Patent ID: 7308753

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a slider of a thin-film magnetic head, the slider comprising: a slider body having a medium facing surface that faces toward a rotating recording medium, an air inflow end, and an air outflow end; and a thin-film magnetic head element disposed near the air outflow end and near the medium facing surface of the slider body, the medium facing surface having: a first surface including a plurality of portions that extend in a direction of air passage; and a second surface including a portion that extends in the direction of air passage and that is disposed between the plurality of portions of the first surface, the first surface and the second surface having such a difference in level that the second surface is located farther from the recording medium than the first surface is, the difference in level varying gradually so as to increase with decreasing distance from the air outflow end, the method comprising the steps of: forming a slider material containing a portion to be the slider body and the thin-film magnetic head element, and processing the slider material so as to form the medium facing surface on the slider material, the medium facing surface having the first surface and the second surface, wherein the slider material has a surface to be the medium facing surface, and the step of processing the slider material includes the steps of: selectively etching the surface to be the medium facing surface of the slider material to form the second surface; and after selectively etching to form the second surface, lapping the surface to be the medium facing surface of the slider material to form the first surface.