Patent ID: 7444739

Claim:
A method for fabricating a read sensor for a magnetic head, comprising: depositing a plurality of sensor layers upon a substrate; depositing a plurality of stencil layers upon said sensor layers, said stencil layers including a silicon layer that is deposited upon said sensor layers, a diamond-like-carbon layer that is deposited upon said silicon layer, and an organic compound layer that is deposited upon said DLC layer; fabricating a photoresist mask upon said stencil layer; fabricating a sensor stencil upon said sensor layers utilizing a reactive ion milling process step to remove material of the stencil layers down into said silicon layer that is not covered by said photoresist mask, wherein said reactive ion milling process step utilizes oxygen species and argon species; fabricating a sensor structure comprised of said sensor layers utilizing an ion milling process step to remove sensor layer material that is not covered by said sensor stencil.