Patent ID: 7228619

Claim:
A method of fabricating a thin film magnetic head on a wafer comprising the steps of: planarizing a surface of the wafer after fabricating a first pole piece for a write head to form a planarized surface of the first pole piece; depositing a nonmetallic gap layer on the planarized surface of the first pole piece; etching first and second voids in the nonmetallic gap layer to expose selected areas of the first pole piece for a pedestal and a back gap pole piece; depositing a thin film seed layer material over the nonmetallic gap layer and the first and second voids, the thin film seed layer material including at least a first seed layer of a magnetic material; fabricating a coil and center tap for the coil for the magnetic head on the thin film seed layer material; fabricating the pedestal and the back gap pole piece on the thin film seed layer material in the first and second voids respectively; removing the seed layer material that is left exposed after the steps of fabricating the coil, pedestal and the back gap pole piece; encapsulating the coil in an insulating material; refilling the wafer by depositing a nonmetallic material; and planarizing the wafer to expose the pedestal, back gap and center tap for the coil in preparation for deposition of a gap layer.