Patent ID: 8252516

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a read head, the method comprising: fabricating a film stack by: forming a sensor layer on a substrate, wherein the sensor layer is configured from a magnetic material; forming a stop layer on the sensor layer, wherein the stop layer is configured from a material that deters removal of the sensor layer during chemical mechanical polishing; forming a release layer on the stop layer, wherein the release layer is configured from a first release material; forming a mask layer on the release layer, wherein the mask layer is configured from a material that transfers an image of the read head from a photo resist layer onto the release layer, wherein the step of forming the mask layer comprises layering a second release material between the mask layer and the photo resist layer; and forming the photo resist layer on the mask layer; and patterning the read head image in the photo resist layer; etching the stop layer, the release layer and the mask layer according to the patterned read head image; stripping the photo resist layer, the release layer and the mask layer; and milling the sensor layer according to the patterned read head image of the remaining stop layer.