Magnetoresistive head with deposited biasing magnet

Claim 1

A thin film deposited magneto-resistive head, comprising: a. a rectangular thin film magnetoresistive element having a length and width; b. a thin film permanent magnet having a rectangular body longer than said length of said magnetoresistive element, and arranged to be approximately coplanar and parallel with the magnetoresistive element, said permanent magnet having a first set of end tabs extending in the width direction therefrom and said magnetoresistive element being located between and overlapping at least a portion of said end tabs; and c. said permanent magnet providing a magnetic field bias having a component parallel to the length of said magnetoresistive element which is highly nonuniform with a strong field at each end of said element and a weak field near the middle of said element, for stabilizing a domain-wall-free magnetization distribution in said magnetoresistive element while minimizing sensitivity loss of said element; wherein said permanent magnet further includes an additional tab extending in the width direction from said permanent magnet and located near the middle thereof, for reducing the strength of the magnetic field near the middle of the magnetoresistive element.