Method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head

A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head, the thin-film magnetic head comprising:

• a medium facing surface that faces toward a recording medium;
• a first magnetic layer including a pole portion and a second magnetic layer including a pole portion, the first and second magnetic layers being magnetically coupled to each other, the pole portions being 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 pole portions of the first and second magnetic layers;
• 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;
• and
• a coil insulating layer for insulating neighboring ones of turns of the coil from each other, the method comprising 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;
• forming the thin-film coil;
• and
• forming the coil insulating layer,
• wherein the coil insulating layer is formed by stacking a plurality of insulating films formed by chemical vapor deposition, and
• each of the plurality of insulating films has a thickness of 0.1 to 0.2 nm.