Non-magnetic metallic layer in a reader gap of a disc drive

A method of manufacturing a read /write head, comprising:

• providing a slider substrate;
• depositing a bottom magnetic shield layer on the slider substrate and depositing a shared magnetic shield layer that is spaced apart from the bottom magnetic shield layer, the bottom magnetic shield layer and the shared magnetic shield layer forming a read shield;
• depositing a write head on the shared magnetic shield layer;
• depositing a read sensor between the bottom magnetic shield layer and the shared magnetic shield layer and spacing the read sensor apart from the read shield by reader magnetic gaps;
• depositing electrically insulating layers on the read sensor, the electrically insulating layers forming thermal resistance between the read sensor and the read shield;
• and
• reducing the thermal resistance without a corresponding reduction in the reader magnetic gaps by depositing a thermally conducting nonmagnetic layer on the read shield in a first one of the reader magnetic gaps.