Patent ID: 8349197

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a magnetic write head, comprising: providing a substrate; depositing a write pole material over the substrate; depositing a RIE stop layer over the write pole material; forming a non-magnetic step layer over the RIE stop layer, the non-magnetic step layer having a front edge that is located a desired distance from an air bearing surface plane; depositing a series of thin layers over the write pole material and the non-magnetic step layer, the series of thin layers including at least one hard mask layer and an endpoint detection layer; depositing a layer of alumina over the series of thin layers; forming a mask structure over the series of thin layers, the mask structure being configured to define a write pole shape; performing a first ion milling to remove portions of the series of thin layers and the magnetic write pole material that are not protected by the mask structure; after performing the first ion milling, the depositing a layer of alumina; and performing a second ion milling to preferentially remove horizontally disposed portions of the alumina layer leaving a tapered alumina bump adjacent to the front edge of the non-magnetic step layer and leaving alumina side walls at sides of the magnetic write pole material.