International Business Machines Corporation

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

Gte Products Corporation

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

Get Products Corporation

Surya Narayan Pattanaik

A David Erpelding

Tzong-Shii Pan

Darrell Dean Palmer

Satya Prakash Arya

Oscar Jaime Ruiz

Tatsushi Yoshida

Randall George Simmons

David W Albrecht

Victor Wing Chun Shum

William W Childers

Neil Leslie Robertson

Tatsumi Tsuchiya

Chie Ching Poon

Thomas R Albrecht

Howard Mizuhara

Timothy C Reiley

Akihiko Aoyagi

Meng Ding

Yoshio Uematsu

Takuya Satoh

Drew B Lawson

Yasuhiro Mita

Victor Wing Shum

Tatsumi Tuchiya

Robert Fontana

Toshiki Hirano

Edward Hin Pong Lee

Masaki Kobayashi

Albert John Wallash

Glen A Garfunkel

Naoki Suzuki

Hiroyasu Tsuchida

Christopher H Bajorek

Wing Chun Shum

Yuhsuke Matsumoto

Hitoshi Tsujino

Norman Kermit Frater

Long-Sheng Fan

Hiromi Ishikawa Ishikawa

Norman G Ainslie

Naoki Fujii

Tadaaki Tomiyama

Hiroyoshi Yokome

Takao Kidachi

Hiroo Inoue

Diane Sprandel O'Regan

Kenneth Donald Mackay

Mathew Kayhan Shafe

Masahiko Katoh

Masaaki Nanba

Sergey Kiselev

Lan Shi

Calvin Dean Lantrip

William A Childers

Victor (Wing Shum

Dwight W Brede

The present invention provides methods and systems for repeatably creating and severing a short circuit to protect an electronic component from ESD. A short circuit may be formed between read sensor pads of a read sensor by depositing a shorting material on a magnetic head using a Laser Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT) process. The short circuit may be unshorted using a laser scan configured to sever the shorting material. In one embodiment, a shorting station may be provided to prevent spreading of the shorting material to undesired areas of the electronic component.

Method and device for repeatable shorting and unshorting of micro-electrical circuits

A device according to one embodiment includes an electronic component such as an MR sensor, a pair of leads operatively coupled to the electronic component, and shorting material between the leads, the shorting material having been applied by a laser deposition process, the shorting material having been severed. A magnetic storage system according to another embodiment includes magnetic media; and at least one head for reading from and writing to the magnetic media, each head having: a sensor; and a writer coupled to the sensor. The system also includes a pair of pads or leads operatively coupled to the head; shorting material between the leads, the shorting material having been applied by a laser deposition process, the shorting material having been severed; a slider for supporting the head; and a control unit coupled to the head for controlling operation of the head.

Device with ESD protection utilizing a shorting material between electrical pads or leads which are shorted then unshorted by severing the shorting material and then recreating the short by reapplying the shorting material

A method for shorting, unshorting, and reshorting an electronic component such as an MR sensor provides a repeatable ESD protection scheme. A conductive line of an electrically conductive first shorting material is created between electrical leads operatively coupled to an electronic component for creating a short therebetween. The short is severed using a laser. The short is recreated by applying a second shorting material, which may or may not be the same as the first shorting material.

Repeatable ESD protection utilizing a process for unshorting a first shorting material between electrical pads and reshorting by recreating the short

A method is provided for controlling the pitch static attitude of a slider in an integrated lead suspension head gimbal assembly. The integrated lead suspension includes a load beam, a mount plate, a hinge and a flexure made out of a multi-layer material. Localized heating is applied to the outrigger leads during the process of forming flexure legs to set a stable pitch static attitude, which does not change, by subsequent thermal exposures.

Method of localized thermal processing of integrated lead suspensions for controlling the pitch static attitude of sliders

A method producing a limiter and flexure configuration that includes a flexure that has a first section attached to the load beam, and a second section defining a slider mounting section and a frame that defines an aperture into which the slide mounting section extends in a direction towards the first section, and terminating in an end that interacts with the free end of the limiter. The aperture is sized and positioned to provide a clearance allowing the limiter to freely move through the aperture such that the limiter is free to be bent from the first position to the second position and to extend through the aperture after the flexure assembly has been attached to the load beam. The limiter is bent from the first position to the second position, extending through the aperture, after the flexure assembly has been attached to the load beam.

Integrated lead suspension for high density drive

A method is provided for controlling the pitch static attitude of a slider in an integrated lead suspension head gimbal assembly. The integrated lead suspension includes a load beam, a mount plate, a hinge and a flexure made out of a multi-layer material. The flexure legs and the outrigger leads are simultaneously plastically deformed to define the pitch static attitude. The flexure legs and the outrigger leads are deformed at approximately the same longitudinal location.

Method of controlling pitch static attitude of sliders on integrated lead suspensions by improved plastic deformation processing

The pitch static attitude of a slider in an integrated lead suspension head gimbal assembly of a disk drive is controlled at the manufacturing stage. The integrated lead suspension includes a load beam, a mount plate, a hinge and a flexure made out of a multi-layer material. The flexure legs and the outrigger leads are simultaneously plastically deformed to define the pitch static attitude. The flexure legs and the outrigger leads are deformed at approximately the same longitudinal location.

Disk drive with controlled pitch static attitude of sliders on integrated lead suspensions by improved plastic deformation processing

The integrated lead suspension assembly comprises several improvements. An oversized terminating pad for the electrical traces and a smaller adjacent insulation layer on the flexure assembly enable laser solder ball bonding of the pads to the read/write terminal contacts on the slider without clamping operation. Consequently, the tip of the load beam can be made narrow for a structure that provides for head loading and unloading functions, which improves the dynamic performance of the suspension assembly. The flexure assembly is configured such that it requires no permanent bending in its forming process, and any permanent bending required is done to the load beam. The limiter that limits the travel of the flexure assembly is formed on the load beam and it is bent to the functional position only after attachment of the flexure assembly to the load beam. The limiter is configured and positioned at the leading edge side of the slider to optimize the unloading process and to minimize the possibility of disengagement of the limiter and the flexure assembly during high shock environment. Asymmetric backing branches are provided for the read and write traces in the flexure assembly located at the hinge area of the load beam, the widths of which are sized to optimize the dynamic signal performance of the read and write traces without impact on the vertical stiffness of the suspension. Low profile flanges at 30&#xb0;&#x2013;60&#xb0; that bend from the plane of the load beam are provided along the edges of the load beam to optimize bending stiffness and flow induced vibration. Dimples are provided along the load beam to facilitate insertion of a plastic head separation tool.

A disk drive is provided with controlled pitch static attitude of the sliders in an integrated lead suspension head gimbal assembly. The integrated lead suspension includes a load beam, a mount plate, a hinge and a flexure made out of a multi-layer material. Localized heating is applied to the outrigger leads during the process of forming flexure legs to set a stable pitch static attitude, which does not change, by subsequent thermal exposures.

Disk drive with localized thermal processing of integrated lead suspensions for controlling the pitch static attitude of sliders

A technique for electrically interconnecting a disk drive suspension assembly and a micro-actuator mounting a transducer-carrying slider. A first set of termination pads is provided on a generally planar surface of the micro-actuator, adjacent a front edge portion of the micro-actuator. A set of leads is provided on the suspension assembly so as to extend generally orthogonally to the first set of termination pads and in adjacent relationship therewith. Electrical connections are provided between the first set of termination pads and the suspension assembly leads. A second set of termination pads can be provided on the micro-actuator planar surface adjacent to a front edge portion of the slider and a third set of termination pads can be provided on the slider front edge portion. The second and third sets of termination pads are then electrically connected.

Micro-actuator integrated lead suspension head terminations

A suspension assembly is designed to carry a slider and read/write head elements in a magnetic data storage device. The suspension assembly is formed from a composite laminate structure that includes first, second, third, fourth and fifth material layers. The layers are arranged such that the second layer is disposed between the first and third layers, and the fourth layer is disposed between the third and fifth layers. The laminate structure is configured using a suitable removal process, such as partial chemical etching, to define a mount plate, a hinge, a load beam functional end, and an electrical lead system. The laminate structure may be further formed with a flexure gimbal system that comprises the third, fourth and fifth layers.

Weld free high performance laminate suspension

An apparatus joins bonding pads of a slider and lead pads of lead wires in a head gimbals assembly to improve efficiency, downsizing, and maintenance of solder-ball disposing devices, and solder-ball reflow devices for reflowing solder balls. The solder-ball disposing apparatus discharges solder balls from solder-ball discharging holes of a solder-ball feeder unit which are evacuated by a suction pad. An environmental space and an inert-gas supply portion for forming inactive atmosphere are formed on a table to eliminate an inert-gas supply unit from an optical unit, so that converged laser beams are directly radiated onto the solder balls.

Solder ball disposing apparatus, solder ball reflow apparatus, and solder ball bonding apparatus

A slider and suspension of a hard disk drive are joined with a low modulus epoxy adhesive. The slider and suspension are set in a bonding jig while they are moving from process to process or subjected to a thermosetting treatment in a controlled temperature chamber. The slider and suspension must be kept bound together with the bonding jig until the adhesive is cured through a thermal treatment. The low modulus epoxy adhesive is cured with heat from a laser beam. In addition, a resistance value of the head disposed at the slider is measured so as to monitor the temperature of the head, thereby deciding both output and irradiation time of the laser beam for obtaining a desired strength of the bond within a predetermined temperature range.

Method for bonding slider and suspension together and deciding conditions of laser beam irradiation

In devices for solder-ball bonding of a bonding pad of a slider of a head gimbal assembly to a lead pad of a lead, although a device that can perform (1) the supply of solder balls, (2) the positioning of a solder ball, (3) the blowing of nitrogen gas N , and (4) the melting of the solder ball by laser radiation in one device is available, there are various problems that cannot improve the efficiency of laser radiation, maintenance, or operation efficiency, due to spatial restriction, difficulty of weight reduction, or fixed operation procedures. A solder-ball holder and an optical device are configured separately, and a vacuum pad is provided. A solder ball held in a solder-ball holding hole of the solder-ball holder is transported by the vacuum pad to a connecting portion of a head gimbal assembly, and solder reflow is carried out by the optical device.

Solder-ball bonding device and method

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Surya Narayan Pattanaik