Patent ID: 7280325

Claim:
A magnetic sensor comprising: a plurality of sense layers, including a ferromagnetic pinned layer that has a magnetization that is stable in response to an applied magnetic field, a soft magnetic free layer that has a magnetization that rotates in response to the applied magnetic field, and a nonferromagnetic spacer layer that separates the pinned layer from the free layer, the free layer extending between two ends in a track-width direction; and a ferromagnetic bias layer structure that is separated from the free layer by an electrically conductive nonmagnetic spacer layer, the bias layer structure having a first section extending between two edges in the track-width direction such that the ends of the free layer are magnetically coupled to the edges of the first section, the bias layer structure having a second section that is separated from the electrically conductive spacer layer by the first section, the second section extending at least twice as far as the first section in the track-width direction.