Patent ID: 6909583

Claim:
A bottom spin valve magnetoresistive sensor element comprising: a substrate; a magnetoresistive-property-enhancing seed layer formed on the substrate; a pinning layer of antiferromagnetic material formed on the seed layer; a synthetic antiferromagnetic pinned (SyAP) layer, further comprising: a second antiparallel (AP 2 ) pinned layer of ferromagnetic material formed on the pinning layer; a non-magnetic coupling layer formed on said AP 2 layer; and a first antiparallel (AP 1 ) pinned layer formed on said non-magnetic coupling layer, said first antiparallel pinned layer comprising a first ferromagnetic layer on which is formed a specular reflection enhancing layer on which is formed a second ferromagnetic layer; a non-magnetic spacer layer formed on said second ferromagnetic layer; a ferromagnetic free layer formed on said non-magnetic spacer layer; a double-layer capping layer formed on said ferromagnetic free layer, said capping layer comprising a first layer of non-magnetic material on which is formed a second layer of non-magnetic material.