Patent ID: 7826180

Claim:
A magneto-resistive effect device having a CPP (current perpendicular to plane) structure comprising a spacer layer, and two magnetic layers stacked one upon another with said spacer layer interposed between them, with a sense current applied in a stacking direction, characterized in that: 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 that forms a part of said spacer layer is made of at least one selected from the group consisting of zinc oxide, tin oxide, indium oxide, and indium tin oxide (ITO), said first non-magnetic metal layer is made of Cu, and said second nonmagnetic metal layer is substantially made of Zn.