Patent ID: 7440237

Claim:
A thin film magnetic head, comprising: a substate; a lower shield layer formed on said substrate; an upper shield layer formed on said lower shield layer; a read magnetic head element of a Current Perpendicular to Plane (CPP) structure interposed between said lower shield layer and said upper shield layer; a heatsink layer formed at a rearward portion (in a direction away from an ABS serving as a recording/reproduction-side surface) of said lower shield layer and said upper shield layer; a first extraction electrode portion and a second extraction electrode portion formed at a further rearward portion (in the direction away from the ABS serving as the recording/reproduction-side surface) of said heatsink layer; a first lead for connection between said lower shield layer and said first extraction electrode portion, said first lead connects between an exposed connecting portion of said lower shield layer and said first extraction electrode portion to thereby achieve electrical conduction between said lower shield layer and said first extraction electrode portion; and a second lead for connection between said upper shield layer and said second extraction electrode portion, said second lead configured to connect between a connecting portion on an insulating layer formed on said lower shield layer and said second extraction electrode portion and then said upper shield layer is formed so that a connecting portion of said second lead located at the connecting portion on said insulating layer is connected to said upper shield layer, thereby achieving electrical conduction between said upper shield layer and said second extraction electrode portion, wherein, when observing from said upper shield layer side toward said lower shield layer in a transparent state in plan view, formation patterns of said first lead and said second lead are each formed so as not to have an overlapping portion with said heatsink layer but to bypass said heatsink layer.