Patent ID: 7155809

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head comprising: a medium facing surface that faces toward a recording medium; a first pole layer and a second pole layer that are magnetically coupled to each other and include magnetic pole portions opposed to each other and located in regions of the pole layers on a side of the medium facing surface; a gap layer provided between the pole portion of the first pole layer and the pole portion of the second pole layer; and a thin-film coil, at least part of the coil being disposed between the first and second pole layers and insulated from the first and second pole layers, wherein: the first pole layer has a surface facing toward the gap layer, the surface incorporating a first surface including an end portion located in the medium facing surface and an end portion located opposite to the medium facing surface, and a second surface located away from the medium facing surface, the first surface being adjacent to the gap layer, a difference in level being created between the first surface and the second surface, so that the second surface is located farther from the second pole layer than the first surface; the second pole layer incorporates: a first layer disposed adjacent to the gap layer and including an end portion located in the medium facing surface and an end portion located opposite to the medium facing surface; and a second layer disposed on a side of the first layer opposite to the gap layer and including a track width defining portion for defining a track width; each of the first layer and the second layer has a width taken in the medium facing surface that is equal to the track width; and a length of the second layer is greater than a length of the first layer, each of the lengths being taken in a direction orthogonal to the medium facing surface, the method comprising the steps of: forming the first pole layer; forming the thin-film coil on the first pole layer; forming the gap layer on the pole portion of the first pole layer; and forming the second pole layer on the gap layer, the step of forming the second pole layer including the steps of: forming a magnetic layer for forming the first layer on the gap layer; forming the second layer on the magnetic layer; and etching the magnetic layer to align with a width of the track width defining portion, so that the magnetic layer is formed into the first layer and that the width of each of the first layer and the second layer taken in the medium facing surface is made equal to the track width.