Patent ID: 7215512

Claim:
A thin-film magnetic head, comprising: a magnetic pole disposed in a predetermined region lying in a height direction from a face opposing a recording medium, the magnetic pole including a lower magnetic pole layer, an upper magnetic pole layer, and a gap layer lying between the lower magnetic pole layer and the upper magnetic pole layer; a magnetic circuit unit for conducting a recording magnetic field to the magnetic pole; and a coil layer for inducing the recording magnetic field, disposed at a back in the height direction of the magnetic pole, wherein a width Tw 1 in a track width direction of a bottom surface of the upper magnetic pole layer is larger than a width Tw 2 in the track width direction of a top surface of the lower magnetic pole layer, and a width in the track width direction of the gap layer gradually increases from the side edges in the track width direction of the top surface of the lower magnetic pole layer to side edges in the track width direction of the bottom surface of the upper magnetic pole layer.