A thin film magnetic head includes a gap layer which may be made of a SiON film
to increase Young's modulus E to about 123.3 (GPa) or more. As a result, the gap
layer is less pushed from a surface facing a recording medium in the height direction
during lapping of the surface facing the recording medium, thereby decreasing the
amount of protrusion of the gap layer from the facing surface as compared with
a conventional magnetic head.
