Planar magnetoresistive head with an improved gap structure

A planar magnetic head for reading and writing information to a magnetic medium, the head comprising a gap structure coupled to a substrate, the structure comprising:

• a first ferromagnetic lip adjacent to a head gap, the part of the lip facing the gap having a substantially flat surface with a thickness, the head gap having a gap length;
• a first and a second ferromagnetic pole, the first pole being connected to the first lip, the first and second poles being separated by a distance greater than the gap length, and each pole having a thickness greater than the thickness of the lip;
• and
• a Magnetoresistive element (MRE) connecting the first and second poles at a location where the first and second poles are separated by a distance greater than the gap length, the MRE being electrically isolated from the first and second poles;
• wherein:
• the first pole has a longitudinal axis that is substantially parallel to the medium when the head is reading and writing information to the medium;
• the first lip extends from the first pole along the longitudinal axis;
• the thickness of each pole is greater than the thickness of the lip along the direction that is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis;
• a current flows in the MRE along the direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis while the head reads information from the medium;
• the lip, the gap, the first and second poles and the MRE are all formed on the substrate;
• and
• the magnetic head is planar, with the lip, the gap length, the first and second poles and the MRE all being substantially parallel to the medium when the head is reading or writing information to the medium.