Method of fabricating a perpendicular recording write head having a gap with two portions

1. A method of fabricating a write head for perpendicular recording, the write head comprising a pole, a shield in proximity to the pole, and a gap between the pole and the shield, the method comprising:

forming a pole layer on an undercoat layer;

forming a mask over at least a portion of the pole layer;

forming the pole by removing material from the pole layer, the pole having a top surface, a first side, and a second side;

forming a first gap portion of the gap along the first side and along the second side of the pole, the first gap portion comprising a first gap material;

forming a protective layer over at least a portion of the first gap portion;

removing the mask;

removing the protective layer;

forming a second gap portion of the gap over at least the top surface of the pole, the second gap portion comprising a second gap material different from the first gap material; and

forming the shield over at least the second gap portion.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the undercoat layer comprises alumina.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the pole layer comprises depositing a pole material onto the undercoat layer.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the pole material comprises one of CoFe, CoFeN, or CoNiFe.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the mask comprises:

depositing a mask layer over the pole layer;

depositing a photoresist layer over the mask layer;

patterning the photoresist layer; and

patterning the mask layer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mask comprises an ion-milling-resistant material.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the ion-milling-resistant material comprises one of alumina, tantalum, tantalum oxide, tungsten, or titanium.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein removing material from the pole layer comprises ion-milling a portion of the pole layer outside a shadow region defined by the mask.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a portion of the pole layer inside the shadow region has a generally trapezoidal cross-sectional shape.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the first gap portion comprises:

forming a first gap layer over the mask and over a portion of the undercoat layer along the first side and along the second side of the pole, the first gap layer comprising the first gap material;

removing a first section of the first gap layer from over the mask; and

removing a second section of the first gap layer spaced from the pole.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first gap material comprises silicon nitride or silicon oxide.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first gap layer is formed by one of chemical-vapor deposition (CVD), plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition (PECVD), high-pressure CVD, physical-vapor deposition (PVD), ion-beam deposition (IBD), inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) deposition, atomic-layer deposition (ALD), or spin coating.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first section of the first gap layer is removed by anisotropic etching.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the anisotropic etching comprises one of directional reactive-ion-etching, ion-milling etching, or sputter etching.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first section of the first gap layer and the second section of the first gap layer are removed substantially simultaneously.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the protective layer comprises:

depositing the protective layer over the mask and over the first gap layer; and

removing a portion of the protective layer from over the mask.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein depositing the protective layer comprises a spin-coating process.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the protective layer comprises a photoresist material.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein removing the portion of the protective layer from over the mask comprises reactive-ion-etching.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein removing the mask comprises wet etching.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein a NaOH-containing solution is used for the wet etching.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein removing the protective layer comprises resist stripping or plasma etching.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second gap portion is formed by depositing the second gap material over at least the top surface of the pole.

24. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second gap portion is formed by depositing the second gap material over the pole and over the first gap portion.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the second gap material comprises a non-magnetic material.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the non-magnetic material comprises at least one of alumina, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, tantalum, tantalum oxide, nickel-chromium alloy, or nickel-niobium alloy.

27. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shield is formed by depositing a magnetic material over the second gap portion.