Patent ID: 7716814

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a magnetic head, the magnetic head comprising: a medium facing surface that faces toward a recording medium; a read element that reads data written on the recording medium; and a write element that has an end face located in the medium facing surface and writes data on the recording medium, the method comprising the steps of: fabricating a magnetic head substructure by forming a plurality of sets of the read element and the write element on a substrate, the magnetic head substructure including a plurality of pre-head portions that are aligned in a plurality of rows, each of the pre-head portions including a set of the read element and the write element; and fabricating a plurality of magnetic heads by separating the plurality of pre-head portions from one another through cutting the substructure, wherein: in the step of fabricating the substructure, the read elements and the write elements are disposed such that a distance from a top surface of the substrate to the read elements and a distance from the top surface of the substrate to the write elements are different; the step of fabricating the magnetic heads includes the step of lapping a cut surface that is formed by cutting the substructure, so that a lapped surface that is formed by lapping the cut surface reaches a target position of the medium facing surface and thereby becomes the medium facing surface; the step of fabricating the substructure includes the step of forming: first and second detection elements that are disposed such that a distance from the top surface of the substrate to the first detection element and a distance from the top surface of the substrate to the second detection element are different and that are each used to detect a position of the lapped surface and to detect an angle formed by the lapped surface with respect to the top surface of the substrate; and third and fourth detection elements that are located at positions shifted from the first and second detection elements along a direction orthogonal to the medium facing surface and disposed such that a distance from the top surface of the substrate to the third detection element and a distance from the top surface of the substrate to the fourth detection element are different and that are each used to detect the position of the lapped surface and to detect the angle formed by the lapped surface with respect to the top surface of the substrate; and, in the step of lapping the cut surface, the medium facing surface is formed by lapping the cut surface while monitoring the position of the lapped surface and the angle formed by the lapped surface with respect to the top surface of the substrate that are detected by using the first and second detection elements, and monitoring the position of the lapped surface and the angle formed by the lapped surface with respect to the top surface of the substrate that are detected by using the third and fourth detection elements.