Provided is a thin film magnetic head capable of reducing the amount of
protrusion of a write shield layer, thereby preventing a collision with a
recording medium, and thereby ensuring a recording operation with
stability. A heat sink layer is disposed on the leading side of a thin
film coil in order to dissipate heat produced by the thin film coil. When
the thin film coil produces heat during the recording of information,
priority is given to the guidance of the heat to the leading side of the
thin film coil, namely, the side opposite to the position of the write
shield layer, rather than the guidance of the heat to the trailing side
of the thin film coil, namely, the position of the write shield layer, so
as to dissipate the heat. Thus, the thin film magnetic head reduces the
likelihood of the heat accumulating in the write shield layer, thus
reduces the likelihood of the write shield layer expanding thermally, and
thus reduces the amount of protrusion of the write shield layer.