A method for controlling the formation of the trailing shield gap during perpendicular head fabrication and head formed thereby are disclosed. The in-situ trailing shield gap deposition process removes the pre-sputter process that can damage the write pole material. Further, a seed pre-layer is formed on top of the trailing shield gap to absorb any non-uniformity of the trailing shield gap and to control issues resulting from the pre-sputter process originating from the trailing shield seed deposition.