Abstract:
Methods for making devices comprise forming a plurality of transducers on a major surface of a wafer, including forming a plurality of solid layers each having a thickness that is less than one micron; dividing the wafer and the attached transducers into a plurality of units such that each of the units includes a portion of the layers and a substantially planar surface that is substantially perpendicular to the portion of the layers; and removing at least part of the substantially planar surface, including creating, for each transducer, at least one flexible element that is attached the transducer. Conventional problems of connecting a head to the flexure and/or gimbal are eliminated. The heads can be made thinner than is conventional and gimbals and flexures can be more closely aligned with forces arising from interaction with the media surface and from seeking various tracks, reducing torque and dynamic instabilities.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   The present application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of (is a continuation of) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/843,119, filed May 10, 2004, now abandoned, which in turn claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of (is a continuation-in-part of) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/112,004, filed Mar. 28, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,735,049, which in turn claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of (is a continuation-in-part of) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/438,123, filed Nov. 9, 1999, now abandoned, which are both incorporated by reference herein. 

   TECHNICAL FIELD 
   The present invention relates to transducers such as electromagnetic heads, gimbals and flexures for holding such heads. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Conventional electromagnetic heads such as those employed in disk or tape drives are formed in a plurality of thin films on a substrate, after which the substrate is cut or diced. In this manner a single wafer may yield many hundreds of heads. After formation, each head may then be attached to an arm for positioning the head adjacent the media. The arm may be attached to the head by flexure or gimbal elements, which allow the head to adjust relative to the media surface, compensating for imperfections in that surface or other dynamics. 
   Conventional disk drives have an actuator which positions a pair of such arms or load beams adjacent each spinning disk, the arms each holding a smaller flexure and gimbal that is mechanically connected to the head. Twisted wires have traditionally provided electrical connections between such heads and drive electronics, the wires held by tubes or crimps along the load beam and soldered to electrical bond pads on the head. Recently, so called wireless suspensions have been implemented, which use conductive leads that run along flexures and gimbals to provide signal communication with the head, although connections between the leads and conductive pads on the head are conventionally made by wire bonding. These wireless suspensions are typically laminated and include layers of stainless steel for strength, with conductors such as copper isolated by plastic or other dielectric materials. 
   The conductive traces still need to be bonded to pads on the head, but usually impart less mechanical uncertainty to the gimbal mechanism than twisted wires, and can be connected by machines for wire stitching. In order to reduce the size of such gimbals and flexures, U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,246 to Budde et al. proposes fabricating a magnetic head suspension assembly from a silicon structure using etching techniques. A similar idea is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,015 to Tai et al., which appears to have resulted from an industry-government partnership exploring the fabrication of head suspensions from silicon parts. 
   U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,932 to Hamilton goes a step further, fabricating the entire head and flexure from thin films that are then lifted from the wafer on which they were formed. The resulting integrated head and flexure, which is generally plank-shaped, does not have a gimbal structure for conforming to the media, instead relying on ultralight mass and continuous contact for mechanical stability, durability and high resolution. The thin films of Hamilton&#39;s flexhead are formed in layers that are primarily parallel to the media surface, unlike most conventional disk heads, which are formed in layers that end up on a trailing end of the head, extending perpendicular to the media surface. 
   Recent years have witnessed dramatic growth in the use of magnetoresistive (MR) sensors for heads, which sense magnetic fields from a disk or tape by measuring changes in electrical resistance of the sensors. Care is usually taken to avoid sensor contact with a rapidly spinning rigid disk, as such contact may destroy the sensor or create false signal readings. In order to increase resolution, however, current production heads may fly at a height of one micro-inch from the disk surface. MR sensors are typically formed along with inductive write transducers in thin films on a wafer substrate. After formation, the wafer is diced into sliders each having thin film inductive and MR transducers on a trailing end, the sliders&#39; length determined by the wafer thickness. 
   As heads become smaller, connection of even modern wireless suspensions becomes difficult and may add undesirable mechanical complexities to the gimbal area. Moreover, MR sensors can be delicate and require at least two extra leads that must be connected to the drive electronics, adding to connection difficulties. Additionally, as heads are required to fly closer to the media and provide quicker access time to various tracks on the disk, mechanical challenges increase. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention provides an integrated head, flexure and/or gimbal structure formed on and from a wafer substrate. Conventional problems of connecting the head to the flexure and/or gimbal are eliminated, as both are made from the same wafer on which the transducer is formed. The transducer layers may be oriented generally perpendicular to the media surface, affording employment of the most proven high-resolution transducer designs. Electrical leads may also be formed on the integrated flexure and/or gimbal in contact with leads of the head. 
   Heads of the present invention can be made thinner and do not need a large area on the trailing surface for bonding pads, reducing their mass and moment arms. The gimbals and flexures can be more closely aligned with forces arising from interaction with the disk surface and from seeking various tracks, reducing torque and dynamic instabilities. Spacing between disks can be reduced due to the thinner heads and lower profile gimbals and flexures. The heads may be operated in continuous or intermittent operational contact with the media, or may be designed to avoid such contact during operation. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a media-facing side of a device of the present invention including an integrated head, gimbal and flexure. 
       FIG. 2  is a side view of the device of  FIG. 1  interacting with a media such as a rigid disk. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates some initial steps in forming the head of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 4  shows the partially formed head of  FIG. 3  during formation on a wafer substrate. 
       FIG. 5  shows a row cut from the substrate of  FIG. 4 , the row including the head of  FIG. 3 . 
       FIG. 6  shows the formation of air bearing rails and pads of the media-facing surface of the head of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 7  shows the masking of the head of  FIG. 1  during material removal that shapes the media-facing side of the gimbal and flexure of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 8  shows the formation of a non-media-facing side of the device of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 9  shows a disk-facing side of another embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 10  shows an opposite side from that shown in  FIG. 9 , including an amplifier attached to a load beam and connected with leads disposed on the flexure and gimbal that are connected with the head. 
       FIG. 11  is a side view of the suspension elements of  FIG. 9 , illustrating a flexure located close in Z-height to the center of mass of the head. 
       FIG. 12  is a side view similar to that of  FIG. 11  but with a load beam having a tongue that extends over the head. 
       FIG. 13  is view of a trailing end of the device of  FIG. 9 . 
       FIG. 14  is view of a trailing end of the device of  FIG. 9 , including an amplifier formed on the head. 
       FIG. 15  is a cross-sectional view of an initial stage in forming the amplifier of the head of  FIG. 14 . 
       FIG. 16  is a cross-sectional view of the amplifier of the head of  FIG. 14 , prior to the formation of a transducer on the head. 
       FIG. 17  is a media-facing side of a media-contacting embodiment of the present invention including an integrated head, gimbal and flexure. 
       FIG. 18  is a side view of the embodiment of  FIG. 17  attached to a load beam that extends over the head and holds an amplifier. 
       FIG. 19  is a top view of the head, flexure and beam of  FIG. 18 , with the amplifier connected with leads disposed on the flexure and gimbal that are connected with the head. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1  shows a media-facing side of a device  30  of the present invention including an integrated head  33 , gimbal  35  and flexure  38 . The head  33  includes an inductive transducer  40  and a magnetoresistive (MR) transducer  44 . As will be explained in greater detail below, the transducers  40  and  44  are formed along with many other similar transducers on a wafer substrate, after which the wafer is cut into rows each containing a number of the transducers, and the rows are then processed from another direction to form the integrated head  33 , gimbal  35  and flexure  38 . 
   A media-facing surface  46  of the head  33  includes rails  48  and  49  and a transducer-containing pad  50  that are designed to be closer than the remainder of the media-facing surface to the media during operation. The rails  48  and  49  and pad  50  may project about a micron or less from the remainder of the bearing surface  46 . The gimbal  35  and flexure  38  are much thinner than the head, in order to increase flexibility of the gimbal and flexure. The gimbal  35  and flexure  38  may also be disposed further from the media than the media-facing surface  46  of the head  33 , in order to remove them from interactions with the media or gases or liquids that travel with the media. 
     FIG. 2  shows a side view of the device  30  interacting with a media  60  such as a rigid disk, a cross-section of which is shown. The media  60  has a surface  63  and a media layer  66  formed over a substrate  68 , and is travelling relative to the head  33  in a direction indicated by arrow  70 . The head  33  may have a thickness in a direction perpendicular to the media surface  63  that is on the order of 100 μm, whereas the gimbal  35  and flexure  38  may have a thickness of only 5 μm-50 μm in that direction. For clarity, the direction perpendicular to the media surface is defined as the Z-direction, whereas a direction perpendicular to the Z-direction and substantially aligned with the direction of media travel is defined as the X-direction, while a direction orthogonal to the X and Z-directions is defined as the Y-direction. As is conventional in the disk drive industry, a distance measured along the Z-direction away from the media may be referred to as a Z-height. Flexible elements  35  and  38  can be seen to extend substantially along the X-Z plane, while transducers  40  and  44  each include a plurality of films that extend substantially parallel to the Y-Z plane. 
   The gimbal  35  and flexure  38  are much closer in height to the center of mass of the head  33  than is conventional, reducing dynamic instabilities that otherwise can occur during track seeking and settling, and therefore reducing access times. This alignment of suspension height and head mass is due in part to having the top surface of the flexure aligned with the top surface of the head, whereas conventional suspensions have their bottom surface located above the top of the head and tapering down to meet the head top surface at bond areas. Also, the head of the present invention can be reduced in height, since large areas on the back of the slider are not needed for providing conductive connections with the suspension. Having a relatively low gimbal  35  and flexure  38  also helps to align those suspension members with forces generated by interaction with the disk  60 , whether due to contact or near contact. This helps to achieve lower flying heights and avoids crashes that may otherwise occur due to wobbling sliders whose corners plow into the disk. 
   Referring additionally to  FIG. 1 , a plurality of conductive leads  52 ,  53 ,  54  and  55  are disposed in the flexures  38 , connected with transducer leads  56 ,  57 ,  58  and  59  disposed in gimbal elements  35 . As will be explained in more detail below, transducer leads  56 ,  57 ,  58  and  59  can be defined during formation of transducers on a wafer to provide guidance during row bar processing for the formation of gimbals  35  and flexures  38  of a desired thickness. Conductive bond pads  74 ,  75 ,  76  and  77  provide connections for device  30  with a load beam  80 . Load beam  80 , which may be made of conductive and insulative laminates, has an extending tongue  85  with a dimple  88  that provides a fulcrum for head  33 . Although not shown in  FIG. 2 , the tongue may extend past the head in the X-direction. The dimple may be formed by pressing, for the situation in which the tongue  85  contains stainless steel, for instance, or by deposition and/or patterning for the situation in which the tongue  85  is formed by similar means. 
   In  FIG. 3  some initial steps in forming the head  33  are shown. The head  33  is formed on a wafer substrate  100 , also shown in  FIG. 4 , that may be made of alumina (Al 2 O 3 ), alumina titanium carbide (Al 2 O 3 —TiC), silicon (Si), silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ), silicon carbide (SiC) or other known materials, the head being mass-produced along with hundreds or thousands of other heads. The substrate may be insulating or resistive, and is typically nonmagnetic. Substrates containing silicon are generally preferred for their ability to be deeply, quickly and controllably etched. Also, as described below, transistors may be formed on the substrate adjacent transducers  40  and  44  for signal amplification, for which silicon can be advantageous. The dimensions of the head, flexure and gimbal elements are determined based upon known characteristics of the materials forming the substrate and film layers. Note that etching or other removal processes used for patterning the head, flexure and gimbal elements are controllable in three dimensions rather than two, affording design flexibility. 
   After polishing and preparing a surface of the wafer substrate  100 , a first magnetically permeable layer  102  is formed of a material such as Permalloy (NiFe), which will function as a magnetic shield. A first read gap layer  105  of a nonmagnetic, electrically insulating material such as alumina, silicon dioxide or diamond-like carbon is then formed, on top of which the magnetoresistive (MR) sensor  44  is formed. The MR sensor  44  may be an anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensor, spin valve (SV) sensor, giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensor, or other known sensors, the details of which are known in the art and omitted here for conciseness. After the MR sensor  44  has been formed the leads  57  and  59 , shown in  FIG. 1 , are defined. A back gap  110  and second read gap  112  of electrically insulating, nonmagnetic materials such as alumina, silicon dioxide or diamond-like carbon are also formed. 
   A first pole layer  115  of magnetically permeable material such as permalloy is then formed for transducer  40 , layer  115  also serving as a shield for the MR sensor  44  in this example of a merged head. Note that in other embodiments greater separation of the MR transducer  44  and the inductive transducer  40  may be desirable. A nonmagnetic, electrically insulating write gap  118  of material such as alumina, silicon dioxide or diamond-like carbon is formed on the pole layer, and a conductive coil  120  is formed on the write gap  118 , the coil surrounded by nonmagnetic, electrically insulating material  122  such as baked photoresist. Conductive leads  56  and  58  connect with the coil  120  to provide current for inducing a magnetic flux across recording gap  118 , the leads also helping to define dimensions for the gimbal, as will be shown below. A second pole layer  125  of magnetically permeable material is then formed, and a protective coating  127  of alumina, DLC or other materials is conventionally formed. Other known transducers may be formed instead of the above example of a merged head. 
   The substrate and thin film layers are then cut along a number of lines such as lines  130  and  133 , forming for example one hundred rows of heads from a single wafer  100 .  FIG. 5  shows row  140  cut from the substrate  100 , with the recently formed inductive transducer  40  and leads  56  and  58  visible through the transparent protective coating. The wafer  100  thickness T will determine the length of the integrated head and flexure  30  of row  140  and all other rows. Processing of row  140  then occurs on surfaces  130  and  133 , both of which may be lapped to thin and smooth the head and flexure  30 . Surface  130  is lapped while resistive leads are monitored to obtain a desired height of transducers  40  and  44 . The polished row  140  has a height H which may be about 100 microns in this example, but which may be tailored to significantly different heights depending upon desired implementations. After lapping, surfaces  130  and  133  are masked and etched to form the desired media-facing surface, head, gimbal and flexure that are depicted in  FIG. 1 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 6 , all of surface  130  is exposed to etching, preferably by ion beam etching (IBE) or reactive ion etching (RIE), except for photoresist or other masking that covers rails  48  and  49  and pad  50 , while rails and pads of other heads of row  140  are covered by similar masks, not shown. After the rails  48  and  49  and pad  50  have been formed, which project from the rest of the media-facing surface of the head on the order of a micron, a thick mask is formed over the head  33  and other heads of the row  140 , as shown in  FIG. 7 . 
   A multimicron, highly anisotropic etch is then performed that removes the suspension flexure and gimbal from the media-facing surface of the head  33 . This etch, preferably performed by RIE, removes a substantial fraction of the row  140  height H between surfaces  130  and  133 , except in the area of the head  33  which is covered by the thick mask. As known in the art of MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) such etching can have high aspect ratios of perpendicular versus lateral etching, so that tens of microns of etching in the Z-direction may be accomplished with less than one micron of etching in the X-direction or Y-direction. Exact control of the depth of etching in the Z-direction may be accomplished by timing or by monitoring the etching process for evidence of conductors  56  and  58 , which have been formed to a distance predetermined to serve as an etch-stop signal. A protective coating of diamond-like carbon (DLC), tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C), silicon carbide (SiC) or the like may then be formed on the rails  48 ,  49 , pad  50 , gimbal  35  and flexure  38 . For the situation in which such a protective coating was formed over the media-facing surface prior to defining pads  48 ,  49  and  50 , the head  33  is not coated again. 
   The row  140  is then turned over to work on surface  133 , which will become a non-media-facing surface, as shown in  FIG. 8 . If conductors  56 - 59  have not already been exposed by lapping of this surface, etching can be performed until evidence of these conductors occurs, determining height H with precision. The head  33 , flexures  38  and gimbals  35  are then covered with a thick mask, and a multi-micron perpendicular etch is performed on row  140  that defines a U-shaped aperture between those elements. Conductors  52 - 55  and pads  74 - 77  are then formed, for example of gold (Au), copper (Cu), beryllium copper (BeCu) or aluminum (Al). A protective insulative coating is then formed, except over pads  74 - 77 . Individual device  30  may be severed from other devices at this point by cutting or further etching. 
   The device  30  may be connected to the load beam  80  by various methods. Epoxy bonding can be used for mechanical connection, for example, while wire bonding or stitching can provide electrical connections between pads  74 - 77  and electrical leads formed on a non-media-facing side of the load beam. Alternatively, ultrasonic bonding may be used to connect pads  74 - 77  with electrical leads formed on a media-facing side of the load beam. Distancing such bonding from the head and gimbal area removes mechanical uncertainties and complexities from the most sensitive area of device  30 , in contrast with conventional head and gimbal connection mechanisms. 
     FIG. 9  shows a disk-facing side of another embodiment of the present invention, in which a device  150  including a head  152 , gimbal elements  155  and flexures  158  may be formed from less wafer real estate than that used for a conventional pico-slider. The head  152  has a generally triangular disk facing surface  160  with rails  162  and  164  and pad  166  projecting slightly. An inductive transducer  170  and a MR transducer  171  are visible through a transparent protective coating on pad  166 , with the inductive transducer disposed in a slightly projecting area  174  compared to the MR transducer. This slight difference in elevation between the inductive transducer  170  and the MR transducer  171 , which may be on the order of 100 Å, allows the former to write at high resolution while the latter avoids thermal asperities and wear that may otherwise be caused by operational contact with the disk. Conductive leads  180  and  181  connect with the inductive transducer  170  while leads  182  and  183  connect with the MR transducer  171 , the leads formed along with the transducers and exposed during etching of the gimbal elements  155 , the exposure signaling completion of etching the gimbal elements. A base  188  is formed to provide mechanical and electrical connections for the device. 
     FIG. 10  shows a non-disk-facing side of device  150 , connected to a load beam  200 . The gimbal  155  and flexure  158  elements have also been etched or ablated from this side to the point at which conductors  180 - 183  are exposed, so that those suspension elements are not coplanar with a non-disk-facing  190  surface of the head  150 . As can be seen in  FIG. 11 , this allows the suspension elements including flexure  158  to be located closer in height to the center of mass of the head  152 . Aligning the height of suspension elements closer to the center of mass of the head reduces torque that would otherwise occur during rapid movement of the head from one disk track to another, during which time the head experiences extreme acceleration and deceleration. 
   Conductive leads  192  and  193  are formed along flexures  158  connecting inductive transducer leads  182  and  183  with pads  196  and  197 , respectively. Similarly, conductive leads  194  and  195  are formed along flexures  158  connecting MR transducer leads  180  and  181  with pads  198  and  199 , respectively. After masking the head  152 , gimbal  155 , flexure  158  and base  188 , the non-disk-facing side is etched or ablated again to create voids and separate device  150  from adjacent devices. 
   Device  150  is then connected to load beam  200 , which has short tongue  205  that bonds with a central portion of base  188 , as shown additionally in  FIG. 11 . An amplifier chip  210  is attached to the beam  200  and extends onto the tongue, the chip having a number of bond pads  212 . Bond pads  196 - 199  of the device are connected to bond pads  212  of the chip, for example by wires  215 . 
   In  FIG. 12 , load beam  200  is made of layers  201  and  202 , with layer  201  having a tongue  206  that extends over head  150  to provide protection and a shock-absorbing backstop for the head in the event of a shock to the drive. An amplifier chip  211  is attached to layer  201  on one side of tongue  206 , layer  201  being attached to a pedestal  218  of device  150 . A similar chip may be attached on the same side of another arm sharing the space between disks, not shown, so that the chips are offset and avoid each other. Wires  213  and  214  provide electrical connections between chip  211  and leads on the device  150  and beam  200 , respectively. 
   As shown in  FIG. 13 , conductive leads need not span the gimbals in the Z-direction in order to define etch stops for the gimbals. For instance, MR transducer leads  182  and  183  can define an etch stop for the non-disk-facing side of the gimbals  155  while inductive transducer leads  180  and  181  can define an etch stop for the disk-facing side of the gimbals, with a connector leading to the non-disk-facing side. Timing can be employed to control the extent of etching in addition to or instead of monitoring for etch stop materials. 
   Beginning with  FIG. 14 , a head  200  is illustrated that includes a transistor amplifier  201  formed adjacent to the read and write transducers. A pair of write leads  202  and  204  are connected to a coil, not shown, of an inductive transducer  210 . A pair of sense leads  212  and  214  are connected to a MR transducer, which is disposed behind the inductive transducer and therefore not shown in this figure for clarity. Amplifier leads  215  and  217  extend adjacent to sense lead  214 , and terminate at source electrode  220  and drain electrode  222 , respectively. Sense lead  214  is connected to a gate electrode  225  that is disposed over a semiconductor region forming a gate for transistor  201 . Source electrode  220  and drain electrode  222  are disposed over source and drain regions having opposite conductivity type to that of the gate. A mechanism such as a resistor is disposed in series with lead  214  distal to the MR transducer and optionally on the head, so that changing resistance in the MR transducer responsive to a signal from the media changes the voltage on gate electrode  215 . This change in voltage on the gate electrode may be amplified on the order of 100 times in the amplifier leads. Note that this simple example of a single transistor  201  may be supplanted by a CMOS transistor, known amplifier and/or detector circuits. Examples of detector circuits that may be formed on the head are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,546,027, 5,430,768 and 5,917,859, incorporated by reference herein, for which some electronics such as clock generators may be provided separately, for instance adjacent the load beam or actuator. Perhaps one thousand square microns of chip real estate may be available on the trailing edge of head  200  for formation of amplifier and/or detector circuits. 
     FIG. 15  shows some initial steps in the formation of the head of  FIG. 14 . On a preferably silicon wafer substrate  250  that will eventually be patterned to form a head and flexure, a P-type semiconductor layer  252  is formed. In an alternate embodiment the wafer may be doped P-type or N-type and layer  252  need not be formed, as known in the art of integrated circuit fabrication. An oxide layer  255  is grown on semiconductor layer  252 , masked and etched, leaving an area of the P-type layer  252  upon which a gate oxide layer  257  is formed. A doped polysilicon gate  260  is formed atop gate oxide  257  and both are trimmed to leave areas for N-type, self-aligned source  262  and drain  266  to be formed by ion implantation. The wafer may after ion implantation be annealed at temperatures exceeding 500° C., as known in the art of circuit fabrication. 
   In  FIG. 16 , another oxide layer has been formed, masked and etched to create dielectric regions  270 , leaving gate  260 , source  262  and drain  266  exposed, upon which gate electrode  225 , source electrode  220  and drain electrode  222  are respectively formed. Another dielectric layer  277  is then formed, for example of SiO 2 , creating a smooth planar surface for subsequent formation of a magnetic shield layer, not shown in this figure. A via may be etched in this layer  277 , the via then being filled with conductive material to form an electrical interconnect  280  between gate electrode  225  and sense lead  214 . Additional interconnects may be stacked on interconnect  280  to complete a conductive path to sense lead  214  through a dielectric layer formed adjacent the first shield and first read gap layer. Note that the preceding description of a most basic transistor amplifier can be extrapolated to the formation of much more complicated circuits, any of which may be included in a head of the present invention. 
     FIG. 17  shows a transducing device  300  including a head  303  integrated with flexure  305  and gimbal  308  elements. The device  300  has been formed on and patterned from a ceramic substrate such as a silicon wafer, much as described above. The head  303  has a media-facing surface with three projections, pads  310 ,  313  and  315 , which are designed for contact or near contact with a rapidly moving media surface such as that of a rigid disk. Since head  303  does not have large air bearing surfaces such as rails, the head can be very small and light, so that the device  300  may be significantly smaller than a pico-slider. The pads  310 ,  313  and  315  may project from a recessed area  318  of the media-facing surface by between about a micron and ten microns, and are preferably coated with an extremely hard, wear resistant coating such as DLC, ta-C or SiC. An inductive transducer  320  has poletips terminating on or adjacent an exposed surface of pad  310  for close proximity to the media, so that sharp and strong magnetic patterns can be written on the media. A MR or GMR transducer  322  terminates adjacent to a recessed portion  325  of pad  310  that avoids contact with the media even when the remainder of pad  310  contacts the media, so that a read transducer  322  such as a MR or GMR sensor avoids wear and thermal asperities, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,340, incorporated by reference herein. 
   The flexure  305  and gimbal  308  may have a non-media-facing surface that is generally coplanar with a non-media-facing surface of the head, simplifying removal of material from the non-media-facing side. The flexure  305  and gimbal  308  may instead have a media-facing surface that is generally coplanar with the recessed area  318  of the head, in order to align the flexure and gimbal with dynamic forces of the head/media interface. The head  303  may contain amplifier circuitry, and conductive leads may be formed along the non-media-facing sides of flexure  305  and gimbal  308  elements, as described above. 
   Alternatively, as shown in  FIG. 18 , the flexure  305  and gimbal  308  may have a different Z-height than both major surfaces of the head, so that the flexure and gimbal are flexible in the Z-direction as well as aligned with the Z-height of the center of mass of the head, reducing torque during seek and settle operations. The device in this example has a pair of pedestals  330  and  333  that have a similar Z-height as the surface of the head  303  facing away from the media, the pedestals being attached to a laminated load beam  335 , which may contain stainless steel for strength and convenience. Instead of forming separate pedestals for bonding to the load beam, the device may have a continuous plateau distal to the transducers for attachment to the load beam. An amplifier chip  340  is disposed on the load beam and electrically connected to the device and beam by wires  342  and  344 , respectively. The load beam includes a lower layer  346  that is bonded to pedestals  330  and  333 , and an upper layer  348  that extends over the head  303  in a loop  350 , as seen in the top view of  FIG. 19 . 
   Also apparent in  FIG. 19  are a plurality of electrical conductors  352  leading between the head and a corresponding plurality of contact pads  355  disposed on device  300  near pedestals  330  and  333 . Wires  357  connect pads  355  with input/output pads  360  on chip  340 . Additional input/output pads  363  on chip  340  are connected by other wires  366  to electrical conductors  370  disposed on load beam  335  and leading to drive circuitry, not shown. More or less pads and conductors may be employed depending upon the desired implementation, and conductors  370  are separated from conductive material of the load beam  335  by dielectric material, or load beam may be dielectric. 
   Although the above description has focused on teaching the preferred embodiments, other embodiments and modifications of this invention will be apparent to persons of skill in the art in view of these teachings. For example, a device can be formed on and from a wafer substrate to include a load beam as well as head, flexure and gimbal elements. Alternatively, a device of the present invention can be configured for use in measurement and testing. Therefore, this invention is to be limited only by the following claims, which include all such embodiments and modifications when viewed in conjunction with the above specification and accompanying drawings.