Patent ID: 8117738

Claim:
A method of fabricating a PMR head having a three-way side shielded pole comprising: providing a substrate; forming a pair of laterally disposed and separated, side shields on said substrate, said shields having coplanar ABS front surfaces and transverse, facing, sloping sidewall surfaces, the separation between said sidewall surfaces forming a transverse trench having a uniform truncated wedge-shaped cross-sectional shape and, thereby, forming a similarly shaped opening at said ABS plane; then forming a magnetic pole above said substrate, said pole being separated from said substrate and said side shields by an insulating side gap layer and said pole having a rear portion disposed behind said side shields and a pole tip portion formed within said trench and, therefore, of similar cross-sectional shape as said trench, said pole tip being centrally aligned within said trench and terminating at said ABS surface; then forming a horizontal, planar write gap layer over said pole tip and said side shields; and then forming an upper shield over said write gap layer.