Magnetic detector including antiferromagnetic layer, amorphous barrier layer, base layer, and hard layer arranged in that order and method for manufacturing magnetic detector

A method for manufacturing a magnetic detector, comprising:

• Step (a) of forming a multilayer film above the substrate, the multilayer film including an antiferromagnetic layer, a pinned magnetic layer, a non-magnetic conductive layer, and a free magnetic layer;
• Step (b) of removing side regions of the multilayer film in a vacuum to form recessed sections such that bottoms of the recessed sections are located between an upper face and lower face of the antiferromagnetic layer;
• Step (c) of forming amorphous barrier layers on the bottoms of the recessed sections sequentially to Step (b) in the same vacuum as that used in Step (b) without breaking the vacuum state of Step (b), wherein the amorphous barrier layers are formed by sputtering performed in a direction to make an angle θ1 with the normal to the bottoms of the recessed sections, wherein the angle θ1 comprises a range of 0 to 10 degrees;
• and
• Step (d) of forming bias base layers, bias layers, and electrode layers on the amorphous barrier layers.