HEAD SUSPENSION HAVING A FLEXURE TAIL WITH A COVERED CONDUCTIVE LAYER AND STRUCTURAL LAYER BOND PADS

摘要

A head gimbal assembly has a laminate flexure that includes a metallic conductive layer that includes a plurality of electrically conductive traces that are elongated and narrow and electrically connected to the read head, and a metallic structural layer that is stiffer than the conductive layer. A first dielectric layer is disposed between the structural layer and the conductive layer. A second dielectric layer substantially covers the conductive layer in a flexure tail bonding region that overlaps a flexible printed circuit (FPC). The structural layer includes a plurality of flexure bond pads that are aligned with, facing, and bonded to corresponding FPC bond pads. The flexure bond pads in the structural layer are electrically connected to the electrically conductive traces in the conductive layer by vias through the first dielectric layer. In certain embodiments, the flexure tail is folded upon itself in the flexure tail bonding region.

主权项

1. A disk drive comprising:
a disk drive base; a disk rotably mounted to the disk drive base; an actuator pivotably mounted to the disk drive base, the actuator including a flexible printed circuit (FPC) that includes a plurality of electrically conductive FPC bond pads; and at least one head gimbal assembly attached to the actuator, the at least one head gimbal assembly comprising
a read head; anda suspension assembly that comprises
a load beam, anda laminate flexure that includes a tongue portion that connects to the read head and a flexure tail that extends to a flexure tail bonding region that overlaps the FPC, the laminate flexure comprising a conductive layer that is metallic and that includes a plurality of electrically conductive traces that are elongated and narrow and electrically connected to the read head, a structural layer that is metallic and stiffer than the conductive layer, a first dielectric layer between the structural layer and the conductive layer, and a second dielectric layer that substantially covers the conductive layer in the flexure tail bonding region; wherein the structural layer includes a plurality of flexure bond pads in the flexure tail bonding region, each of the plurality of flexure bond pads in the structural layer being aligned with, facing, and being bonded to a corresponding one of the plurality of FPC bond pads; and wherein each of the plurality of flexure bond pads is electrically connected to a corresponding one of the plurality of electrically conductive traces by one of a first plurality of vias through the first dielectric layer.