Damascene write poles produced via full film plating

A method of forming a plurality of write poles, comprising the steps of:

• forming a plurality of damascene trenches in a substrate layer of a wafer;
• forming a stop layer over the substrate layer of the wafer after the step of forming the plurality of damascene trenches, the stop layer having a first plurality of openings above the plurality of damascene trenches in the substrate layer;
• forming a buffer layer over the stop layer, the buffer layer having a second plurality of openings above corresponding ones of the first plurality of openings of the stop layer;
• plating a layer of magnetic material over the wafer after the stop layer and the buffer layer are formed;
• disposing a first sacrificial material over a plurality of regions of the magnetic material above corresponding ones of the plurality of damascene trenches;
• performing a milling or etching operation over the wafer to remove the magnetic material not covered by the first sacrificial material and to remove the first sacrificial material;
• disposing a second sacrificial material over the wafer;
• and
• performing a polishing operation over the wafer to remove the plurality of regions of the magnetic material above the corresponding ones of the plurality of damascene trenches, to remove the second sacrificial material, and to remove the buffer layer.