Patent ID: 8416528

Claim:
A magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording, comprising: a medium facing surface that faces a recording medium; a coil that produces a magnetic field corresponding to data to be written on the recording medium; a main pole that has an end face located in the medium facing surface, the main pole allowing a magnetic flux that corresponds to the magnetic field produced by the coil to pass, and producing a write magnetic field for writing the data on the recording medium by means of a perpendicular magnetic recording system; a first return path section made of a magnetic material; a gap part made of a nonmagnetic material and including a first portion interposed between the main pole and the first return path section; a nonmagnetic layer made of a nonmagnetic material; and a substrate having a top surface, wherein: the coil, the main pole, the first return path section, the gap part, and the nonmagnetic layer are located above the top surface of the substrate; the first return path section is located on a front side in a direction of travel of the recording medium relative to the main pole and is farther from the top surface of the substrate than is the main pole, the first return path section, being magnetically connected to part of the main pole away from the medium facing surface so that a first space is defined by the main pole, the gap part and the first return path section; the coil includes at least one first coil element extending to pass through the first space; the first return path section has: a front end face located in the medium facing surface at a position on the front side in the direction of travel of the recording medium relative to the end face of the main pole; and an inclined surface located on the front side in the direction of travel of the recording medium relative to the front end face; the inclined surface has a first edge connected to the front end face, and a second edge that is located farther from the top surface of the substrate than is the first space; part of the inclined surface lies between the first space and the medium facing surface; a distance from the medium facing surface to an arbitrary point on the inclined surface increases with increasing distance from the arbitrary point to the top surface of the substrate; an angle greater than 90° is formed between the front end face and the inclined surface; and the nonmagnetic layer includes an interposer interposed between the inclined surface and the medium facing surface.