Method for manufacturing a perpendicular magnetic recording transducers

A method for manufacturing a perpendicular magnetic recording transducer comprising:

• providing a metallic underlayer, the metallic underlayer being conductive;
• providing an insulator on the metallic underlayer;
• providing a metal mask on the insulator, the metal mask having an aperture therein;
• forming a trench in the insulator in a location corresponding to the aperture, the trench having a top, a bottom narrower than the top, and sides, the bottom of the trench including a portion of the metallic underlayer, the portion of the metallic underlayer being adjacent to an air-bearing surface, the top of the trench having a width of not more than 0.28 micron;
• providing a nonmagnetic seed layer, the nonmagnetic seed layer substantially covering at least the bottom and sides of the trench, the nonmagnetic seed layer having a thickness of at least five hundred Angstroms;
• plating a perpendicular magnetic pole material on at least a portion of the seed layer;
• and
• performing a chemical mechanical polish (CMP) to remove a portion of the perpendicular magnetic pole material, a remaining portion of the perpendicular magnetic pole material forming a perpendicular magnetic recording pole, the nonmagnetic seed layer being a stop layer for the CMP.