Patent ID: 7143505

Claim:
A manufacturing method for a thin film magnetic head, comprising: (a) a step for depositing a recording portion composed of a lower magnetic pole layer, a gap layer, and an upper magnetic pole layer formed by continuous plating in that order from the bottom on a lower core layer, wherein the gap layer is formed of a nonmagnetic metal material, and wherein the gap layer is one material or two or more different materials selected from among NiP, NiPd, NiW, NiMo, Au, Pt, Rh, Pd, Ru, and Cr; (b) a step for depositing a coil insulating layer on the lower core layer at the rear of the recording portion in a height direction; (c) a step for etching the coil insulating layer exposed with a limit so that a surface of the lower core layer is not reached, thereby to form a coil forming groove in the coil insulating layer; (d) a step for embedding a conductive material in the coil forming groove formed in the coil insulating layer in the step (d), thereby to form a coil layer in the coil forming groove; (e) a step for etching the coil layer and the coil insulating layer such that, when an upper surface of the recording portion is defined as a reference plane, an upper surface of the coil insulating layer and an upper surface of the coil layer are flush with the reference plane; and (f) a step for depositing an insulating layer on the coil layer and the coil insulating layer, then depositing an upper core layer extending from a top of the insulating layer to an upper surface of the recording portion.