Patent ID: 7429493

Claim:
A method of fabricating thin film magnetic heads on a wafer comprising the steps of: depositing a layer of magnetic material for a pole piece on a wafer; depositing a layer of a first selected material for a CMP resistant hardmask on the layer of magnetic material for the pole piece; depositing a layer of a second selected material for a resist hardmask above the CMP resistant hardmask; depositing a layer of a third selected material for an upper hardmask above the resist hardmask; depositing a photoresist material; forming a photoresist pad by patterning the photoresist material to define a shape of the pole piece; removing excess material in the upper hardmask resist hardmask and CMP resistant hardmask around the photoresist pad to expose excess material in the layer of magnetic material for the pole piece; removing excess material in the layer of magnetic material for the pole piece; refilling the wafer with nonmagnetic refill material; removing the resist hardmask from above the CMP resistant hardmask using a CMP liftoff process which removes the refill material at a faster rate than the CMP resistant hardmask reducing a surface of the refill material adjacent to the CMP resistant hardmask to below a surface of the CMP resistant hardmask; and removing the CMP resistant hardmask forming a recessed surface.