Patent ID: 7071522

Claim:
A magnetoresistance effect element comprising: a magnetoresistance effect film including a magnetically pinned layer having a magnetic material film whose direction of magnetization is pinned substantially in one direction, a magnetically free layer having a magnetic material film whose direction of magnetization changes in response to an external magnetic field, a nonmagnetic metal intermediate layer located between said pinned layer and said free layer, and an anti-ferromagnetic layer configured to pin said magnetization of said magnetically pinned layer; and a pair of electrodes electrically connected to said magnetoresistance effect film to supply a sense current perpendicularly to a film plane of said magnetoresistance effect film, at least one of said pinned layer and said free layer including a thin-film insertion layer, and said thin-film insertion layer being made of a binary or ternary alloy of iron (Fe), cobalt (Co) and nickel (Ni) containing a quantity of iron (Fe) not less than 50 atomic % in case of said binary alloy or 25% atomic % in case of said ternary alloy, and additionally containing a quantity of at least one kind of element selected from the group consisting of copper (Cu), silver (Ag), and gold (Au) not less than 0.1 atomic % and not exceeding 30 atomic %.