Patent ID: 7453668

Claim:
A thin film magnetic head comprising: a thin film coil for generating a magnetic flux; a magnetic pole layer extending rearward from a recording-medium-facing surface that faces a recording medium traveling in a medium travel direction and generating a magnetic field for magnetizing the recording medium in a direction orthogonal to the face of the recording medium on the basis of the magnetic flux generated by the thin film coil; a magnetic shield layer which extends rearward from the recording-medium-facing surface so as to be separated from the magnetic pole layer by a gap layer on the side close to the recording-medium-facing surface and connected to the magnetic pole layer via a back gap on the side far from the recording-medium-facing surface, the magnetic shield layer including a first magnetic shield layer portion extending rearward from the recording-medium-facing surface to a first position while being adjacent to the gap layer, and a second magnetic shield layer portion extending rearward from the recording-medium-facing surface to at least the back gap while extending partially on the first magnetic shield layer portion; and an insulating layer including a first insulating layer portion which extends rearward from the first position while being adjacent to the gap layer, constructs a flat surface together with the first magnetic shield layer portion, and specifies a throat height on the basis of the first position, and a second insulating layer portion which extends rearward from a second position that recedes from the first position while being adjacent to the flat surface in the first insulating layer portion, and covers the thin film coil wherein the second position is offset from the first position relative to the recording-medium-facing surface.