Patent ID: 8194511

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a near-field light generating element for use in a heat-assisted magnetic recording head, the heat-assisted magnetic recording head comprising: a medium facing surface that faces a recording medium; a magnetic pole that has an end face located in the medium facing surface and produces a write magnetic field for writing data on the recording medium; a waveguide that propagates light; the near-field light generating element, the near-field light generating element including a near-field light generating part located in the medium facing surface, a surface plasmon being excited based on the light propagated through the waveguide, the surface plasmon being propagated to the near-field light generating part, the near-field light generating part generating near-field light based on the surface plasmon; and a substrate having a top surface, the near-field light generating element, the magnetic pole, and the waveguide being disposed above the top surface of the substrate, wherein: the near-field light generating element has an outer surface; the outer surface includes: a bottom surface that lies at an end closer to the top surface of the substrate; a waveguide facing surface that lies at an end farther from the top surface of the substrate and faces the waveguide; a front end face that is located in the medium facing surface; and a side surface that connects the bottom surface, the waveguide facing surface, and the front end face to each other; the front end face includes: a first side that lies at an end of the bottom surface; a tip that lies at an end farther from the top surface of the substrate and forms the near-field light generating part; a second side that connects an end of the first side to the tip; and a third side that connects the other end of the first side to the tip; and the waveguide facing surface includes a width changing portion, the width changing portion having a width in a direction parallel to the bottom surface and the front end face, the width decreasing with decreasing distance to the front end face, the method of manufacturing the near-field light generating element comprising: a step of forming a metal layer that is to be etched later to become the near-field light generating element; a first etching step of etching the metal layer so that the metal layer is provided with a part of the side surface continuous with the second side of the front end face; and a second etching step of etching the metal layer so that the waveguide facing surface and the side surface are completed and the metal layer thereby becomes the near-field light generating element.