Patent ID: 7881010

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a magnetic write head for perpendicular magnetic recording, comprising: providing a substrate; depositing a write pole material over the substrate; depositing a magnetic layer over the write pole material; depositing a non-magnetic spacer layer over the magnetic layer; forming a first mask structure over the write head, the mask structure having a front edge that is located a desired distance from an intended air bearing surface plane; performing a material removal process to remove portions of the magnetic layer and non-magnetic spacer that are not covered by the first mask structure; forming a second mask structure, the second mask structure being configured to define a write pole; and performing an ion milling to remove portions of the write pole material to define a write pole, wherein shadowing from the magnetic layer and non-magnetic spacer layer during ion milling causes an under milling of write pole material resulting in the write pole having an outward extending stepped structure, the outward extending flare structure defining a write pole flare point.