Patent ID: 7186348

Claim:
A method of fabricating a thin film magnetic head comprising the steps of: depositing a first ferromagnetic material for a pole piece body on a wafer; depositing one or layers of a second ferromagnetic material for a pole piece tip over the first ferromagnetic material; depositing a bed layer of a third material over the second ferromagnetic material; depositing a photoresist material over the wafer; forming a void in the photoresist material at a position selected for a pole piece tip; removing bed layer material under the void in the photoresist material to form a void in the bed layer having a selected shape for an ion-milling mask for the pole piece tip; depositing an ion-milling mask material over the wafer to fill the void in the bed layer and form an ion-milling mask; removing the ion-milling mask material outside of the void; removing the bed layer to expose a surface of the second ferromagnetic material while leaving the ion-milling mask; and ion-milling to remove the second ferromagnetic material that is not protected by the ion-milling mask to form a pole piece tip with beveled sides that slope inward.