Abstract: A batch fabricated multi-element head is made from interlocking ferrite parts to form a low contoured surface for interfacing with a magnetic medium, such as a flexible disk. On another surface, a multi-turn conductive coil is formed by thin film process and cooperates with a flux path bar to define the magnetic flux field.

Abstract: A flux extender or guide for a magnetic read head having a magnetoresistive read element. The element is mounted on a substrate, contained, for example, in a hand-held wand structure. The element is spaced from the contact portion of the wand, to permit a small amount of wear of the head to take place, before the read element comes into contact with the record media. In order to increase the spacing between the magnetoresistive element and the contact portion of the wand, the flux guide or extender is utilized. The flux guide or extender is a wedge-shaped piece of magnetizable material.At the end of the flux guide closest to the read element, the guide is approximately as wide as the element and tapers down to approximately three quarters of its top width at the lower end of the guide. The guide is of uniform thickness and thicker than the read element. The cross-sectional area is selected to be from two to three times the cross-sectional area of the read element.

Abstract: An MR head is disclosed in which the MR element is deposited onto a sapphire substrate with a particular crystallographic orientation and a sapphire closure piece also having a particular crystallographic orientation is used. The substrate has the MR element deposited onto either the {0001} or the {1120} plane with the {1100} plane being oriented as the wear surface. The closure piece has either the {1120} or the {0001} plane facing the MR material and the {1100} plane oriented as the wear surface.