In this paper we present results on the fabrication and testing of thin film tape recording heads using high moment FeAlN pole materials (4/spl pi/M/sub s/=20 kGauss). These heads are of the type used in quarter inch cartridge (QIC) tape drives, with a record gap dimension of 1.9 /spl mu/m and a written track-width of 33 /spl mu/m. The pole thicknesses ranged from 4 to 4.5 /spl mu/m with a 14 turn coil. The FeAlN pole material delivers sufficient field to the media surface to saturate 1.5 /spl mu/m thick Ba-Ferrite media (H/sub c/=1500 Oe). In comparisons to a head of identical design with CoZrTa poles, the FeAlN poles were able to deliver more flux to the media because of a higher head saturation onset current.