Method to prevent electrostatic discharge for MR/GMR wafer fabrication

摘要

Methods and structures are disclosed which avoid electrostatic charge build up and subsequent electrostatic discharge (ESD) during the wafer fabrication process of magnetoresistive (MR) or giant magnetoresistive (GMR) read/write heads of magnetic disk drives. This is achieved by designing the wafer layout and process so that the MR/GMR sensor film is shorted to the magnetic shields of the head through shorting paths so that there is an equal potential between MR/GMR sensor film and magnetic shields during the entire fabrication process.