Patent ID: 6252749
Filing Date: 2001-06-26
Classification: B82Y,G11B,Y10S

Abstract:
A thin film magnetic head comprising a magnetoresistive element layer formed on a lower shield layer with the interposition of a lower gap layer, an electrode layer for imparting a sensing current to said magnetoresistive element layer, and an upper shield layer formed on the eletrode layer with the interposition of an upper gap layer, at least one of said lower gap layer and said upper gap layer having an insulating film primarily composed of one or more members selected from the group consisting of AlN, SiC, BN, MgO, SiAlON, AlON, Si.sub.3 N.sub.4, SiCO, SiN, SiON and SiCON, wherein said insulating film has a structure comprising crystalline phases and a crystal grain boundary phase between the crystalline phases, and the crystal grain boundary phase is an amorphous phase containing at least one element selected from the group consisting of B, C, O and Si.