Patent ID: 7075751

Claim:
A thin-film magnetic head comprising: a medium facing surface that faces toward a recording medium; a first pole layer and a second pole layer that are magnetically coupled to each other and include magnetic pole portions opposed to each other and located in regions of the pole layers on a side of the medium facing surface; a gap layer provided between the pole portion of the first pole layer and the pole portion of the second pole layer; and a thin-film coil, at least part of the coil being disposed between the first and second pole layers and insulated from the first and second pole layers, wherein: the second pole layer incorporates: a throat height defining layer disposed adjacent to the gap layer and including an end portion for defining a throat height; a first track width defining layer disposed on a side of the throat height defining layer opposite to the gap layer and including a first track width defining portion for defining a track width; and a second track width defining layer disposed on a side of the first track width defining layer opposite to the throat height defining layer and including a second track width defining portion for defining the track width; each of the throat height defining layer, the first track width defining portion and the second track width defining portion has a width taken in the medium facing surface that is equal to the track width; and a length of the first track width defining layer is greater than a length of the throat height defining layer, and a length of the second track width defining layer is greater than the length of the first track width defining layer, each of the lengths being taken in a direction orthogonal to the medium facing surface.