Method for reducing damage to sliders during lapping

摘要

A process is described for fabricating sliders with reduced lapping damage to the hard-bias materials. The stack of layers for the magnetic sensor is deposited on a wafer and patterned into an initial shape. The hard-bias structures are fabricated at the side of the magnetic sensor as in the prior art. In each of the two described embodiments of the invention, the hard-bias material below the ABS is reduced or removed and replaced with a fill material such as alumina. A first embodiment reduces the hard-bias material below the ABS by forming an extended lapping gap along the ABS in both the sensor and hard-bias material. A second embodiment forms a photoresist mask over the sensor and the portion of the hard-bias/lead structures above the ABS and the exposed hard-bias/lead material below the ABS is thinned or completely removed by milling.