forming a free magnetic layer made of soft magnetic material, an intermediate layer made of soft magnetic material, an intermediate layer made of nonmagnetic material, a pinning magnetic layer made of soft magnetic material in forward order or reverse order,
• wherein a magnetization angle (.theta.f) of said free magnetic layer and a magnetization angle (.theta.p) of said pinning magnetic layer relative to a track core width direction are set such that an electric resistance-magnetic field curve is in a range of -10.about.+10% in an asymmetry (Asym) defined by the formula,
• Asym(%)=((cos .theta.p/cos.sup.3 .theta.f-4.multidot.amr)/(cos .theta.p.multidot.tan .theta.f-sin .theta.p-4.multidot.amr.multidot.sin .theta.f).multidot.(.differential. sin .theta.f/.differential.H)+(.differential..sup.2 sin .theta.f/.differential.H.sup.2)/(.differential. sin .theta.f/.differential.H)).multidot..DELTA.H/2
• where amr is a ratio of resistance change due to spinvalve magnetoresistance effect and resistance change due to an anisotropic magnetoresistance effect.