Patent ID: 7174621
Filing Date: 2007-02-13
Classification: B82Y,G11B,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head comprising: (a) forming a lower core layer such that the lower core layer extends from a surface facing a recording medium in a height direction; (b) forming a coil insulating underlying layer on the lower core layer, and forming a coil layer on the coil insulating underlying layer within a predetermined region, the coil layer having a front end surface that is more proximate to the surface facing the recording medium than a rear end surface of the coil layer; (c) forming a protruding layer on the lower core layer to extend the protruding layer from the surface facing the recording medium in a height direction so that the protruding layer is out of contact with the front end surface of the coil layer, the protruding layer being formed one of before and after the formation of the coil insulating underlying and coil layers, the protruding layer having a front end surface that is more proximate to the surface facing the recording medium than a rear end surface of the protruding layer, and forming a back gap layer on the lower core layer separated from the rear end surface of the protruding layer in the height direction so that the back gap layer is out of contact with the coil layer, the back gap layer having a front end surface that is more proximate to the surface facing the recording medium than a rear end surface of the back gap layer; (d) covering the coil layer with a coil insulating layer so that tops of the protruding layer, the insulating layer and the back gap layer are formed in a continuous flat surface; (e) forming a Gd-determining layer on the flat surface at a predetermined distance from the surface facing the recording medium the Gd-determining layer having a front end surface that is more proximate to the surface facing the recording medium than a rear end surface of the Gd-determining layer; (f) forming a lower magnetic pole layer and a gap layer on the flat surface in a region between the Gd-determining layer and the surface facing the recording medium and a rear region behind the Gd-determining layer in the height direction, and further forming an upper magnetic pole layer over the gap layer and the Gd-determining layer.