Patent ID: 8068312

Claim:
A write head for perpendicular magnetic recording, comprising: a magnetic write pole having a pole tip extending to an air bearing surface and having a trailing edge and a leading edge; and a magnetic trailing shield that is separated from the trailing edge of the write pole by a non-magnetic trailing gap layer that is sandwiched between the magnetic trailing shield and the magnetic write pole; the magnetic trailing shield further comprising: a magnetic pedestal portion located adjacent to the non-magnetic trailing gap layer, the magnetic pedestal portion extending from the air bearing surface to a first trailing shield throat height (TH 1 ); and a main shield portion that is magnetically connected with the magnetic pedestal portion, the main shield portion extending from the air bearing surface to a second throat height (TH 2 ) that is greater than TH 1 ; wherein the pole tip of the write pole has first and second laterally opposed sides extending from the trailing edge to the leading edge, and wherein the magnetic pedestal portion of the trailing shield has first and second sides, that are aligned with the first and second sides of the write pole at the trailing edge.