Patent ID: 7948718

Claim:
A thin-film magnetic head comprising: a medium facing surface that faces toward a recording medium; a magnetoresistive element disposed near the medium facing surface and having a first surface and a second surface that face toward opposite directions and intersect the medium facing surface; and an insulating film disposed adjacent to the first or second surface of the magnetoresistive element, wherein: the magnetoresistive element incorporates: a nonmagnetic conductive layer having two surfaces facing toward opposite directions; a free layer disposed adjacent to one of the surfaces of the nonmagnetic conductive layer, wherein a direction of magnetization in the free layer changes in response to an external magnetic field; and a pinned layer disposed adjacent to the other of the surfaces of the nonmagnetic conductive layer, wherein a direction of magnetization in the pinned layer is fixed to a direction orthogonal to the medium facing surface independently of a function of any other layer; the pinned layer incorporates a layer made of a ferromagnetic material having a positive magnetostriction constant; and the insulating film has a compressive stress of 600 MPa or greater.