Patent ID: 7898773

Claim:
A perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) head having a three-way side shielded pole comprising: a substrate; a pair of laterally disposed and separated side shields formed from a monolithic shield layer deposited on said substrate, the shields having coplanar air bearing surface (ABS) front surfaces and transverse, facing, sloping side surfaces, the separation between said side surfaces forming a uniform transverse trench having a truncated wedge-shaped cross-sectional shape in the ABS plane and, thereby, forming a similarly shaped opening at said ABS plane, said wedge being narrowest at said substrate; a magnetic pole formed over said substrate, said pole having a pole tip formed within said wedge-shaped transverse trench and being, therefore, of the same wedge-shaped cross-sectional shape as said trench and said pole tip being centrally aligned by said trench shape within said trench and said pole tip terminating at said ABS surface; an insulating side gap layer conformally formed about lateral and lower sides of said pole tip, separating said pole tip from said substrate and said side shields; a horizontal, planar write gap layer formed over said pole tip and said side shields; an upper shield formed over said write gap layer.