Patent ID: 7848065

Claim:
A magnetic read head, comprising: a sensor stack including a magnetic free layer structure and a magnetic pinned layer structure, the sensor stack having first and second laterally opposed sides, a portion of the sensor stack extending beyond the first and second sides; and first and second bias structures formed adjacent to each of the first and second laterally opposed sides and formed over the portion of the sensor stack that extends beyond the first and second sides, the bias structure comprising: an under-layer consisting of Cr, the under-layer having a surface formed with an anisotropic texture wherein the under-layer has a thickness of 250-350 Angstroms and the seed layer has a thickness of 40-80 Angstroms; a seed layer formed over the surface of the under-layer; and a hard magnetic layer formed over the under-layer, the anisotropic surface texture of the under-layer inducing a magnetic anisotropy in the hard magnetic layer.