Patent ID: 6985339

Claim:
A head slider moveable relative to a storage media having a storage layer, the head slider comprising: a slider body having a trailing edge surface and an air-bearing surface; a read head formed on the trailing edge surface, the read head comprising: a first electrical contact layer adapted to carry a sensor current; a second electrical contact layer adapted to carry the sensor current; a read sensor having first and second major side surfaces contacting the first and second electrical contact layers, respectively, to carry the sensor current, the read sensor having a plurality of edges including a top sensor edge, a bottom sensor edge aligned with the airbearing surface to access data in the storage layer and side edges; an electromagnetic bias magnet having a magnetic pole spaced apart from one of the plurality of edges by a spacing, the bias magnet magnetically biasing the read sensor; wherein the first and second electrical contact layers are formed of a material that does not magnetically shield the read sensor; and wherein the sensor current in the read sensor flows perpendicularly to the first and second major side surfaces.