Patent ID: 8659292

Claim:
A CPP MR sensor, comprising: a lower shield; an upper shield, formed a vertical distance RSS above said lower shield; a CPP MR stack formed between said lower shield and said upper shield, wherein said CPP MR stack is a vertical lamination of contiguous horizontal layers whose widths in a lateral direction are defined by patterned lateral sides, wherein said CPP MR stack includes a free layer and a barrier layer or a conductive layer formed beneath said free layer; wherein said free layer and said barrier layer or conductive layer have widths that are narrower than the widths of the remaining laminated layers; and a flux guide formed of soft magnetic material positioned adjacent to each side of said free layer; wherein said flux guide has a first lateral side that is positioned opposite to a side of said free layer and wherein said flux guide has a second lateral side that is opposite to said first lateral side; wherein said first lateral side is separated from said free layer by an insulating layer; and wherein a biasing layer formed of hard magnetic material is positioned adjacent to said second lateral side of said flux guide; wherein said second lateral side of said flux guide is larger in its depth dimension than said first lateral side and is positioned conformally opposite to said biasing layer, whereby a back side of said flux guide is tapered corresponding to said increase in its depth dimension from said first lateral side to said second lateral side and wherein M s t of said first lateral side of said flux guide is equal to or larger than the M s t of said free layer.