Patent ID: 7396445

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, comprising: forming a lower core layer; forming a magnetic pole on the lower core layer; and forming an upper core layer on the magnetic pole, wherein the magnetic pole has a shorter width in a track width direction than a width of either of the lower and the upper core layers, and forming the magnetic pole comprises forming a lower magnetic pole layer on the lower core layer, forming a gap layer on the lower magnetic pole layer, and forming an upper magnetic pole layer between the gap layer and the upper core layer, or comprises forming a gap layer on the lower core layer and forming an upper magnetic pole layer between the gap layer and the upper core layer, wherein the upper magnetic pole layer or the lower magnetic pole layer is formed of a soft magnetic film manufactured by forming a Co 1-x Fe x alloy by electroplating with a pulsed current, the Co 1-x Fe x alloy having an Fe content X in the range of 68 to 80 mass %, wherein the Fe/Co ion concentration ratio of a plating bath is in the range of 1.5 to 2.5 and an Fe ion concentration in the plating bath is in the range of 1.0 to 1.5 g/L, wherein an area, adjacent to the magnetic gap, of the lower core layer or the upper core layer is formed to have at least two magnetic sub layers, or the lower magnetic pole layer or the upper magnetic pole layer is formed to have at least two magnetic sub layers, and the magnetic sub layer in contact with the magnetic gap is formed of the soft magnetic film, wherein the magnetic sub layer which is not in contact with the magnetic gap is formed of a CoFe alloy having an Fe content X lower than that of the magnetic sub layer in contact with the magnetic gap.