Patent ID: 8637170

Claim:
A magnetic sensor comprising: a support; a nonmagnetic conductive layer disposed on the support; a fixed magnetization layer having an overlapping part overlapping a first part of the nonmagnetic conductive layer and a non-overlapping part not overlapping the nonmagnetic conductive layer; a free magnetization layer having an overlapping part overlapping a second part of the nonmagnetic conductive layer different from the first part and a non-overlapping part not overlapping the nonmagnetic conductive layer; and a nonmagnetic low resistance layer, disposed on the overlapping part and the non-overlapping part of each of the fixed magnetization layer and the free magnetization layer, having an electrical resistivity lower than that of each of the fixed magnetization layer and the free magnetization layer, wherein a thickness of the fixed magnetization layer is within a range of 10-100 nm, a thickness of the free magnetization layer is within the range of 10-100 nm, a width of the fixed magnetization layer is within a range of 50-500 nm, a width of the free magnetization layer is within the range of 50-500 nm, and the nonmagnetic low resistance layer is contiguous with both the overlapping part and the non-overlapping part of each of the fixed magnetization layer and the free magnetization layer.