Method of fabricating slider pads for a transducer operating with moving magnetic media

A method for fabricating a transducer with landing pads without edge fences is described. The pad shape and location are defined by voids in a photoresist formed using prior art methods. Preferably an adhesion layer and then the pad layer are deposited in the voids. A masking layer is preferably vertically deposited on the pad layer to be thinner on the pad material on the sidewall to provide anisotropic protection during the subsequent ashing step. A vertical deposition process minimizes the buildup of the masking layer material on the sidewall of the void in the resist which already contains the fence structures on the sidewall from the previous deposition. The thickness of the masking layer on the surface of the pad layer should be sufficient to protect pad layer during the subsequent ashing step, but the thickness of the masking material at the sidewalls on the pad layer fences should be thin enough so that the fences are not protected during ashing. The masking layer should be a material that forms a passivating oxide to protect the underlying pad layer in an oxygen plasma by insulating the pad from the attacking plasma. The resist is preferably stripped by a method including mechanical abrasion. After stripping the photoresist material, the structure is ashed preferably by an oxygen-containing plasma. The ashing process, with assistance from mechanical abrasion, removes the fence structures on the pad layer, since the thinner masking layer at the sidewalls provides less protection to the fence structures than is provided to the bulk of the pad layer where the masking layer is thicker. The ashing step can be performed prior to removal of the resist. The remaining masking layer is removed by sputtering etching leaving the pad layer exposed and having no fences.