International Business Machines Corporation

Victor Wing Shum

Tzong-Shii Pan

Satya Prakash Arya

Randall George Simmons

Oscar Jaime Ruiz

A David Erpelding

Surya Narayan Pattanaik

Lowell James Berg

John R Reidenbach

William W Brooks

Alexander Gredinberg

Jerry Lee Neubauer

Wesley LeRoy Hillman

Peter M Herman

Holger J Baasch

John E Sell

Thomas R Albrecht

Akihiko Aoyagi

David W Albrecht

Yoshio Uematsu

Darrell Dean Palmer

Thomas Mark Hoffmann

A suspension system comprises a multiple letter flexure, a load beam and an arm. The load beam extends from the tip of the suspension all the way back to the rear of the arm. Datum holes are located in the load beam such that during assembly all reference points are made from the single load beam piece.

Transducer suspension system

A transducer suspension system has a transducer head, laminated member and a load beam. The laminated member is comprised of a support layer, at least two electrically insulating layers, and at least two electrically conducting layers. The electrical leads are formed directly into the laminated member such that each electrical lead is directly above or below at least one other electrical lead. The overlying leads have noise cancellation similar to that for twisted wire pairs. In addition, by stacking the electrical leads, more electrical leads can be accommodated in the same suspension width.

A transducer suspension system has a transducer head, laminated member, and a load beam. The laminated member is comprised of a support layer, an electrically insulating layer, and an electrically conducting layer. The electrical lines are formed directly into the laminated member. A first end of the support layer has an aperture into which a tongue section protrudes. The transducer head is attached to the tongue section. A platform section is formed between the aperture and the end of the support layer. The electrical lines run to the transducer head along the platform section. The load beam is attached to the laminated member and provides rigid support. The load beam has an aperture located directly above the platform section and provides access to allow clamping of the electrical lines and the platform section during electrical attachment of the lines to the transducer head. Precise electrical attachment is achieved without unwanted bending of the delicate flexure section of the suspension.

Transducer suspension system having access aperture

An integrated suspension system for supporting a magnetic read/write slider comprising a load beam for supporting a slider, a flexure for connecting the load beam to a slider, the flexure including a bonding area upon which the slider is attached, a tip platform supporting the slider read/write element terminations, and a hinge-like compliance member for flexibly connecting the tip platform and the bonding area. The flexure further includes a pair of flexure legs which substantially enclose the slider bonding area, and a pair of tabs extend perpendicular from the flexure legs to support conductive elements electrically connecting the magnetic read/write slider to the disk drive controlling electronics.

Integrated suspension flexure having a compliant tip termination platform

A gimbal suspension flexure is disclosed for supporting a slider for a disk drive. The flexure comprises a generally planar laminated flexure section having a dielectric layer and electrical leads disposed on a surface of the flexure section flexural steel layer, and a tongue extending from the flexure section at one end thereof, attached by three extension members, each extension member connecting a separate side of the tongue to the flexure section. The tongue is formed at the three extension members to be positioned in a second displaced from the plane of the flexure section. The tongue is formed so that the second plane is displaced a distance at least equal to the thickness of the dielectrical layer and the conductive layer, whereby the slider may be attached to the tongue displaced from the generally planar flexure section and positioned for electrical connection to the electrical leads, while maintaining the correct attitude for operation with the disk drive.

Disk file suspension formed flexure

Disclosed are an electrical connection assembly for a data storage device and a method of fabricating the electrical connection between a transducer termination pad formed on a slider and a suspension having a conductive lead structure. A compliant cantilevered conductive pad is formed at the end of the conductive lead structure. A solder bump is formed on the transducer termination pad, and may be formed subsequent to dicing the sliders. The slider is placed in mechanical contact with the suspension for mechanical support such that the solder bump contacts the cantilevered conductive pad, which cantilevered conductive pad complies with the solder bump to absorb positional errors. Then, the solder bump is heated, preferably by a laser, so as to reflow the solder bump to make an approximately right angle solder fillet joint electrical connection with the cantilevered conductive pad.

Electrical connection for slider/suspension assembly

A transducer suspension system has a transducer head, laminated member, and a load beam. The laminated member is comprised of a support layer, an electrically insulating layer, and an electrically conducting layer. The electrical lines are formed directly into the laminated member. A first end of the support layer has an aperture into which a tongue section protrudes. The transducer head is attached to the tongue section. A platform section is formed between the aperture and the end of the support layer. The electrical lines run to the transducer head along the platform section. The load beam is attached to the laminated member and provides rigid support. The load beam has an aperture located directly above the platform section and provides access to allow clamping of the electrical lines and the platform section during electrical attach of the lines to the transducer head. Precise electrical attachment is achieved without unwanted bending of the delicate flexure section of the suspension.

Method of manufacturing a transducer suspension system

An integrated suspension in a magnetic storage system having improved static attitude and stiffness control includes a rigid load member, a flexible member and a plurality of conductive leads integrally formed with the flexible member. The flexible member includes one or more pairs of tabs which protrude from the lateral edges of the flexible member. The pairs of tabs press against the conductive leads, and occupy a plane which is angled in relation to the horizontal axis of the flexible member. The conductive leads are oriented in the direction of the protruding tabs. The conductive leads are longer than the side edges of the flexible member, thereby forming a curve between the first pair of tabs and a second pair of tabs.

Static attitude and stiffness control for an integrated suspension

The improved disk drive system has an improved actuator arm assembly where the arms are independently and individually insertable and removable from the actuator member. Furthermore, each arm is individually self-locked into the actuator member without the need for external retaining means such as screws, springs, and rings. Since the arms are individually insertable/removable, the arms can be made very thin thereby allowing easy attachment of the head suspension assembly to the arm without the need for swaging, bonding, welding or screw-in. Since the arms can be made very thin, that provides substantial reduction in disk to disk spacing and therefore, substantial reduction in the overall height of a disk drive system.

Actuator arm assembly having a removable actuator arm

The present invention accommodates, in an integrated suspension assembly for a magnetic disk storage system, tolerances in the lead and slider position in a manner to maintain gimbal integrity, minimize static attitude variation and reduce stress build up in the lead. In one aspect of the present invention, the nominal lead position and slider position are chosen such that the distance between them in an overlapping interference manner is no more than (a+b), the sum of the extreme tolerance a of the lead position and extreme tolerance b of the slider position. This is to ensure at least line to line contact between the slider and the leads, in an interference type contact configuration. In another aspect of the present invention, the ends of the leads are coated with a layer of solder material which can be reflowed to form a solder joint bonding the contacting leads to the slider. In another aspect of the present invention, a yield interference design is implemented wherein the leads are pre-bent to an extent and positioned such that the lead material goes beyond yield point during subsequent interference lead termination. This would minimize variation of slider static attitude from one part to another after slider to lead termination. Further, the leads may be pre-bent with a slight S-shaped section for accommodating such further bending. Similarly for a clearance type contact configuration, the leads are positioned to go beyond the material yield point during assembly. In yet a further aspect of the present invention, a solder ball may be inserted between the slider and a lead so that when the solder ball is reflowed, the clearance between the slider and the lead is taken up for minimum stress increase in the leads and minimum slider attitude change during assembly.

Method for bonding leads to a slider in a disk drive integrated

The disk drive system has rotatably mounted spaced apart magnetic disks, a disk motor for rotating the disks, an actuator hub, a motor for rotating the actuator hub, and a control circuit for controlling the disk motor and the actuator hub motor to permit selective positioning of read/write heads over the disks. The actuator hub has an actuator arm extending radially therefrom. The actuator arm has an open slot located on the perimeter of the actuator arm. A head gimbal assembly for mounting the read/write heads to the actuator arm has a boss located on a proximal end of the head gimbal assembly. The boss registers with the open slot and is sized such that when the boss is swaged while within the open slot an outer surface of the boss expands into an inner surface of the open slot so that the spud and the open slot keep the head gimbal assembly fixedly attached to the actuator arm.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Victor Wing Shum