Method and apparatus for aligning an illumination unit to a slider for a magnetic recording device

An alignment method for bonding a first component to a second component comprising:

• providing a plurality of sliders, each slider having alignment markers on a first portion of a top surface, and a waveguide adjacent to the alignment markers, wherein each slider comprises the first component;
• providing a plurality of illumination units with alignment markers, wherein each illumination unit comprises the second component;
• substantially aligning the alignment markers of the first component to the alignment markers of the second component to establish an initial alignment position;
• irradiating a light source onto the slider while evaluating light emitted from the waveguide on a bottom surface of the first component, and incrementally moving the first component with respect to the second component from the initial alignment position until light emitted from the waveguide at the bottom surface of the first component indicates a position of optical alignment has been located;
• calculating an offset from the initial alignment position of the slider to the optical alignment position;
• and
• bonding a plurality of first components to a plurality of second components by placing each one of the first components in the initial alignment position relative to a corresponding one of the second components, and then adjusting the position of each one of the first components by the calculated offset prior to bonding the first and second components together.