Patent ID: 6591481
Filing Date: 2003-07-15
Classification: B82Y,G11B,H01F,Y10T

Abstract:
A method of manufacturing a magnetoresistive device comprising:a magnetoresistive element having two surfaces that face toward opposite directions and two side portions that face toward opposite directions; two bias field applying layers that are located adjacent to the side portions of the magnetoresistive element and apply a bias magnetic field to the magnetoresistive element; and two electrode layers that feed a current used for magnetic signal detection to the magnetoresistive element, each of the electrode layers being adjacent to one surface of each of the bias field applying layers and overlapping one of the surfaces of the magnetoresistive element; wherein the magnetoresistive element incorporates: a nonmagnetic layer having two surfaces that face toward opposite directions; a soft magnetic layer located adjacent to one of the surfaces of the nonmagnetic layer that is closer to the electrode layers; a pinned layer, located adjacent to the other one of the surfaces of the nonmagnetic layer, whose direction of magnetization is fixed; an antiferromagnetic layer located adjacent to the surface of the pinned layer that is farther from the nonmagnetic layer, the antiferromagnetic layer fixing the direction of magnetization of the pinned layer; a conductive protection layer located adjacent to the surface of the soft magnetic layer that is farther from the nonmagnetic layer; and a high resistance layer that is formed through increasing a resistance of a portion of the protection layer that is located in a region between the two electrode layers; the method comprising the steps of: sequentially forming the antiferromagnetic layer, the pinned layer, the nonmagnetic layer, the soft magnetic layer and the protection layer that make up the magnetoresistive element; forming a sacrificial coating layer on the protection layer; forming the bias field applying layers; removing the coating layer and exposing one of surfaces of the protection layer; forming the two electrode layers on the bias field applying layers such that the electrode layers overlap the one of the surfaces of the protection layer; and forming the high resistance layer by increasing the resistance of the portion of the protection layer that is located in the region between the two electrode layers.