Patent ID: 8402635

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a magnetic head that includes a magneto resistance effect (MR) element of which an electrical resistance changes according to an external magnetic field and shield layers surrounding the MR element, and that reads information of a magnetic recording medium, comprising: a first step of forming a multilayer film including a plurality of layers configuring the MR element on a first shield layer; a second step of removing unnecessary portions of the multilayer film on both sides of the MR element in a first direction that is orthogonal to a lamination direction of the multilayer film and that is parallel to a plane that is to be a surface facing the magnetic recording medium so as to configure the MR element; a third step of forming an insulating layer on a surface exposed by removing the unnecessary portions; a fourth step of forming an integrated soft magnetic layer covering both sides of the MR element in the first direction and the insulating layer thereon, and covering an upper side of the MR element, thereby configuring a second shield layer including the soft magnetic layer; and a fifth step of forming an anisotropy application layer on the second shield layer, the anisotropy application layer providing exchange anisotropy to the soft magnetic layer so as to magnetize the soft magnetic layer in a predetermined direction.