Patent ID: 8108985

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a magnetic write head for perpendicular magnetic data recording, comprising: providing a substrate; forming a write pole over the substrate with a thin alumina hard mask over a trailing edge of the write pole; depositing a RIEable material; forming a mask over the write pole, thin alumina hard mask and RIEable material, the mask having a back edge that defines a secondary flare point location; performing a reactive ion etch (RIE) to remove the RIEable material in an area not protected by the mask; performing an ion milling to remove the thin alumina hard mask in an area not protected by the mask; and performing a sweeping ion beam deposition to deposit a magnetic material onto portions of the write pole that are not protected by the mask, the sweeping ion beam deposition being performed at an angle relative to normal so that shadowing from the mask forms a stitched magnetic pole with a tapered front edge.