Patent ID: 7365949

Claim:
A CPP giant magnetoresistive head comprising: a lower shield layer; an upper shield layer; and a giant magnetoresistive element between the lower shield layer and the upper shield layer, the giant magnetoresistive element comprising: a nonmagnetic material layer; a pinned magnetic layer; and a free magnetic layer, the pinned magnetic layer and the free magnetic layer being laminated with the nonmagnetic layer provided therebetween, a current flowing perpendicularly to a film plane of the giant magnetoresistive element, the pinned magnetic layer extending in a direction extending perpendicular from a storage medium longer than in a track-width direction and including a first portion and a second portion, the first portion being disposed above or below the nonmagnetic material layer and the free magnetic layer, and a second portion behind the nonmagnetic material layer and the free magnetic layer in the direction extending perpendicular from the storage medium, the first portion and the second portion being in the same plane, a width of the pinned magnetic layer in the track-width direction in the second portion being greater than that in the first portion.