Patent ID: 7266880

Claim:
A process for fabricating a thin-film magnetic head having an air bearing surface, the method comprising the unordered steps of: (a) polishing a surface of a first side of a monolithic substrate wafer; (b) forming a first array of magnetic read head structures and magnetic write head structures on the surface of the first side of the monolithic substrate wafer, each magnetic read head structure and magnetic write head structure having a head gap; (c) polishing a surface of a second side of the monolithic substrate wafer; (d) forming a second array of magnetic read head structures and magnetic write head structures on the surface of the second side of the monolithic substrate wafer, the second array of magnetic read head structures and magnetic write head structures disposed such that the magnetic read head gaps on the first monolithic substrate surface are aligned with the magnetic write head gaps on the second monolithic substrate surface to form a read/write track-pair; (e) cutting the monolithic substrate to expose the head gaps of a plurality of read/write track-pairs; and (f) lapping the air bearing surface to refine the depth of the exposed head gaps.