a magnetoresistive sensor having a lead overlay defined trackwidth and a pinned layer that extends beyond the stripe height defined by the free layer of the sensor . the extended pinned layer has a strong shape induced anisotropy that maintains pinning of the pinned layer moment . the extended portion of the pinned layer has sides beyond the stripe height that are perfectly aligned with the sides of the sensor within the stripe height . this perfect alignment is made possible by a manufacturing method that uses a mask structure for more than one manufacturing phase , eliminating the need for multiple mask alignments . the lead overlay design allows narrow , accurate trackwidth definition .