| 主权项 |
1. A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, the thin-film magnetic head comprising:
a medium facing surface configured to face a recording medium; a coil for producing a magnetic field corresponding to data to be written on the recording medium; a magnetic path forming section formed of a magnetic material, for forming a magnetic path for passing a magnetic flux corresponding to the magnetic field produced by the coil; and an insulating film for insulating the coil from the magnetic path forming section, wherein the magnetic path forming section has a first end face located in the medium facing surface, and produces, from the first end face, a write magnetic field for writing the data on the recording medium, the magnetic path forming section includes a first magnetic material portion located away from the medium facing surface, a second magnetic material portion spaced from the first magnetic material portion and located between the first magnetic material portion and the medium facing surface, and a coupling portion for coupling the first magnetic material portion and the second magnetic material portion to each other, the coil includes one or more coil elements located between the first magnetic material portion and the second magnetic material portion, the first magnetic material portion has a first sidewall facing toward the one or more coil elements, the second magnetic material portion has a second sidewall facing toward the one or more coil elements, the one or more coil elements have a first side surface opposed to the first sidewall, and a second side surface opposed to the second sidewall, the insulating film includes a first interposition portion interposed between the first sidewall and the first side surface, a second interposition portion interposed between the second sidewall and the second side surface, and an underlying portion contiguous with the first and second interposition portions, and the one or more coil elements are located on the underlying portion, the method comprising the steps of: forming the magnetic path forming section; forming the insulating film; and forming the coil, wherein the step of forming the magnetic path forming section includes the step of forming the first and second magnetic material portions, the step of forming the insulating film forms the insulating film after the step of forming the first and second magnetic material portions, and the step of forming the coil includes the steps of:
forming a first mask after the step of forming the insulating film, the first mask covering the first and second magnetic material portions and exposing at least part of the underlying portion of the insulating film;forming a seed layer of a conductive material selectively on the underlying portion by using the first mask;removing the first mask after the step of forming the seed layer;forming a second mask after the step of removing the first mask, the second mask having an opening intended to receive a conductive layer for forming the coil;forming the conductive layer by plating using the seed layer such that the conductive layer is received in the opening of the second mask;removing the second mask after the step of forming the conductive layer; andremoving unwanted portions of the seed layer after the step of removing the second mask, the unwanted portions being portions of the seed layer other than a portion lying under the conductive layer. |
