Patent ID: 7975367

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head comprising: a medium facing surface that faces toward a recording medium; a reproducing head incorporating: a magnetoresistive element; a first shield layer and a second shield layer for shielding the magnetoresistive element, the shield layers having portions located on a side of the medium facing surface and opposed to each other, the magnetoresistive element being placed between these portions of the shield layers; a first shield gap film, provided between the magnetoresistive element and the first shield layer, for insulating the magnetoresistive element and the first shield layer from each other; and a second shield gap film, provided between the magnetoresistive element and the second shield layer, for insulating the magnetoresistive element and the second shield layer from each other; a recording head incorporating: a first magnetic layer including a pole portion and a second magnetic layer including a pole portion, the first and second magnetic layers being magnetically coupled to each other, the pole portions being opposed to each other and placed in regions of the magnetic layers on a side of the medium facing surface, each of the magnetic layers including at least one layer; a gap layer provided between the pole portions of the first and second magnetic layers; and a thin-film coil at least a part of which is placed between the first and second magnetic layers, the at least part of the coil being insulated from the first and second magnetic layers; and an isolation film for magnetically isolating the reproducing head and the recording head from each other; the method including the steps of: forming the reproducing head by forming the magnetoresistive element, the first and second shield layers and the first and second shield gap films; forming the recording head by forming the first and second magnetic layers, the gap layer and the thin-film coil; and forming the isolation film, wherein: the isolation film is formed by stacking a plurality of insulating films formed by chemical vapor deposition; and each of the insulating films has a thickness of 0.1 to 0.2 nm.