Thin film magnetic head and method of manufacturing the same

Abstract

Provided are a thin film magnetic head and a method of manufacturing the same, which can locally miniaturized a pole width with high accuracy. A thin film coil is provided in a region located more rearward than a position (a first position) of a rear end of a top shield layer. A position of a surface of an underlayer of a rearward region of a write gap layer, i.e., the region in which the thin film coil is to be formed is lower than a position of a surface of an underlayer of a frontward region. Thus, a height (μm) of an apex portion formed of an insulating film decreases. Thus, a top pole can be formed so that a tip portion has a local miniature uniform width. Therefore, the pole width can be locally miniaturized with high accuracy.

1 . A thin film magnetic head including: two magnetic layers magnetically coupled to each other and having two magnetic poles which face each other with a gap layer in between and face a recording medium, a thin film coil provided between the two magnetic layers, and an insulating layer for insulating the thin film coil from the two magnetic layers, including: 
 a magnetic transducer film;    a first magnetic film provided between the magnetic transducer film and the two magnetic layers; and    a second magnetic film provided opposite to the first magnetic film with the magnetic transducer film in between,    wherein the first magnetic film extends to a first position from a recording-medium-facing surface facing the recording medium,    the thin film coil is provided in a region farther from the recording-medium-facing surface than a second position by using as a reference position the second position farther from the recording-medium-facing surface than the first position, and    the second magnetic film extends from the recording-medium-facing surface to a third position farther from the recording-medium-facing surface than the second position.    
   
   
       2 . A thin film magnetic head according to  claim 1 , wherein a length of the first magnetic film is equal to or less than ⅓ of a length of the insulating layer.  
   
   
       3 . A thin film magnetic head according to  claim 1 , wherein the length of the first magnetic film is equal to or less than 10 μm.  
   
   
       4 . A thin film magnetic head according to  claim 1 , wherein an end surface of the first magnetic film far from the recording-medium-facing surface is inclined so that an exterior angle between the end surface and a first magnetic film extending direction is more than 90°.  
   
   
       5 . A thin film magnetic head according to  claim 1 , wherein the second magnetic film extends so that a surface of the second magnetic film close to the first magnetic film may be flat over the overall surface, and 
 the thin film coil is provided so that a position of a surface of the thin film coil close to the second magnetic film may be closer to the second magnetic film than a position of a surface of a portion of the gap layer near the recording-medium-facing surface, the surface being far from the second magnetic film.    
   
   
       6 . A thin film magnetic head according to  claim 1  further including a connect wiring having one end connected to the magnetic transducer film and the other end connected to an external circuit, 
 wherein the first magnetic film extends so as to coat a region in which the connect wiring is provided.    
   
   
       7 . A thin film magnetic head according to  claim 1 , wherein one of the two magnetic layers close to the first magnetic film is made of a different material from a material of the first magnetic film.  
   
   
       8 . A thin film magnetic head according to  claim 7 , wherein the one magnetic layer is made of a material having a higher saturation magnetic flux density than a saturation magnetic flux density of the material of the first magnetic film.