Patent ID: 6947261

Claim:
A thin film magnetic head comprising: a functional film having a magnetic transducer function; a first gap film and a second gap film sandwiching the functional film in between, the first and second gap films each having electrical insulating properties, wherein a thickness of each of the first gap film and second gap film is equal to or more than 10 nm and equal to or less than 20 nm; and a first shield layer and a second shield layer sandwiching the functional film with the first and second gap films in between, respectively, so as to prevent an undesired magnetic field from reaching to the functional film, wherein each of the first and second shield layers has an inner layer and an outer layer laminated in order from the functional film, and the inner layer has a hardness higher than that of the outer layer, the sum of a thickness of the inner layer of the first shield layer and a thickness of the first gap film is equal to or more than 40 nm, the sum of a thickness of the inner layer of the second shield layer and a thickness of the second gap film is equal to or more than 40 nm, the thickness of the inner layer is equal to or less than 300 nm.