Method of manufacturing magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording including two side shields

A manufacturing method for a magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording, the magnetic head comprising:

• a medium facing surface that faces a recording medium;
• a coil that produces a magnetic field corresponding to data to be written on the recording medium;
• a pole layer that has an end face located in the medium facing surface, allows a magnetic flux corresponding to the magnetic field produced by the coil to pass and produces a write magnetic field for writing the data on the recording medium by means of a perpendicular magnetic recording system;
• a top shield that is made of a magnetic material and has an end face located in the medium facing surface at a position forward of the end face of the pole layer along a direction of travel of the recording medium;
• a gap layer that is made of a nonmagnetic material, disposed between the pole layer and the top shield and has an end face located in the medium facing surface;
• a first side shield and a second side shield disposed on both sides of the pole layer that are opposite to each other in a track width direction, each of the side shields being made of a magnetic material and having an end face located in the medium facing surface;
• and
• an encasing layer that is made of a nonmagnetic material and has a first groove accommodating the pole layer, a second groove accommodating the first side shield, and a third groove accommodating the second side shield,
• the manufacturing method comprising the steps of forming a nonmagnetic layer that is to become the encasing layer through formation of the first to third grooves therein later;
• forming an etching mask layer on the nonmagnetic layer, the etching mask layer having a first opening, a second opening and a third opening that have shapes corresponding to respective planar shapes of the first, second and third grooves to be formed later;
• forming the first to third grooves in the nonmagnetic layer by etching using the etching mask layer so that the nonmagnetic layer becomes the encasing layer;
• forming the pole layer;
• forming the first and second side shields;
• forming the gap layer;
• forming the top shield;
• and
• forming the coil, wherein:
• the step of forming the first to third grooves includes the steps of:
• forming the first groove by etching the nonmagnetic layer using the first opening, with the second and third openings covered with a first mask;
• and
• forming the second and third grooves by etching the nonmagnetic layer using the second and third openings, with the first opening covered with a second mask.