Patent ID: 8603348

Claim:
A method of forming a write pole in a perpendicular magnetic recording head, comprising: (a) forming an opening in an alumina layer having a top surface, said opening has a bottom that exposes a portion of a substrate and has sidewalls that extend from the top surface to said substrate; (b) performing an electroplating process to deposit a main pole layer including a write pole portion that fills said opening; (c) planarizing said main pole layer to form a top surface thereof that is coplanar with said top surface of the alumina layer; (d) forming a photoresist mask on the write pole portion and on adjacent portions of the alumina layer; (e) ion beam etching or reactive ion etching the alumina layer except for adjacent portions around the write pole that are protected by the photoresist mask, said etching exposes certain regions of the substrate; and (f) removing the adjacent portions of the alumina layer by a sequence comprising: (1) soaking the substrate in a deionized (DI) water bath that is inert gas purged prior to soaking the substrate and during the soaking process; (2) immersing the substrate in an alumina etch bath that is inert gas purged prior to immersing the substrate and during an alumina etch process; (3) rinsing the substrate in a second DI water bath that is inert gas purged prior to rinsing the substrate and during the rinsing process; and (4) performing a second rinse step that comprises a water solution purged with inert gas wherein inert gas purging is accomplished by introducing the inert gas through a plurality of holes in a purge board or through multiple holes in a plurality of Teflon tubes located proximate to a bottom of the DI water baths and proximate to a bottom of the alumina etch bath thereby allowing essentially complete removal of oxygen from the DI water baths and the alumina etch bath.