Giant magneto-resistive effect element, magneto-resistive effect type head, thin-film magnetic memory and thin-film magnetic sensor

A magneto-resistive effect type head including a giant magneto-resistive effect element comprising a lamination layer film which includes a ferromagnetic film, a nonmagnetic film and an antiferromagnetic film, and in which said ferromagnetic film includes a magnetization free layer and a magnetization fixed layer and a current is restricted by an upper electrode and a lower electrode so that said current flows to the direction perpendicular to the film plane of said lamination layer film, said lamination layer film is laminated including a high-resistance layer, a hard magnetic film made of a conductive hard magnetic material and an insulating layer are directly bonded to respective outsides of said lamination layer film along its width direction and said hard magnetic film is shifted from said high-resistance layer and bonded nearer said magnetization free layer, wherein upper and lower magnetic shields are disposed so as to sandwich said giant magneto-resistive effect element through a gap film made of a nonmagnetic conductive material, said gap film and said magnetic shields constitute said upper electrode and said lower electrode and

• said upper electrode, said lower electrode and said lamination layer film are connected to each other electrically.

A thin-film magnetic memory including a bit line, a word line and a giant magneto-resistive effect element comprising a lamination layer film which includes a ferromagnetic film, a nonmagnetic film and an antiferromagnetic film and in which said ferromagnetic film includes a magnetization free layer and a magnetization fixed layer and a current is restricted by an upper electrode and a lower electrode so that said current flows to the direction perpendicular to the film plane of said lamination layer film, said lamination layer film is laminated including a high-resistance layer, a hard magnetic film made of a conductive hard magnetic material and an insulating layer are directly bonded to respective outsides of said lamination layer film along its width direction and said hard magnetic film is shifted from said high-resistance layer and bonded nearer said magnetization free layer, wherein a memory cell including said giant magneto-resistive effect element is disposed so as to oppose to a crossing between said bit line and said word line.

A thin-film magnetic sensor including a giant magneto-resistive effect element comprising a lamination layer film including a ferromagnetic film, a nonmagnetic film and an antiferromagnetic film, said ferromagnetic film includes a magnetization free layer and a magnetization fixed layer and a current is restricted by an upper electrode and a lower electrode so that said current flows to the direction perpendicular to the film plane of said lamination layer film, said lamination layer film is laminated including a high-resistance layer, a hard magnetic film made of a conductive hard magnetic material and an insulating layer are directly bonded to respective outsides of said lamination layer film along its width direction and said hard magnetic film is shifted from said high-resistance layer and bonded nearer said magnetization free layer, wherein

• upper and lower magnetic shields are disposed so as to sandwich said giant magneto-resistive effect element through a gap film made of a nonmagnetic conductive material, said gap film and said magnetic shields constitute said upper electrode and said lower electrode and
• said upper electrode, said lower electrode and said lamination layer film are connected to each other electrically.