Patent ID: 7062839

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, the 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 second pole layer incorporates a track width defining portion for defining a track width, 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; forming a mask on the gap layer for making an end portion of the gap layer for defining a throat height; forming the end portion of the gap layer by selectively etching the gap layer and a portion of the first pole layer through the use of the mask; forming a nonmagnetic layer so as to fill etched portions of the gap layer and the first pole layer while the mask is left unremoved; removing the mask after the nonmagnetic layer is formed; and forming the second pole layer on the gap layer after the mask is removed.