Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) is the next-generation data storage technology that can address the challenge of increasing data storage capacity. The key to the design of an HAMR system is the near-field transducer (NFT) that focuses light to a very small scale in the range of tens of nanometers with a very high intensity. This is also associated with unwanted self-heating of the NFT, which is detrimental to the functionality of the NFT, and hence there is a need to improve NFT designs. We investigate a third dimension in the typical planer NFT design by introducing a taper in the model of an E antenna NFT design and study its effect on the optical and thermal performances of the NFT. We find that the proper optimization of the taper geometry gives rise to improved operation of the NFT. In addition, in terms of thermal figures of merit, its performance is also significantly superior. © 2016 IEEE.