ESD protection for GMR sensors of magnetic heads using SiGe integrated circuit devices

A magnetic head, comprising:

• a slider body portion;
• a silicon chip portion having a silicon germanium ESD protection circuit device fabricated therewithin;
• a read/write head portion including a GMR head including two electrical leads connected therewith;
• said silicon germanium ESD protection circuit device being electrically engaged across two said electrical leads of said GMR head.

A hard disk drive including a magnetic head, comprising:

• a slider body portion;
• a silicon chip portion having a silicon germanium ESD protection circuit device fabricated therewithin;
• a read/write head portion including a GMR head including two electrical leads connected therewith;
• said silicon germanium ESD protection circuit device being electrically engaged across two said electrical leads of said GMR head.

A method for fabricating a magnetic head having an ESD protection device, comprising:

• fabricating a plurality of SiGe integrated circuit devices within a silicon wafer, each said SiGe device including electrical leads disposed for connection with electrical leads of a GMR read head;
• fabricating a plurality of read/write heads upon said silicon wafer, wherein each said read/write head includes a GMR read head, and wherein each GMR read head includes electrical leads that are fabricated for electrical connection with said electrical leads of said SiGe circuit device;
• bonding said silicon wafer to a slider substrate wafer to form a combined wafer, such that said SiGe circuit device is electrically connected across said electrical leads of said GMR read head;
• and
• cutting said combined wafer into a plurality of rows and cutting each said row to yield a plurality of individual magnetic heads, wherein each said magnetic head includes a slider substrate portion, a silicon chip portion having a SiGe circuit device therewithin and a GMR read head, wherein said SiGe circuit device is electrically connected across said electrical leads of said GMR read head.

A method for fabricating a magnetic head having an ESD protection device, comprising:

• fabricating a plurality of SiGe integrated circuit devices within a silicon wafer, each said SiGe circuit device including electrical leads disposed for connection with electrical leads of a GMR read head;
• fabricating a plurality of read/write heads upon said silicon wafer, wherein each said read/write head includes a GMR read head, and wherein each GMR read head includes electrical leads that are fabricated for electrical connection with said electrical leads of said SiGe circuit device, such that said SiGe circuit device is electrically connected across said electrical leads of said GMR read head;
• bonding said silicon wafer to a slider substrate wafer to form a combined wafer;
• and
• cutting said combined wafer into a plurality of rows and cutting each said row to yield a plurality of individual magnetic heads, wherein each said head includes a slider substrate portion, a silicon chip portion having an SiGe circuit device therewithin and a read/write head including a GMR read head, wherein said SiGe circuit device is electrically connected across said electrical leads of said GMR read head.