Western Digital Technologies, Inc.

Gopalakrishna Kote

Jack M Chue

Jai N Subrahmanyam

Kathy X Tang

Loi Dac Pham

A head stack assembly includes a flex cable assembly. The head stack assembly further includes an actuator arm and a load beam coupled to the actuator arm. The head stack assembly further includes a trace suspension assembly backing layer coupled to the load beam and including a gimbal. The head stack assembly further includes a dielectric layer disposed upon the trace suspension assembly backing layer. The head stack assembly further includes a slider supported by the gimbal. The head stack assembly further includes a ground trace disposed upon the dielectric layer with the dielectric layer between the ground trace and the trace suspension assembly backing layer. The ground trace extends along the actuator arm and is electrically connected to the slider and the flex cable assembly for grounding the slider to the flex cable assembly.

Head stack assembly including a trace suspension assembly backing layer and a ground trace for grounding a slider

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a slider for a disk drive. The slider includes a slider body including a slider body outer surface. The slider further includes an inductive write head including main and return poles. The slider further includes a slider ground pad disposed at the slider body outer surface. The slider ground pad is disposed in electrical communication with the main and return poles for electrically grounding the main and return poles.

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Gopalakrishna Kote