Spin valve head having lead overlay

A process for manufacturing a GMR read head on a wafer, comprising the sequential steps of:

• (a) providing a lower magnetic shield layer and depositing thereon a lower dielectric layer;
• (b) on the lower dielectric layer, depositing a seed layer;
• (c) on the buffer layer depositing a free layer;
• (d) on said free layer, depositing a layer of non-magnetic material;
• (e) on said non-magnetic layer, depositing a multi-layer laminate for use as a pinned layer;
• (f) on the pinned layer, depositing a first capping layer through DC sputtering and, without breaking vacuum, depositing a lead overlay layer on said first capping layer and, through DC sputtering, a second capping layer on said lead overlay layer;
• (g) patterning the second capping layer so that it becomes a hard mask and then, using said hard mask, ion beam etching a centrally located first trench to a depth such that all unprotected portions of the lead overlay layer are removed and portions of both first and second capping layers are removed;
• (h) annealing the wafer, thereby setting up a pinned layer direction and causing some diffusion of both capping layers into the overlay layer which results in a strengthening of the overlay layer;
• (i) forming hard bias and conductor leads by means of a GPC process;
• (j) delineating MR sensor height by means of a MR patterning process;
• and
• (k) depositing a second dielectric layer over the entire wafer.