Method of manufacturing thin-film magnetic head

A method of manufacturing thin-film magnetic heads through the use of a thin-film magnetic head material including:

• a plurality of rows of head-to-be sections to be thin-film magnetic heads;
• an inter-row cutting section provided to be a position at which adjacent ones of the rows are to be separated;
• and an intra-row cutting section provided to be a position at which adjacent ones of the head-to-be sections in each of the rows are to be separated;
• the method including the steps of:
• fabricating the head material including:
• a detection element to be used for detecting an amount of processing when specific processing is performed on the head material;
• an electrode formed in the inter-row cutting section for electrically connecting the detection element to an external device;
• and a conductor for electrically connecting the electrode to the detection element;
• performing the specific processing on the head material while monitoring an output signal of the detection element obtained through the electrode;
• forming a head aggregate including one of the rows of the head-to-be sections by separating the head material having gone through the step of performing the processing at the inter-row cutting section;
• and
• forming the thin-film magnetic heads by separating the head aggregate formed in the step of forming the head aggregate at the intra-row cutting section.