A method of producing a thin film magnetic head includes the steps of: forming a pair of openings in a predetermined region of a TMR layer formed on a lower magnetic shield layer; forming a pair of bias-applying layers in the pair of Openings so that an upper surface thereof may be located above an upper surface of the TMR layer; laminating a metal layer that covers the upper surface of a portion located between the pair of bias-applying layers in the TMR layer and the upper surface of the pair of bias-applying layers; forming a resist layer across the upper surface of a portion located above the pair of bias-applying layers in the metal layer and the upper surface of a portion located above the TMR layer in the metal layer; and etching a part of the TMR layer and a part of the pair of bias-applying layers with the resist layer being as a mask. Here, the reflectivity R for the incident light having a wavelength of 248 nm at an interface between the metal layer and the resist layer is set so as to satisfy the condition represented by the following formula (1), and also the magnitude D of a step is set so as to satisfy the condition represented by the following formula (2). R≧0.2   (1) D≧210 exp(−7.6R) [nm]   (2)