A head slider for a magnetic disk drive device includes at least a pair of side rails having a surface mating with a magnetic disk, which surface is substantially flat or slightly curved. The side rails define a shallow recess having a width which is gradually increased from an air inlet side to an air outlet side, and a suction force or floating force is generated within the recess. As a result, a taperless slider having a high durability and flying stability and free from an accumulation and deposition of organic vapor is realized.

At the time of polishing an air bearing surface 12 the edge of the air bearing surface 12 is simultaneously beveled to form edge surfaces 14. The air bearing surface 12 is preferably constituted as a flat planar surface 121 having a tapered surface 122 continuous therewith at the air inflow end. In this case, defining the bevel width in regions IV located at the edge surfaces 14 at opposite sides in a direction perpendicular to the air inflow direction and extending in the vicinity of a ridge portion 131 between the central flat planar surface 121 and the tapered inflow end surface 122 and the bevel width in regions II located ahead of an interface 171 between the slider 1 and a thin-film transducer element 17 as I.sub.4 and I.sub.2 respectively, the bevel width of an air inflow end edge surface 14 (region V) continuous with the tapered inflow end surface 122 as I.sub.5 and the bevel width of opposite side edge surfaces 14 (region III) continuous with the central flat planar surface 121 as I.sub.3, (I.sub.4 -I.sub.5)/I.sub.5 is restricted to not more than 0.4, (I.sub.3 -I.sub.2)/I.sub.3 is restricted to not more than 0.2, the bevel width of all edge surfaces 14 is restricted to 4-20 .mu.m, or the bevel width range R thereof is restricted to not more than 5 .mu.m. By in this way restricting the bevel width of the edge surfaces 14 over the entire perimeter of the air bearing surface 12 so as to be highly uniform, there are realized marked improvements in flying stability, particularly a reduction in the variation in roll angle in the flying attitude.

The slider is configured with a relatively wide cross-cut relief slot and a longitudinal angled relief slot. In combination, the two slots limit upward air bearing surface force to allow the slider to intermittently contact the disk. By maintaining the slider either in contact with the disk or closely adjacent to the disk, high recording densities are achieved. By ensuring that the slider is only in intermittent contact with the disk, slider and disk wear is kept to an acceptable minimum. The longitudinal relief slot also operates to stabilize the slider and prevent substantial roll affects.

A thin film magnetic head has a slider and a thin film magnetic transducing element attached to an end surface of the slider, wherein the thin film magnetic transducing element is provided with bonding pads electrically connected to a conductor coil, and the bonding pads are extended to the surface opposite the surface of the slider which faces a magnetic recording medium.

The present invention is a subambient pressure air bearing slider having a slider body with a leading edge, a trailing edge and first and second side edges. First and second side rails are positioned along the first and second side edges, respectively, with each side rail defining an air bearing surface. The cavity dam extends between the first and second side rails and is recessed from the bearing surfaces. A subambient pressure cavity extends between the first and second side rails adjacent the cavity dam. The leading edge taper is formed along the leading edge and has a surface extending from the leading edge to an intersection with the air bearing surfaces of the first and second side rails. First and second side walls are formed within the leading edge taper between the first and second side edges. The first and second side walls converge towards the leading edge from the intersection of the bearing surfaces and the leading edge taper. As a result, the flying characteristics of the slider are less sensitive to process variations which vary in height of the cavity dam.