The shielded magnetoresistive (MR) head offtrack profile shows a wide output plateau which follows the conventional offtrack roll off curve. The authors have investigated the origin of the unique ofptrack characteristics and their influence on crosstalk S/N ratio (SNR), based on experimental and magnetic calculation results. In the measurement, 8 pm track width MR heads were used, which consist of a pair of 100 pm shields and a trilayered MR element between shields. The plateau width is close to the shield width. The output in the plateau region is the sum of the contributed outputs from individual tracks under the shield. Therefore, this output can severely reduce the crosstalk SNR when the MR head includes several tracks under the shield. Magnetic calculation shows that the magnetic flux from the recorded track to the MR element through the shields can produce the output at theFig.1 A shielded MR head, with a trilayered h4R element M R element strip to define the sensing track width whileplateau region. Further examination shows that crosstalk SNR is improved by increasing the shield thickness andor by decreasing the shield width. Therefore, in order to realize high track density, suppressing Barkhausen noise with the mapetic ~S O~o P Y of the MR d e~e n t . Moreover, the receding conductor shape prevents Au from wearing. The resistance change in the MR sensor, which is the part of the MR element between conductors, results in the output signal. MR sensor width and total gap length are designed to be 8 prn shield optimization is important.