Patent ID: 8043515

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head, the thin film magnetic head comprising a main magnetic pole film, a write shield film, an upper yoke magnetic pole film, and a thin film coil, the main magnetic pole film having a magnetic pole end portion on a medium opposing surface side which should face a magnetic disk, the write shield film facing the magnetic pole end portion so as to form a recording gap film on the medium opposing surface side, the upper yoke magnetic pole film being provided on the side of the main magnetic pole film close to the write shield film, and the end portion on the medium opposing surface side being retracted in a direction apart from the medium opposing surface in accordance with an increase in film thickness which is measured from the surface of the main magnetic pole film, the thin film coil supplying a magnetic flux passing through the main magnetic pole film, the write shield film and the upper yoke magnetic pole film, in manufacture of the thin film magnetic head, the method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic coil comprising the steps of: forming the main magnetic pole film on an insulating film so as to have the magnetic pole end portion on the medium opposing surface side; forming the recording gap film on the main magnetic pole film in such a manner that a part of the main magnetic pole film on the side apart from the medium opposing surface is exposed; forming the upper yoke magnetic pole film at a part of the main magnetic pole film which is not coated with the recording gap film; etching an end portion of the upper yoke magnetic pole film on the medium opposing surface side and retracting the end portion in a direction apart from the medium opposing surface in accordance with an increase in film thickness with the main magnetic pole film being determined as a reference; forming the thin film coil supported by an insulating film on the upper yoke magnetic pole film; and forming the write shield film.