Patent ID: 7012784

Claim:
A thin-film magnetic head comprising: a medium facing surface that faces toward a recording medium; a first magnetic layer and a second magnetic layer that are magnetically coupled to each other and include magnetic pole portions located on a side of the medium facing surface and opposed to each other; a gap layer provided between the magnetic pole portion of the first magnetic layer and the magnetic pole portion of the second magnetic layer; a thin-film coil at least part of which is placed between the first and second magnetic layers and insulated from the first and second magnetic layers; and a substrate, wherein: the first and second magnetic layers, the gap layer, and the thin-film coil are stacked on the substrate, the first magnetic layer being closer to the substrate than the second magnetic layer; the first magnetic layer includes: a first portion located in a region facing toward the at least part of the thin-film coil; and a second portion connected to a surface of the first portion facing toward the thin-film coil, the second portion including the magnetic pole portion of the first magnetic layer; the second portion is opposed to the second magnetic layer with the gap layer in between, and an end of the second portion opposite to the medium facing surface thereby defines a throat height; the at least part of the thin-film coil is located on a side of the second portion; the second magnetic layer includes a track-width-defining portion that defines a track width; an end of the track-width-defining portion opposite to the medium facing surface is located closer to the medium facing surface than the end of the second portion opposite to the medium facing surface; the second portion has a portion that is opposed to the track-width-defining portion with the gap layer in between, the portion having a width the same as that of the track-width-defining portion; and a width of the second magnetic layer measured in a position corresponding to the end of the second portion opposite to the medium facing surface is greater than the width of the track-width-defining portion.