Method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head slider

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head slider suppresses the production of damaged areas during lapping, reduces the lapping time, produces high-quality products, and is suited to mass production. The method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head slider laps an end surface of a row bar, which has been produced by cutting a wafer substrate on which magnetic sensor parts have been formed into strips, to expose an end surface of magnetic sensor parts to a floating surface, wherein a high processing rate is set in an initial part of a lapping process that laps the row bar and a lower processing rate is set in a later part of the lapping process.

1 . A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head slider that laps an end surface of a row bar, which has been produced by cutting a wafer substrate on which magnetic sensor parts have been formed into strips, to expose an end surface of the magnetic sensor parts to a floating surface, 
 wherein a high processing rate is set in an initial part of a lapping process that laps the row bar and a lower processing rate is set in a latter part of the lapping process.    
   
   
       2 . A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head slider according to  claim 1 , 
 wherein the lapping process is divided into a plurality of stages in which the processing rate changes in steps, and    the processing rate is set high in an initial stage out of the plurality of stages and is set lower in latter stages.    
   
   
       3 . A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head slider according to  claim 1 , 
 wherein the lapping process is set so that the processing rate continuously changes, and    the processing rate is set high in an initial part of the lapping process and decreases as the lapping process proceeds.    
   
   
       4 . A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head slider according to  claim 1 , 
 wherein the processing rate is changed by changing a relative velocity of a lapping plate and the row bar.    
   
   
       5 . A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head slider according to  claim 1 , 
 wherein the processing rate is changed by changing a pressure applied by the row bar to a lapping plate.    
   
   
       6 . A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head slider according to  claim 1 , 
 wherein the processing rate is changed by changing a velocity with which the row bar is moved on a lapping plate.    
   
   
       7 . A method of manufacturing a thin-film magnetic head slider according to  claim 1 , 
 wherein the entire lapping process on the row bar is carried out using a single lapping device.