Patent ID: 8345381

Claim:
A magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording, comprising: a medium facing surface that faces a recording medium; a coil that produces a magnetic field corresponding to data to be written on the recording medium; a main pole that has an end face located in the medium facing surface, the main pole allowing a magnetic flux that corresponds to the magnetic field produced by the coil to pass, and producing a write magnetic field for writing the data on the recording medium by means of a perpendicular magnetic recording system; a write shield made of a magnetic material and having an end face located in the medium facing surface; a gap part made of a nonmagnetic material and interposed between the main pole and the write shield; a first return path section made of a magnetic material; an accommodation part made of a nonmagnetic material and accommodating at least part of the first return path section; and a substrate having a top surface, wherein: the coil, the main pole, the write shield, the gap part, the first return path section, and the accommodation part are located above the top surface of the substrate; the end face of the write shield includes: a first end face portion located on a front side in a direction of travel of the recording medium relative to the end face of the main pole; and a second end face portion located on a rear side in the direction of travel of the recording medium relative to the end face of the main pole; the first return path section is located on the rear side in the direction of travel of the recording medium relative to the main pole and lies between the main pole and the top surface of the substrate, the first return path section connecting the write shield and part of the main pole away from the medium facing surface to each other so that a first space is defined by the main pole, the gap part, the write shield, and the first return path section; the coil includes at least one first coil element extending to pass through the first space; the accommodation part includes an interposer interposed between the first return path section and the medium facing surface; the interposer has an inclined surface facing toward the first return path section; a distance from the medium facing surface to an arbitrary point on the inclined surface decreases with increasing distance from the arbitrary point to the top surface of the substrate; and the first return path section includes an inclined portion located between the at least one first coil element and the inclined surface and extending along the inclined surface.