Patent ID: 6669855
Filing Date: 2003-12-30
Classification: G11B,Y10T

Abstract:
A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, the head comprising: first and second magnetic layers each including a magnetic pole and magnetically coupled to each other, the magnetic poles facing each other with a gap layer in between and facing with a recording medium; and a thin-film coil portion disposed between the two magnetic layers with an insulating film in between; the first magnetic layer including a first magnetic layer portion having a first uniform width portion that defines a track width, and a second magnetic layer portion extending over a region where the thin-film coil portion is disposed and magnetically coupled to the first magnetic layer portion, the second magnetic layer including a second uniform width portion that faces the first uniform width portion of the first magnetic layer and has the same width as a width of the first uniform width portion, the method comprising:a first etching step of forming the first uniform width portion of the first magnetic layer to be a first width W1 by processing a magnetic material layer by reactive ion etching; and a second etching step of processing the first uniform width portion to be a second width W2 that is smaller than the first width W1 (W2