various layers and structures that form the magnetic head 20 are fabricated thus magnetic heads disclosed herein can be fabricated in large quantities upon a substrate and subsequently sliced into discrete magnetic heads for use in devices such as the hard drive 10 fig2 shows a side diagrammatic cross sectional elevation view of the magnetic head 20 which includes a read head portion 204 employing a magnetoresistive mr sensor 201 additionally the read head portion 204 includes first and second shields 200 202 that the mr sensor 201 is sandwiched between a spacer layer 210 disposed about the mr sensor 201 separates the first shield 200 from the second shield 202 ends of the shields 200 202 and the mr sensor 201 are polished to at least partially define an air bearing surface abs 208 during operations a thin cushion of air e g 0 01 micrometers between the disk 12 and the abs 208 supports the head 20 the magnetic head 20 can additionally include a write head portion 206 if desired to form a combination read and write head the write head portion 206 of the magnetic head 20 includes a coil layer 216 sandwiched between first and second insulation layers 214 218 the coil layer 216 and the first and second insulation layers 214 218 are sandwiched between a first pole layer 220 and the second shield 202 that doubles as a second pole layer when the head 20 is a merged magnetic head a back gap 222 magnetically couples the first pole layer 220 and the second shield 202 while a write gap layer 212 separates the first pole layer 220 and the second shield 202 at the abs 208 for some embodiments the second shield 202 can be separated by an insulation layer.