Patent ID: 8842394

Claim:
A magnetic head comprising: a first magnetic shield layer and a second magnetic shield layer; a magnetoresistive element interposed between the first magnetic shield layer and the second magnetic shield layer; and a hard bias layer interposed between the first magnetic shield layer and the second magnetic shield layer on a side surface of the magnetoresistive element in a first direction intersecting with a second direction which links the first and second magnetic shield layers, wherein the magnetoresistive element includes a first magnetization free layer and second magnetization free layer having variable magnetization, and a nonmagnetic layer between the first magnetization free layer and the second magnetization free layer, magnetization directions of the first magnetization free layer and the second magnetization free layer are in a substantially perpendicular state by a magnetic field from the hard bias layer with no external magnetic field, the hard bias layer includes Fe or an alloy containing Fe and Co, an aspect ratio (h/w) of the hard bias layer is not smaller than 2, where h is a height of the hard bias layer in the first direction and w is a thickness of the hard bias layer in the second direction, and thickness w of the hard bias layer is smaller than gap G between the first magnetic shield layer and the second magnetic shield layer.