Actuator trace through a die
View Patent ↗A disk drive is disclosed. The disk drive comprises a disk, a head configured to write data to and read data from the disk, and an actuator configured to position the head relative to the disk. The disk drive also comprises a die including internal circuitry electrically coupled to the head and a bypass trace electrically coupled to the actuator, wherein the internal circuitry comprises one or more preamplifiers and the bypass trace is electrically isolated from the internal circuitry.
1. A disk drive, comprising:
a disk;
a head configured to write data to and read data from the disk;
an actuator configured to position the head relative to the disk; and
a die including internal circuitry electrically coupled to the head and a bypass trace electrically coupled to the actuator, wherein the internal circuitry comprises one or more preamplifiers and the bypass trace is electrically isolated from the internal circuitry.
2. The disk drive of claim 1 , further comprises an actuator arm, wherein the actuator comprises a piezoelectric element configured to move the head relative to the actuator arm when a voltage is applied across the piezoelectric element.
3. The disk drive of claim 2 , further comprising an arm actuator configured to rotate the actuator arm about a pivot.
4. The disk drive of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more preamplifiers is configured to amplify a read signal from a read channel and output the amplified read signal to the head.
5. The disk drive of claim 4 , wherein at least one of the one or more preamplifiers is configured to amplify a write signal from the head and output the amplified write signal to a write channel.
6. The disk drive of claim 1 , wherein the die comprises an insulator layer disposed between the bypass trace and the internal circuitry to electrically isolate the bypass trace from the internal circuitry.
7. The disk drive of claim 1 , further comprising an actuator controller configured to output a voltage to the actuator through the bypass trace of the die, wherein the voltage is greater than a maximum operating voltage of the one or more preamplifiers.
8. The disk drive of claim 1 , further comprising a flex circuit, wherein the die is mounted on the flex circuit, and the one or more preamplifiers and the bypass trace are electrically coupled to different traces in a single layer of the flex circuit.
9. A disk drive, comprising:
a plurality of disks;
a plurality of heads, wherein each head is configured to write data to and read data from one of the disks;
a plurality of actuators, wherein each actuator is configured to position one of the heads relative to the respective disk; and
a die including internal circuitry electrically coupled to the heads and a plurality of bypass traces electrically coupled to the actuators, wherein the internal circuitry comprises a plurality of preamplifiers and the bypass traces are electrically isolated from the internal circuitry.
10. The disk drive of claim 9 , further comprising a plurality of actuator arms, wherein each actuator arm corresponds to one of the heads and each actuator comprises a piezoelectric element configured to move the respective head relative to the respective actuator arm.
11. The disk drive of claim 10 , further comprising an arm actuator configured to rotate the actuator arms above a pivot.
12. The disk drive of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of preamplifiers comprises a first plurality of preamplifiers, wherein each of the first plurality of preamplifiers is configured to amplify a read signal from a read channel and output the amplified read signal to one of the heads.
13. The disk drive of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of preamplifiers comprises a second plurality of preamplifiers, wherein each of the second plurality of preamplifiers is configured to amplify a write signal from one of the heads and output the amplified write signal to a write channel.
14. The disk drive of claim 9 , wherein the die comprises an insulator layer disposed between the bypass traces and the internal circuitry to electrically isolate the bypass traces from the internal circuitry.
15. The disk drive of claim 9 , further comprising an actuator controller configured to select one of the actuators and to output a voltage to the selected actuator through the respective bypass trace of the die, wherein the voltage is greater than a maximum operating voltage of the plurality of preamplifiers of the die.
16. The disk drive of claim 1 , further comprising a flex circuit, wherein the die is mounted on the flex circuit, and the preamplifiers and the bypass traces are electrically coupled to different traces in a single layer of the flex circuit.
17. The disk drive of claim 16 , wherein the die is flip-chip mounted on the flex circuit.
18. The disk drive of claim 16 , wherein the flex circuit comprises a plurality of elongated portions, each elongated portion corresponding to one of the heads and one of the actuators, and each elongated portion is configured to electrically couple at least one of the preamplifiers of the die to the respective head and electrically couple at least one of bypass traces to the respective actuator.
19. The disk drive of claim 18 , wherein the flex circuit is configured to flex in response to movement of an actuator arm.
20. The disk drive of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the bypass traces is coupled to each actuator.
21. The disk drive of claim 20 , wherein the at least one of the bypass traces is configured to distribute a control signal to each actuator such that half of the actuators move in a first direction and half of the actuators move in a second direction in response to the control signal.
22. The disk drive of claim 21 , wherein the first direction and the second direction are substantially opposite to each other.