Patent ID: 7158351

Claim:
A magnetic head comprising: a pair of magnetic upper and lower shield layers; a magnetoresistive film formed between the pair of magnetic upper and lower shield layers; and a pair of leads electrically coupled to the magnetoresistive film which passes a sensing current in a film thickness direction of the magnetoresistive film, wherein a pair of magnetic side shield layers are formed on both sides of the magnetoresistive film in a track width direction, a spacing (x) between each of the magnetic side shield layers and an adjacent trackwidth edge of the magnetoresistive film is defined so that a side reading by a read element due to the magnetoresistive film becomes smaller than a theoretical value defined by a spacing (G 1 ) defined between the magnetic upper and lower shield layers where the magnetoresistive film is present and a magnetic spacing, a spacing (G 3 ) between the magnetic upper and lower shield layers in outer portions of the side shield layers has a thickness of 100 nm to 1000 nm.