Patent ID: 6836956

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head having at least two magnetic layers including at least a first magnetic pole and a second magnetic pole magnetically coupled to each other while part of sides facing a recording medium face each other with a write gap layer in between, and at least one layer of thin film coil for generating magnetic flux, the method comprising the steps of: forming a first magnetic layer including the first magnetic pole; selectively forming a pole tip at least over the first magnetic pole of the first magnetic layer with the write gap layer in between the pole tip and the first magnetic layer, the pole tip serving as the second magnetic pole; forming a first insulating layer extending at least from surfaces of the pole tip and the write gap layer which are opposite a side facing the recording medium to a top surface of the first magnetic layer; forming the at least one layer of thin film coil over at least a portion of the first insulating layer; forming a second insulating layer so as to entirely cover top surfaces of the pole tip and the at least one layer of thin film coil; planarizing a top surface of the second insulating layer to be substantially level with the top surface of the pole tip; selectively etching part of the top surface of the pole tip so as to become lower than an edge surface of the first insulating layer which is formed on a side wall of the pole tip and to form a tapered portion in the edge surface of the first insulating layer; and forming a second magnetic layer over the pole tip and the second insulating layer, the second magnetic layer connected to the top surface of the pole tip through the tapered portion of the first insulating layer.