Patent ID: 7154706

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 first pole layer has a surface facing toward the gap layer, the surface incorporating a first surface including an end portion located in the medium facing surface and an end portion located opposite to the medium facing surface, and a second surface located away from the medium facing surface, the first surface being adjacent to the gap layer, a difference in level being created between the first surface and the second surface, so that the second surface is located farther from the second pole layer than the first surface; the second pole layer incorporates: a first layer disposed adjacent to the gap layer and including an end portion located in the medium facing surface and an end portion located opposite to the medium facing surface; and a second layer disposed on a side of the first layer opposite to the gap layer and including a track width defining portion for defining a track width; each of the first layer and the second layer has a width taken in the medium facing surface that is equal to the track width; and a length of the second layer is greater than a length of the first layer, each of the lengths being taken in a direction orthogonal to the medium facing surface.