Patent ID: 7920362

Claim:
A giant magneto-resistive effect device (CPP-GMR device) having a CPP (current perpendicular to plane) structure comprising a spacer layer, and a fixed magnetization layer and a free layer stacked one upon another with said spacer layer interposed between them, with a sense current applied in a stacking direction, characterized in that: said free layer functions such that a magnetization direction changes depending on an external magnetic field, and said spacer layer comprises a first nonmagnetic metal layer and a second nonmagnetic metal layer, each formed of a nonmagnetic metal material, and a semiconductor oxide layer interposed between the first nonmagnetic metal layer and the second nonmagnetic metal layer, wherein: the semiconductor oxide layer forming a part of said spacer layer comprises zinc oxide as a main ingredient, wherein said main ingredient zinc oxide contains at least one selected from among oxides containing a trivalent cation of Al 2 O 3 , Ga 2 O 3 , In 2 O 3 , and B 2 O 3 , and a tetravalent cation of TiO 2 .