Methods of manufacturing one or more sliders that includes a second lapping process after patterning, and related sliders

A method of manufacturing one or more sliders, wherein the method comprises:

• a) lapping a substrate via a first lapping process to remove material from the substrate in a lapping direction and form a first, lapped major surface, wherein the substrate comprises the one or more sliders, and wherein each slider comprises at least a first region and a second region, wherein the first region comprises one or more transducer elements, wherein the one or more transducer elements comprise at least a magnetoresistive reader element and a magnetoresistive writer element, wherein the first lapping process is monitored using one or more electronic lapping guides, and wherein the first lapping process removes from 5,000 to 30,000 nanometers of material from the substrate in the lapping direction;
• b) after the first lapping process, patterning at least a portion of the first major surface to remove material in the lapping direction and form a patterned major surface comprising an air bearing pattern;
• c) after the patterning, lapping the patterned major surface via a second lapping process to remove material from the substrate in the lapping direction and form a second, lapped major surface, wherein the second, lapped major surface is an air bearing surface, wherein the second lapping process is monitored using one or more electronic lapping guides, wherein the second lapping process removes from 1 to 300 nanometers of material from the substrate in the lapping direction, and wherein the second lapping process removes material to form a target height value for each of the magnetoresistive reader element and the magnetoresistive writer element;
• and
• d) after the second lapping process, applying at least one protective overcoat to the air bearing surface, wherein the at least one protective overcoat layer extends across the entire air bearing surface.