Patent ID: 8506828

Claim:
A method for fabricating a read sensor on a substrate for a read transducer, the method comprising: depositing a read sensor stack including a plurality of layers on the substrate; providing a mask on the on the read sensor stack, the mask having a pattern, the pattern covering a first portion of the read sensor stack corresponding to the read sensor, covering a second portion of the read sensor stack distal from the read sensor, and exposing a third portion of the read sensor stack between the first portion and the second portion of the read sensor stack; defining the read sensor from the read sensor stack, the defining the read sensor including removing the third portion of the read sensor stack; depositing a hard bias layer; providing a mask layer including a plurality thicknesses, the mask layer being aperture free; focused ion beam scan (FIBS) polishing the mask layer and the hard bias layer to remove a portion of the mask layer and a portion of the hard bias layer based on the plurality of thicknesses, the step of polishing the mask layer and the hard bias layer further including: performing the ion polishing at a polishing angle such that a first removal rate for the mask layer is substantially equal to a second removal rate for the portion of the hard bias layer.