Magnetoresistive head with micro-crystallite shielding layer
 An MR head includes a soft magnetic (SAL) layer, a nonmagnetic (SHUNT) layer, and a magnetoresistive (MR) layer, which are formed on top of each other, with shielding layers being formed on the upper and lower sides of these layers. The shielding layers, which are formed, for example, of an Fe-based fine crystalline material, are heated in a magnetic field, so that the magnetic permeability in the direction of the normal of the recording medium (the y-direction) of the shielding layers is higher than the magnetic permeability in the track-width direction (the x-direction) of the same, whereby it is possible to enhance the shielding effect of the shielding layers with respect to a leakage magnetic field from the recording medium. Further, due to the relatively low magnetic permeability in the x-direction of the shielding layers, a bias magnetic field imparted to the magnetoresistive layer from the hard bias layer is not easily drawn in the shielding layers. 
Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
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G11B G11B
inventional inventional
Masamichi
Saito