Middle Shields Two-Dimensional Magnetic Recording Read Heads

A read head, comprising:

• a first lower shield;
• a first sensor disposed over the first lower shield;
• a first upper shield disposed over the first sensor;
• a read separation gap disposed on the first upper shield, the read separation gap being substantially planar;
• a second lower shield disposed over the read separation gap, the second lower shield comprising CoFeHf;
• a second sensor disposed over the second lower shield;
• and
• a second upper shield disposed over the second sensor.

A read head, comprising:

• a first lower shield;
• a first dual free layer (DFL) sensor disposed over the first lower shield;
• a DFL second sensor disposed over the first DFL sensor;
• a first upper shield disposed over the second DFL sensor;
• and
• a substantially planar middle shield disposed between the first DFL sensor and the second DFL sensor, the substantially planar middle shield comprising:
• a second upper shield disposed over the first DFL sensor;
• a read separation gap disposed on the second upper shield;
• a seed layer disposed on the read separation gap, the seed layer comprising Ru, NiFe, NiCr, SiO2, or combinations thereof;
• and
• a second lower shield disposed between and in contact with the seed layer and the second DFL sensor, the second lower shield being a multilayer shield comprising:
• a first shield layer disposed on the seed layer,
• a CoFe/Ru/CoFe anti-ferromagnetic coupling (AFC) layer or a Ru layer disposed on the first shield layer, and
• a second shield layer disposed on the AFC layer or the Ru layer.