Patent ID: 8576519

Claim:
A magnetoresistive sensor structure for sensing magnetically recorded data from a magnetic recording medium, the structure comprising: a substrate; a first shield layer of magnetically permeable material on the substrate; a magnetoresistive sensor comprising a stack of layers on the first shield layer and having a front edge for facing a magnetic recording medium, a back edge recessed from the front edge, and two spaced-apart side edges that define a sensor track width (TW) at the front edge, the sensor being capable of sensing magnetically recorded data when a sense current is applied perpendicular to the planes of the layers in the sensor stack; and a damping layer on and in contact with the sensor side edges, the damping layer being formed of material selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Os, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Th, Yb, and Lu; and an insulating layer on and in contact with the damping layer and on regions of the first shield layer adjacent the sensor side edges.