Patent ID: 7522376

Claim:
A perpendicular magnetic recording head, comprising: a return yoke layer disposed so as to be exposed to a recording-medium-facing surface facing a recording medium; a yoke layer disposed between the return yoke layer and a main pole so as to be recessed from the recording-medium-facing surface; and the main pole disposed so as to be exposed to the recording-medium-facing surface, wherein the main pole includes a pole uniform width portion having a uniform width determining a recording track width of the recording medium and a pole widening portion having a larger width than the width of the pole uniform width portion, and where the pole uniform width portion is closer to the recording-medium-facing surface relative to the pole widening portion, the yoke layer includes a connecting portion having a uniform width larger than the width of the pole uniform width portion and smaller than the width of the pole widening portion and a yoke widening portion having a width larger than the width of the connecting portion, and where the connecting portion is closer to the recording-medium-facing surface relative to the yoke widening portion, and a portion of the pole widening portion in the main pole is connected to at least a portion of the connecting portion in the yoke layer.