Patent ID: 8390955

Claim:
A thin-film magnetic head constructed such that a main magnetic pole layer having a magnetic pole end face on a side of a medium-opposing surface opposing a recording medium, a write shield layer having a write shield end face disposed in the medium-opposing surface, a gap layer formed between the main magnetic pole layer and write shield layer, and a thin-film coil wound around any of the main magnetic pole layer, the write shield layer or a shield magnetic layer connected the main magnetic pole layer are laminated on a substrate, the thin-film magnetic head comprising: a leading shield part having a shield end face disposed in the medium-opposing surface, and opposing the main magnetic pole layer through a nonmagnetic thin-film on the substrate side of the main magnetic pole layer, wherein the thin-film coil has a substrate side coil layer disposed between the main magnetic pole layer and the substrate, and wherein a space between a lower end face disposed at a position closest to the substrate in the leading shield part and the substrate and a space between an upper end face disposed at a position most distanced from the substrate in the substrate side coil layer and the substrate are formed equal to each other.