Cobalt-nickel-iron alloy thin film and method of forming the same, and thin-film magnetic head and method of manufacturing the same

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 magnetically coupled to each other and including magnetic pole portions that are opposed to each other and placed in regions of the magnetic layers on a side of the medium facing surface, each of the magnetic layers including at least one layer;
• a gap layer provided between the magnetic pole portions of the first and second magnetic layers;
• and
• a thin-film coil at least a part of which is placed between the first and second magnetic layers, the at least part of the coil being insulated from the first and second magnetic layers, wherein:
• at least either of the first and second magnetic layers includes a part made of a cobalt-nickel-iron alloy thin film;
• and
• the cobalt-nickel-iron alloy thin film contains 60 to 75 weight % cobalt, 10 to 20 weight % nickel, and 10 to 20 weight % iron, and has a crystal structure that is a mixture of a body-centered cubic structure phase and a face-centered cubic structure phase, in which Ib/If is in the range of 0.3 to 0.7 inclusive where Ib represents the intensity of an X-ray diffracted from a (110)-plane of the body-centered cubic structure and If represents the intensity of an X-ray diffracted from a (111)-plane of the face-centered cubic structure.

A method of manufacturing 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 magnetically coupled to each other and including magnetic pole portions that are opposed to each other and placed in regions of the magnetic layers on a side of the medium facing surface, each of the magnetic layers including at least one layer;
• a gap layer provided between the magnetic pole portions of the first and second magnetic layers;
• and a thin-film coil at least a part of which is placed between the first and second magnetic layers, the at least part of the coil being insulating from the first and second magnetic layers, wherein at least either of the first and second magnetic layers includes a part made of a cobalt-nickel-iron alloy thin film, the method including the steps of:
• forming the first magnetic layer;
• forming the gap layer on the first magnetic layer;
• forming the second magnetic layer on the gap layer;
• and
• forming the thin-film coil,
• wherein at least either of the steps of forming the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer includes the step of forming the cobalt-nickel-iron alloy thin film through electroplating, the cobalt-nickel-iron alloy thin film containing 60 to 75 weight % cobalt, 10 to 20 weight % nickel, and 10 to 20 weight % iron, and having a crystal structure that is a mixture of a body-centered cubic structure phase and a face-centered cubic structure phase, in which Ib/If is in the range of 0.3 to 0.7 inclusive where Ib represents the intensity of an X-ray diffracted from a (110)-plane of the cubic-centered structure and If represents the intensity of an X-ray diffracted from a (111)-plane of the face-centered structure.