Patent ID: 8703397

Claim:
A method for fabricating a side shield for a magnetic transducer having a nonmagnetic layer and a pole on the nonmagnetic layer, the pole having sidewalls and an air-bearing surface location (ABS location) corresponding to an air-bearing surface (ABS), the method comprising: providing a developable bottom antireflective coating (D-BARC) layer covering the pole and at least a portion of the nonmagnetic layer, the D-BARC layer being photosensitive; providing a mask layer on the D-BARC layer, the mask layer being photosensitive; photolithographically removing a first portion of the mask layer and a first portion of the D-BARC layer to form a bi-layer mask, the bi-layer mask having an aperture in the mask layer and the D-BARC layer; depositing at least one side shield layer, at least a portion of the at least one side shield layer residing in the aperture; and removing the bi-layer mask.