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

1. 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.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising periodically recalculating the offset using a different slider when either a misalignment of the two components is detected or an offset threshold is exceeded.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the light source is part of the illumination unit.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the light source is not part of the illumination unit.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating a light source on the slider comprises scanning a light beam around the waveguide in a down-track direction across a portion of the front surface of the slider.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating a light source on the slider comprises scanning a light beam around the waveguide in a cross-track direction and a down-track direction across a portion of the front surface of the slider.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the light source is uncollimated.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the uncollimated light source is maintained at a distance of 50 micrometers or less from the waveguide during irradiation of the slider.

9. The method of claim 2 , wherein the offset is recalculated if a manufacturing variance is detected in a slider before bonding.

10. The method of claim 2 , wherein the offset is recalculated by establishing an initial alignment position for the first component;

irradiating a light source on the first component 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;

determining the recalculated offset by measuring the distance 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 of the first components in the initial alignment position relative to a corresponding one of the second components, and then adjusting the position of the first component by the recalculated offset prior to bonding the first and second components together.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second component is stationary during alignment of the first and second components.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising measuring the amount of light that is coupled into the waveguide after the first and second components are bonded to determine whether first and second components are misaligned.

13. A method for bonding a slider to an illumination unit comprising:

placing the slider in an initial alignment position relative to the illumination unit;

locating an optical alignment position between the slider and the illumination unit by irradiating the slider with a light source;

calculating a distance between the initial alignment position and the optical alignment position, wherein the calculated distance comprises an offset; and

bonding individual sliders to individual illumination units after adjusting the initial alignment position for each individual slider by the offset.