Patent ID: 7391590

Claim:
A thin film magnetic head comprising: a reproducing head part including a magnetoresistive effect element; a recording head part including: a thin film coil which generates a magnetic flux; a magnetic pole layer extending rearward from a recording-medium-facing surface to be faced with a recording medium; and emitting the magnetic flux generated by the thin film coil to the recording medium; and a write shield layer extending rearward from the recording-medium-facing surface, being separated from the magnetic pole layer by a gap layer at the recording-medium-facing surface, and being connected to the magnetic pole layer rearward from the recording-medium-facing surface; and a heat sink layer being located between the reproducing head part and the recording head part and dissipating heat produced by the thin film coil, wherein the magnetic pole layer is located on the side closer to the heat sink layer than the write shield layer, and the heat sink layer extends from a starting point located rearward relative to the recording-medium-facing surface to a rearward endpoint, and has a partitioned structure in which the heat sink layer is partitioned into a plurality of portions in a direction in which the heat sink layer extends.