Seagate Technology Incorporated

James Morgan Murphy

Michael David Mundt

Joshua Charles Harrison

Richard August Budde

Zine-Eddine Boutaghou

John Stuart Wright

Paul Allison Beatty

David Allen Sluzewski

Serge Jacques Fayeulle

Gary Edwin Bement

Mark Andrew Chapin

David Gordon Qualey

Brian David Denker

Jing Gui

Peter Crane

Walter Wong

Jason Wayne Riddering

Anthony Pascal Sannino

Huan H Tang

Markus Erwin Mangold

James E Angelo

Mukund Channagiri Rao

David A Olivero

Thomas R Prentice

Patrick M Thomas

Zine-Edine Boutaghou

According to the present invention there is provided a head positioning suspension for a modern disc drive. The suspension has a base, a load beam, and a bend section. The load beam extends in a first plane and has a longitudinal axis extending between its first and second ends. The load beam also has a transverse axis extending perpendicular to the longitudinal axis that is also within the first plane. The bend section connects the base to one end of the load beam and includes a longitudinal axis and transverse axis parallel to each of the respective longitudinal and transverse axis of the load beam. The bend section includes a plate with a given width extending substantially within the first plane and a rail that extends across a portion of that width in a direction that is parallel to the transverse axis of the bend section. The bend section rail further extends in a direction out of the first plane.

Open-channel torsion bend section

Tapered elements fabricated from a substrate of a size many times that of a single element are disclosed. Such tapered elements may be used as piezoelectric microactuators such as in-plane piezoelectric bimorph microactuators. A unique method of fabricating such tapered elements is provided. According to the method, cutting directions are first defined, the substrate is then cut a plurality of times in each cutting direction with adjacent cuts in each cutting direction indexed by proper indexing distances which are determined based on the dimensions of the final tapered elements. In one embodiment of the method, a plurality of optically detectable marks are used to define the cutting directions and cutting means is accordingly optically aligned with the cutting directions.

Tapered piezoelectric in-plane bimorph and method of fabricating

A disc head slider supports a transducer relative to a moving media in a data storage system. The slider includes a slider body having a media opposing face with a leading slider edge, a trailing slider edge, a recessed area and a bearing surface formed by at least one positive pressurization area. The pressurization area is raised relative to the recessed area. A wearable airflow-blocking pad is positioned upstream of the positive pressurization area, between the positive pressurization area and the recessed area. The pad is wearable from a first height to a second, lower height relative to the positive pressurization area during normal operation of the data storage system. The airflow-blocking pad substantially disrupts fluid flow from reaching the positive pressurization area when at the first height and allows progressively increasing fluid flow to reach the positive pressurization area as the pad wears toward the second height.

Self-correcting disc head slider

A suspension assembly which can be energized to provide in-situs fly height adjustment for a head of a disc drive or energizable to adjust preload force for CSS. The suspension assembly includes a shape memory flexure element having an energizable length differential. In one aspect, the flexure element is integrated with a flexible suspension circuit which provides advantages for manufacture and assembly. In another aspect, the flexure element is coupled to a bending portion of the head suspension assembly and energized to adjust flexure of the suspension assembly relative to the bending portion.

Suspension assembly including a shape memory flexure element to adjust flexure or preload force

An in-situs pitch and/or roll attitude adjustment system. The in-situs adjustment system includes a flexure element having an energizable dimension differential. The flexure element is coupled to a suspension assembly and slider and is energizable to supply a flexure force to the slider to adjust pitch or roll attitudes of the slider.

Head gimbal assembly with in-situs adjustable pitch and roll

A suspension-level piezoelectric microactuator for the fine positioning of a head-arm assembly of a disk drive. The microactuator is manufactured from a generally flat metal sheet structure having a central beam and two tabs extending from opposite sides of the beam. At least one layer of piezoelectric material is bonded onto each of the two tabs. Each of the two tabs is bent, with the piezoelectric layers bonded thereto, to a position substantially normal to the central beam. The structure is then joined to the distal end of a suspension member of the head-arm assembly. A recording head is connected to the central beam of the microactuator. When a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric materials, deflection of the microactuator occurs, thereby positioning the recording head.

Suspension-level piezoelectric microactuator

A microactuation system selectively alters a position of a transducing head carried by a slider in a disc drive system with respect to a track of a rotatable disk having a plurality of concentric tracks. The microactuation system includes a head suspension having a first portion and a second portion coupled by one or more flexible hinges. An electroactive element is attached to the first portion of the head suspension at one end and the second portion of the load beam at the other end. The electroactive element bends in response to a control signal applied thereto. The hinge is sufficiently compliant to permit movement of the first portion with respect to the second portion of the head suspension.

In-plane suspension-level bending microactuator for precise head positioning

A dual-acting disc drive micro-actuator is formed of a stack of adjoining layers. The stack includes first through fifth layers. The first layer includes first and second spaced apart top electrodes. The second layer includes a first piezoelectric element electrically coupled to the first and second top electrodes. The third layer includes a center electrode electrically coupled to the first piezoelectric element. The fourth layer includes a second piezoelectric element electrically coupled to the center electrode. The fifth layer includes a first bottom electrode electrically coupled to the second piezoelectric element. The first and second piezoelectric elements are expandable and contractible in a common length direction in response to respective electrical fields applied between the center electrode and the first top electrode, the second top electrode and the first bottom electrode.

Combined servo-tracking and preload-controlling microactuator

A suspension for connecting a slider to an actuator arm of a disc drive includes a cushion extending vertically from the suspension. The cushion limits vertical excursions and dampens motion of the suspension during a shock event to better maintain the slider in contact with a disc surface in the disc drive. The cushion can be formed as an external feature attached to the suspension, such as a foam or plastic cushion, or as an integral feature of the suspension. A disc drive assembly having a plurality of discs includes a first suspension and a first cushion extending vertically downward toward a second suspension. The second suspension may include a second cushion extending vertically upward toward the first suspension. The first cushion and one of the second suspension or the second cushion are spaced apart by a predetermined distance under normal operating conditions and engage one another to limit vertical excursions and dampen motion of the first and second suspensions when the disc drive undergoes a shock event.

Disc drive anti-shock suspension cushions

A head slider apparatus, to be attached to a magnetic head in a magnetic disc drive, for preventing bimodal stiction by preventing tipping of the head slider on its rear edge by forcing tipping of the head slider towards one of the head slider's corners. Subsequently, the head slider also mitigates any resultant stiction related to the corner tipping of the head slider that may occur. The head slider apparatus has a diamond-shaped pattern of four pads. The diamond-shaped pattern of the pads directs tipping of the head slider towards its corners. The head slider also has pads positioned in each corner of the head slider to address any resultant stiction caused by the corner tipping.

Diamond-pattern directed tipping slip magnetic head

A microactuation system selectively alters a position of a transducing head carried by a slider in a disc drive system with respect to a track of a rotatable disk having a plurality of concentric tracks. The disc drive system includes a load beam and a base for attachment to an actuator arm and a suspension for supporting the slider over the rotatable disc. The microactuation system includes a piezoelectric element attached between the actuator arm and the load beam and a beam connecting a stationary portion of the load beam to a moving portion of the load beam. The piezoelectric element is deformable in response to a voltage applied thereto. The beams are sufficiently compliant to permit movement of the moving portion of the load beam with respect to the stationary portion of the load beam upon deformation of the piezoelectric element.

Side-arm microactuator with piezoelectric adjuster

A disc head slider includes a slider body having a leading edge, a trailing edge, a slider length measured from the leading edge to the trailing edge, a central-recess floor and a plurality of raised rails. Each raised rail forms a respective bearing surface. At least one of the raised rails has a recessed rail surface, which is recessed from the respective bearing surface and raised from the central recess floor. At least twenty isolated bearing pads are positioned on the recessed rail surface and together form at least part of the respective bearing surface. Each bearing pad has a pad length and a pad width, which are at least one percent of the slider length.

Disc head slider having highly damped bearing with multiple pressure gradiant-generating pads

A disc drive is disclosed that includes textured features on the disc surface and a slider. The slider texture can include one or more features oriented in a first direction, and the disc can include one or more features oriented in a second direction. The first and second directions are selected such that the second direction includes a component that is perpendicular to the first direction. The orientation of the features facilitates the provision of matrix of contact points between the slider and the disc surface.

Cross texture head disc interface

A disc storage system includes a rotating disc and a transducer. The transducer is carried on a slider which is supported by an armature. The armature is used to move the slider radially across the disc surface whereby information may be read from or written to the disc surface of the transducer. The slider includes an air bearing surface which faces the disc surface. As the disc rotates, the air bearing surface causes the slider to &ldquo;fly&rdquo; over the disc surface. Pads are provided on the air bearing surface to improve operational characteristics of the system and texturing is provided to a landing zone region on the disc surface.

Slider with pads and textured landing zone for disc storage system

A suspension for connecting a slider to an actuator arm of a disc drive and for maintaining the slider substantially engaged with a disc surface positioned below the suspension incorporates a load beam defining a first bend region adjacent a proximal end of the load beam and a second bend region adjacent a distal end of the load beam. An overlapping member attached to a top surface of the load beam has a first segment fixed to the load beam on one side of the second bend region and a second segment that engages the load beam on the other side of the second bend region when the distal end of the load beam is placed under a load in the absence of a shock event. The second segment of the overlapping member disengages from the surface of the load beam during a shock event to allow the second bend region to help absorb the shock and maintain the slider engaged with the disc surface.

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Boulder, CO, United States of America

James Morgan Murphy