Patent ID: 7813086

Claim:
A method of producing a thin film magnetic head, comprising the steps of: forming a lower magnetic shield layer on a base; forming a magneto-resistance effect layer on the lower magnetic shield layer; forming a pair of openings in a predetermined region of the magneto-resistance effect layer; forming a pair of bias-applying layers in the pair of openings so that an upper surface thereof may be located above an upper surface of the magneto-resistance effect layer; forming a metal layer group by laminating at least one metal layer, which covers an upper surface of the magneto-resistance effect layer located between the pair of bias-applying layers in the magneto-resistance effect layer and an upper surface of the pair of bias-applying layers; forming a resist layer across the upper surface of a portion of the metal layer group located above the pair of bias-applying layers and the upper surface of the metal layer group located above the magneto-resistance effect layer; etching a part of the magneto-resistance effect layer and a part of the pair of bias-applying layers with the resist layer being as a mask; before removing the resist layer, forming an insulating layer over areas in which the resist layer is not formed; and forming an upper magnetic shield layer after removing the resist layer: wherein reflectivity R 1 for an incident light having a wavelength of 248 nm, the reflectivity being obtained by dividing a total value of a reflected light flux from each metal layer constituting the metal layer group at an interface between the metal layer group and the resist layer by a value of an incident light flux at the interface between the metal layer group and the resist layer, is set so as to satisfy a condition represented by the following formula (1); and wherein a magnitude D of a step, which is a direct distance between a virtual plane including the upper surface of a portion located above the pair of bias-applying layers of the metal layer group and a virtual plane including the upper surface of a portion located above the magneto-resistance effect layer of the metal layer group, is set so as to satisfy the condition represented by the following formula (2): R 1 ≧0.2 (1) D≧ 210exp(−7.6 R 1 ) [nm] (2).