Patent ID: 8385025

Claim:
A magnetoresistive sensor structure for sensing magnetically recorded data from a magnetic recording medium, the structure comprising: a substrate; a first shield layer formed of magnetically permeable material on the substrate; a magnetoresistive sensor comprising a stack of layers including a ferromagnetic free layer 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), 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; an electrically insulating layer on and in contact with the side edges of the free layer and on regions of the first shield layer adjacent the sensor; a seed layer structure consisting of a layer of Ta on and in contact with said insulating layer, a layer selected from one or both of Ti and a Ti-oxide on and in contact with the Ta layer, and a layer of W on and in contact with the Ti-containing layer; and a ferromagnetic biasing layer comprising an alloy comprising Co and Pt on and in contact with the W layer of said seed layer structure.