Patent ID: 7805827

Claim:
A method of producing a magnetic head slider comprising: forming an air bearing surface overcoat on an air bearing surface of a slider; removing part of said air bearing surface overcoat by irradiation with an ion beam which is tilted with respect to the normal to the air bearing surface of the slider; and forming a rail in the air bearing surface of the slider on which said air bearing surface overcoat has been formed, wherein in removing part of said air bearing surface overcoat, the magnetic head slider and a sample are loaded onto a holder with the sample disposed near the air bearing surface of the slider, wherein the sample is for measuring a thickness of a film disposed on a surface of the sample, the sample irradiated with light, and ellipsometry is carried out while the sample is irradiated with an ion beam to analyze the thickness of the film on the surface of the sample from a polarized state of light reflected by said sample for measuring a thickness, wherein the analyzed thickness of the film on the surface of the sample is used to control the thickness of the part of the air bearing surface overcoat that is being removed.