Patent ID: 6861940

Claim:
A magnetoresistive element comprising: a multilayer structure comprising a non-magnetic layer and a pair of ferromagnetic layers stacked on both sides of the non-magnetic layer, wherein a resistance value differs depending on a relative angle between magnetization directions of the ferromagnetic layers at interfaces with the non-magnetic layer, and a composition of at least one of the ferromagnetic layers in a range of 2 nm from the interface with the non-magnetic layer is expressed by (M x O y ) 1-z Z z where Z is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ru, Os, Rh, Ir, Pd, Pt, Cu, Ag, and Au, M is at least one element selected from the group consisting of elements other than Z and O and includes a ferromagnetic metal, and x, y, and z satisfy 0.33 <y/x <1.33, 0<x, 0<y, and 0<z≦0.4.