Patent ID: 8270110

Claim:
A magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording comprising: a medium facing surface that faces toward a recording medium; a coil for generating a magnetic field corresponding to data to be written on the recording medium; a pole layer having an end face located in the medium facing surface, the pole layer allowing a magnetic flux corresponding to the magnetic field generated by the coil to pass and generating a write magnetic field for writing the data on the recording medium by means of a perpendicular magnetic recording system; a top shield layer formed of a magnetic material and having an end face located in the medium facing surface at a position forward of the end face of the pole layer along a direction of travel of the recording medium; a top gap layer formed of a nonmagnetic material and having an end face located in the medium facing surface, the top gap layer being disposed between the pole layer and the top shield layer; a side shield layer formed of a magnetic material, the side shield layer having a first end face located in the medium facing surface, a second end face opposite to the first end face, and a first groove accommodating a portion of the pole layer, the first end face including two portions located on both sides of the end face of the pole layer that are opposite to each other in a track width direction; a side gap layer formed of a nonmagnetic material and having an end face located in the medium facing surface, the side gap layer being disposed between the pole layer and the side shield layer; an encasing layer formed of a nonmagnetic material and disposed on a side of the side shield layer opposite to the medium facing surface, the encasing layer having a front end face touching the second end face of the side shield layer, and a second groove accommodating another portion of the pole layer; and a substrate on which the coil, the side shield layer, the side gap layer, the encasing layer, the pole layer, the top gap layer and the top shield layer are stacked, the substrate having a top surface, wherein: the pole layer is located closer to the top surface of the substrate than is the top shield layer; and a distance from the medium facing surface to an arbitrary point on the second end face of the side shield layer decreases with decreasing distance from the arbitrary point to the top surface of the substrate.