Shape enhanced pin read head magnetic transducer with stripe height defined first and method of making same

A method of forming a magnetic head, comprising:

• forming a sensor stack over a substrate, wherein the sensor stack has at least a pinned layer, a non-magnetic layer disposed on the pinned layer, and a free layer disposed on the non-magnetic layer;
• removing a first portion of the sensor stack to expose the pinned layer;
• depositing a first dielectric layer, wherein the first dielectric layer comprises one or more dielectric materials;
• removing a second portion of the sensor stack to expose the substrate and form one or more channels;
• depositing a barrier layer in the one or more channels;
• depositing a hard or soft bias layer over the barrier layer within the one or more channels;
• removing a third portion of the sensor stack to expose the substrate;
• and
• depositing a second dielectric layer, wherein the second dielectric layer comprises one or more dielectric materials and the hard or soft bias layer has a substantially uniform thickness within the one or more channels.

A method of forming a magnetic head, comprising:

• forming a sensor stack over a substrate wherein the sensor stack has at least a pinned layer, a non-magnetic layer disposed on the pinned layer, and a free layer disposed on the non-magnetic layer;
• forming one or more channels within the sensor stack;
• filling the one or more channels with a hard or soft bias material, wherein the hard or soft bias material has a substantially uniform thickness within the one or more channels;
• and
• defining the pinned layer stripe height and the hard or soft bias layer in the same process step.