Magnetic head suspension assembly fabricated with integral load beam and flexure

Abstract

A magnetic head suspension assembly is fabricated with an integral piece which includes a load beam section, a flexure section, a rear mount section and a leaf spring section between the load beam and rear mount. A tongue extends from the load beam to the flexure and has a down-facing load dimple which contacts the non-air bearing surface of an attached air bearing slider. The flexure includes narrow thin legs adjacent to a cutout that delineates the load beam tongue. The head suspension is characterized by a high first bending mode frequency and low pitch and roll stiffness.

Description

[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 07 / 958,516, filed Oct. 7, 1992, now abandoned.CROSS-REFERENCE TO COPENDING APPLICATION[0002]Copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07 / 926,033 filed Aug. 5, 1992<?insert-start id="INS-S-00001" date="20100629" ?>, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,081 issued on Mar. 29, 1994, <?insert-end id="INS-S-00001" ?>is directed to a head suspension assembly particularly useful with nanosliders, which are about 50% of the size of the standard full size air bearing sliders. The present application, which is a continuation application of reissue application Ser. No. 08 / 521,786 filed Aug. 31, 1995, now abandoned, which is a reissue of application Ser. No. 08 / 042,906 filed Apr. 5, 1993, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,103 on Jan. 25, 1994, which is a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 07 / 958,516, now abandoned, discloses a modified and improved head suspension assembly especially useful with fe...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]An object of this invention is to provide a head suspension and slider assembly having significantly reduced Z-height.

[0009]Another object of this invention is to provide a head suspension assembly characterized by low pitch and roll stiffness.

[0010]Another object is to provide a head suspension assembly characterized by low bending stiffness with decreased gram load tolerance effects.

[0012]A further object is to provide a head suspension design that affords significant savings and advantages in manufacture and mass production.

[0013]According to this invention, a magnetic head suspension assembly is formed from an integral planar piece comprising a load beam section and flexure section. The load beam is configured preferably as a truncated conical section having flanges along its sides and an extending tongue at its narrow end. The side flanges are formed with U-shaped channels and provide rigidity and stiffness to the load beam section. The load beam tongue extends into the flexure section and is formed with a hemispherical load dimple which faces down to the non-air bearing surface of a head slider. A U-shaped cutout portion that is formed in the flexure section adjacent to the load beam tongue delineates the shape of the tongue. In one embodiment of the invention, the flexure section includes two narrow etched legs that extend from the load beam and are disposed adjacent to the cutout portion. The narrow legs are connected by a lateral ear at the end of the flexurefrom the narrow end of the load beam section into a shaped opening of the flexure section. The load beam tongue is formed with a load supporting protrusion or dimple that extends downward to contact a non-air bearing surface of a head slider. The shaped opening defines two flexure beams that extend in a longitudinal direction of the load beam. The flexure beams are connected by a transverse section at the end of the flexure section opposite the narrow end of the load beam section. In this implementation, the head slider is bonded to the bottom surface of the lateral eartransverse section. In an alternative embodiment, the flexure section includes outriggers configured as a split tongue to which the slider is bonded.

Problems solved by technology

These suspensions are characterized by weak pitch, roll and bending stiffness when the head is flying over the disk surface.

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