Patent ID: 8451567

Claim:
An MR read sensor, comprising: a substrate; a patterned CPP MR stack formed on said substrate, wherein said CPP MR stack is a patterned vertical lamination of contiguous horizontal layers, wherein said CPP MR stack includes a synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) free layer structure and a first non-magnetic coupling layer formed on said free layer structure; a top exchange biasing magnetic layer structure formed over said first non-magnetic coupling layer, wherein said exchange biasing magnetic layer structure is magnetically exchange coupled to said SAF free layer structure and provides a longitudinal bias thereto; and a pair of hard bias (HB) layers, symmetrically disposed about lateral sides of said patterned CPP MR stack, wherein each of said HB layers is adjacent to a portion of said patterned side of said CPP MR stack and wherein said pair of HB layers provides a longitudinal bias to said SAF free layer structure.