Abstract

A planar thin film magnetic head is disclosed wherein an axis of easy magnetization in the vicinity of a magnetic gap of a magnetic yoke is forcibly made coincident with the direction of a track width by a magnetic field due to current flowing in a conductor layer. Accordingly, even though the track width is small, a high magnetic permeability, low Barkhausen noise and linear responsiveness can be realized to thereby improve the sensitivity, output and linearity. In another aspect of the invention, a throat portion is eliminated from a thin film magnetic core forming a magnetic gap. The thin film magnetic core is configured such that a pair of magnetic members constituting the magnetic core are diverged from the magnetic gap so that a divergent angle θ, of first opposite side edges of the magnetic members, from a direction of the gap length of the magnetic gap, is set to the range of 30°ࣘθࣘ80°, and the magnetic members have second opposite side edges extending in substantially parallel to the direction of the gap length of the magnetic gap. Accordingly, even though a track width is reduced less than 10 μm, adjoining crosstalk or off track crosstalk can be avoided to thereby realize low-noise and high quality reproduction and improve the operating characteristics.