A disc drive includes a base, a disc stack rotatably attached to the base, and an actuator assembly. The actuator assembly also includes a load spring and an attached slider. The slider has an air-bearing surface that a leading edge, a trailing edge, and a center pad positioned near the trailing edge. A transducer is positioned within the center pad. The center pad has a channel cavity therein which is substantially parallel to the trailing edge. The channel cavity is positioned near or at the transition between the material making up the slider and an alumina portion. The channel cavity splits the center pad into a first center pad portion, and a second center pad portion. The width of the channel cavity is controlled to control the amount of movement between a substrate portion of the slider and a portion covering the trailing edge of the slider which results from annealing the slider.