Magnetic head and method of fabricating the same

Abstract

There is provided a magnetic head including (a) a block made of magnetic substance, and having first and second leg portions defining a recess therebetween, (b) a first magnetic thin film covering at least on an upper surface of the first leg portion therewith, (c) a member made of non-magnetic substance, and formed within the recess so as to connect the first and second leg portions with each other therethrough, the member being formed therein with an opening through which a wiring is introduced, (d) a non-magnetic thin film formed on the first magnetic thin film above the upper surface of the first leg portion, the non-magnetic thin film constituting a magnetic gap, and (e) a second magnetic thin film formed on the non-magnetic thin film, the member and an upper surface of the second leg portion. Since the magnetic head is formed essentially of a unitary block, external forces would not be concentrated on the gap which is weak in strength, with the result that the magnetic head is less likely to be damaged, for example, by cracking. In addition, gap length is dependent only on the thickness of the gap material layer, which ensures high accuracy in gap length. Furthermore, the magnetic head can be fabricated without carrying out a glass bonding step for fixing a pair of core-halves to each other, thus eliminating the possibility of differences in gap depth due to misalignment of the core-halves.