Thin film magnetic head and methods for producing same

Abstract

A thin-film magnetic head comprises a substrate, a magnetic layer, a coil conductor layer, an insulating layer and a protective layer, formed stackwise on the substrate. A portion of the protective layer, which has been formed on pads formed in contiguity to the coil conductor layer for connection to external wiring, is etched by a solution of carboxylic acid, e.g., oxalic or formic acid. Conductor layers are formed by: (a) sequentially forming first and second layers of inorganic materials on the substrate, (b) forming a resist pattern on the inorganic layers, (c) forming a pattern groove by selectively removing the inorganic layers masked by the resist pattern, (d) removing the resist pattern, (e) forming a metal layer on the second inorganic layer and the pattern groove, (f) removing the metal layer overlying the second inorganic layer, except the metal layer deposited in the pattern groove, until the second inorganic layer is exposed, and (g) removing the second inorganic layer. A marker for determining the magnetic gap depth is formed on a lower magnetic layer of the thin-film magnetic head. The marker is originally a polygon corresponding to a triangle at least one apex of which has been removed so as to remove apices of acute angle.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.