Patent ID: 9437225
Filing Date: 2016-09-06
CPC Classification: G11B

Claim Text:
1. A read head including a magnetoresistive (MR) sensor, comprising: (a) a bottom shield having a top surface; (b) a first stack of layers including a seed layer contacting the bottom shield top surface, and a reference layer (RL), coupling layer, and PL2 pinned layer (PL2) in a seed layer/RL/coupling layer/PL2 configuration, the first stack has a first set of two sidewalls extending a first height from an air bearing surface (ABS), a first width in a cross-track direction, and a back side at the first height distance; (c) second stack of layers including a non-magnetic spacer, free layer, and a first capping layer that are sequentially formed on a top surface of a PL2 front portion, the second stack has a track width in a cross-track direction, a second set of two sidewalls that extend a second height less than the first height from the ABS, and a back side connecting the second set of two sidewalls; and (d) a third stack of layers comprising an antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer that pins a magnetization direction in the PL2 layer, the third stack is formed on a top surface of a PL2 back portion that is a certain distance below the top surface of the PL2 front portion, and the third stack has a front side facing the second stack back side wherein the third stack front side is at least a second height distance from the ABS and has a cross-track width greater than the track width, the third stack has a back side formed along a vertical plane in a down-track direction where the vertical plane includes the first stack back side.