Method and system for providing a side shielded read transducer

A magnetic read transducer having an air-bearing surface (ABS) and comprising:

• a first shield;
• a magnetoresistive sensor including a sensor layer, the sensor layer having at least one edge in the track width direction along the ABS;
• at least one soft magnetic side shield adjacent to the at least one edge, the at least one soft magnetic side shield having a full film permeability of at least ten;
• and
• a second shield, the magnetoresistive sensor residing between the first shield and the second shield, the magnetoresistive sensor being free of an in-stack hard bias layer;
• wherein the at least one soft magnetic side shield is in magnetically coupled with at least one of the first shield and the second shield and wherein the at least one soft magnetic side shield has a first portion and a second portion, the first portion residing between the second portion and the ABS, the first portion having length in the track width direction and a depth in a stripe height direction perpendicular to the ABS, the length divided by the depth being an aspect ratio of at least one.

A magnetic read transducer having an air-bearing surface (ABS) and comprising:

• a first shield;
• a magnetoresistive sensor including a sensor layer, the sensor layer having at least one edge in the track width direction along the ABS;
• at least one soft magnetic side shield adjacent to the at least one edge, the at least one soft magnetic side shield having a full film permeability of at least ten;
• and
• a second shield, the magnetoresistive sensor residing between the first shield and the second shield, the magnetoresistive sensor being free of an in-stack hard bias layer;
• wherein the at least one soft magnetic side shield includes a plurality of layers.

A magnetic read transducer having an air-bearing surface (ABS) and comprising:

• a first shield;
• a magnetoresistive sensor including a sensor layer, the sensor layer having at least one edge in the track width direction along the ABS;
• at least one soft magnetic side shield adjacent to the at least one edge, the at least one soft magnetic side shield having a full film permeability of at least ten;
• and
• a second shield, the magnetoresistive sensor residing between the first shield and the second shield, the magnetoresistive sensor being free of an in-stack hard bias layer
• wherein the sensor layer has a sensor layer depth in a stripe height direction perpendicular to the ABS and wherein the sensor includes a pinned layer having a pinned layer depth greater than the sensor depth layer in the stripe height direction.

A method for providing a magnetic read transducer having an air-bearing surface (ABS) comprising:

• providing a first shield;
• providing a magnetoresistive sensor including a sensor layer, the sensor layer having at least one edge in the track width direction along the ABS;
• providing at least one soft magnetic side shield adjacent to the at least one edge, the at least one soft magnetic side shield having a full film permeability of at least ten;
• and
• providing a second shield, the magnetoresistive sensor residing between the first shield and the second shield such that the first shield and the second shield reside in a direction substantially perpendicular to the track width direction from the magnetoresistive sensor, the magnetoresistive sensor being free of an in-stack hard bias layer, the at least one soft magnetic side shield being magnetically coupled and physically connected with at least one of the first shield and the second shield.

A method for providing a magnetic read transducer having an air-bearing surface (ABS) comprising:

• providing a first shield;
• providing a magnetoresistive sensor including a sensor layer, the sensor layer having at least one edge in the track width direction along the ABS;
• providing at least one soft magnetic side shield adjacent to the at least one edge, the at least one soft magnetic side shield having a full film permeability of at least ten;
• and
• providing a second shield, the magnetoresistive sensor residing between the first shield and the second shield, the magnetoresistive sensor being free of an in-stack hard bias layer;
• wherein the at least one soft magnetic side shield includes a plurality of layers.