Suspension with spring bias acting on conductive adhesive bond for improved reliability

摘要

In an electrical connection to an electrical component in a disk drive suspension, an electrical lead is adhered to a component using conductive adhesive and is also mechanically pressed up against the component using a bias mechanism. The bias mechanism may be a spring finger that is welded to the suspension, or it may be a stainless steel finger that is formed integrally with the trace gimbal assembly. The resulting bias force that presses the contact against the component surface reduces the small failure rate that can occur when the conductive adhesive separates from the component's surface as a result of stress such as induced by thermal cycling.

主权项

1. A suspension for a disk drive comprising:
a beam; a read/write head located on the beam for writing data to, and reading data from, a spinning data disk; an electrical component affixed to the suspension; a trace gimbal assembly, the trace gimbal assembly including a metal support layer, an insulative layer, and a conductive layer for carrying electrical signals, the conductive layer including an electrical contact pad; wherein the trace gimbal assembly further includes:
a first finger extending to the electrical component, the first finger including a signal trace formed of the conductive layer of the trace gimbal assembly for electrically connecting to the electrical component, and further including the electrical contact pad, the electrical contact pad being affixed to the electrical component; anda second finger separate from the first finger, the second finger also extending to the electrical component and to the contact pad, the second finger having at least a portion thereof formed of the metal support layer of the trace gimbal assembly and being electrically isolated from the contact pad.