Granted Patent B1

US 8,467,153 · App. 12/916,237 · Granted Jun 18, 2013

Abstract

Claims (26)

1. A head gimbal assembly for a disk drive, the head gimbal assembly comprising:

a read head; and

a suspension assembly that comprises

a load beam, and

a laminate flexure that comprises a structural layer, a dielectric layer, and a conductive layer, the laminate flexure including a tongue portion that connects to the read head and a flexure tail that extends away from the tongue portion;

wherein the flexure tail includes a plurality of flexure bond pads, and wherein each of the plurality of flexure bond pads is folded upon itself.

2. The head gimbal assembly of claim 1 wherein the laminate flexure defines a total folded thickness at each of the plurality of flexure bond pads that is at least twice a thickness of the structural layer, plus twice a thickness of the dielectric layer, plus twice a thickness of the conductive layer.

3. The head gimbal assembly of claim 1 wherein the thickness of the structural layer is less than 20 microns, the thickness of the dielectric layer is less than 15 microns, the thickness of the conductive layer is less than 15 microns, and the total folded thickness is at least 60 microns.

4. The head gimbal assembly of claim 1 wherein the structural layer comprises stainless steel, the dielectric layer comprises polyimide, and the conductive layer comprises copper.

5. A disk drive comprising:

a disk drive base;

a disk rotably mounted to the disk drive base;

an actuator rotably 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; and

a suspension assembly that comprises

a load beam, and

a laminate flexure that comprises a structural layer, a dielectric layer, and a conductive layer, the laminate flexure including a tongue portion that connects to the read head and a flexure tail that extends to the plurality of FPC bond pads;

wherein the flexure tail includes a plurality of flexure bond pads, each of the plurality of flexure bond pads being aligned with a corresponding one of the plurality of FPC bond pads, and

wherein each of the plurality of flexure bond pads is folded upon itself.

6. The disk drive of claim 5 wherein the laminate flexure defines a total folded thickness at each of the plurality of flexure bond pads that is at least twice a thickness of the structural layer, plus twice a thickness of the dielectric layer, plus twice a thickness of the conductive layer.

7. The disk drive of claim 5 wherein each of the flexure bond pads is bonded to the corresponding one of the plurality of FPC bond pads by an anisotropic conductive film.

8. The disk drive of claim 6 wherein the thickness of the structural layer is less than 20 microns, the thickness of the dielectric layer is less than 15 microns, the thickness of the conductive layer is less than 15 microns, and the total folded thickness is at least 60 microns.

9. The disk drive of claim 5 wherein the structural layer comprises stainless steel, the dielectric layer comprises polyimide, and the conductive layer comprises copper.

10. The disk drive of claim 7 wherein the anisotropic conductive film comprises an adhesive material that includes a plurality of electrically conductive beads of substantially similar size.

11. The disk drive of claim 10 wherein the plurality of electrically conductive beads is arranged in a monolayer with each of the plurality of electrically conductive beads in electrical contact with one of the plurality of flexure bond pads and the corresponding one of the plurality of FPC bond pads.

Assignments (7)