Patent ID: 7193816

Claim:
A magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording comprising: a medium facing surface that faces toward a recording medium; a coil for generating a magnetic field corresponding to data to be written on the recording medium; a pole layer having an end located in the medium facing surface, allowing a magnetic flux corresponding to the field generated by the coil to pass therethrough, and generating a write magnetic field for writing the data on the recording medium through the use of a perpendicular magnetic recording system; a shield layer having an end located in the medium facing surface, a portion of the shield layer away from the medium facing surface being coupled to the pole layer; and a gap layer made of a nonmagnetic material and provided between the pole layer and the shield layer, wherein: in the medium facing surface, the end of the shield layer is disposed forward of the end of the pole layer along a direction of travel of the recording medium with a specific space created by a thickness of the gap layer; at least part of the coil is disposed between the pole layer and the shield layer and insulated from the pole layer and the shield layer; the shield layer incorporates: a first layer disposed adjacent to the gap layer; and a second layer disposed on a side of the first layer opposite to the gap layer; the first layer has a first end located in the medium facing surface and a second end opposite to the first end, the second end defining a throat height; the magnetic head further comprises a nonmagnetic layer made of a nonmagnetic material and disposed on a side of the first layer; and the at least part of the coil is disposed in a region of the nonmagnetic layer that is opposite to the pole layer and farther from the pole layer than a surface of the first layer opposite to the pole layer.