the longitudinally magnetized end regions is by means of a hard magnetic layer the transverse bias is produced by soft magnetic layer 18 which is separated from the mr layer 11 by a nonmagnetic spacer layer 20 whose purpose is to prevent within the central active region 12 a magnetic exchange bias between the mr layer 11 and the soft magnetic film layer 18 conductor leads 22 and 24 serve as the electrical path to conduct bias current from current source 26 to the mr sensor and to conduct the output signal to the external sensing means 28 the distance between the inner edges of conductor leads 22 and 24 comprises the part of the active region 12 over which the output signal is sensed the operating margins of such longitudinally constrained mr sensors can be substantially improved by tilting the induced anisotropy in the mr film 11 and the soft magnetic layer 18 in opposite directions as will be shown in the following discussion the response of a ferromagnetic film such as the mr film 11 to varied field excursions is shown in fig4 h x and h y are the components of applied field and h k is the magnitude of induced anisotropy having its 34 easy axis 34 aligned with the x axis.