Patent ID: 6960281

Claim:
A method for forming a trimmed upper pole piece for a magnetic write head, said upper pole piece being of tapered profile and varying from greatest width at a trailing edge to smallest width at a leading edge, comprising: providing a magnetic shield layer, said shield layer being formed of material having a first ion-beam etch rate; forming on said shield layer a write gap layer, said layer being formed of material having a second ion-beam etch rate; forming on said write gap layer a seed layer, said seed layer having a third ion-beam etch rate; forming on said seed layer a plated upper pole portion, said plated pole portion being formed with a tapered initial profile by a plating process and said plated pole portion being formed of material having a fourth ion-beam etch rate, wherein said first, second, third and fourth ion-beam etch rates are substantially equal; using an ion-beam etching process, trimming said shield layer, said write gap layer, said seed layer and said pole portion to form an upper pole piece of final tapered profile whose width is maximum at its trailing edge and minimum at its leading edge.