Abstract:
The present invention provides a head suspension assembly, which cantilevers a read/write magnetic transducer head adjacent the rotating surface of a disk in a disk drive, and the method of constructing the head suspension assembly using adhesives adhesive control and distribution features designed to improve both the performance characteristics and manufacturing yields of head suspension assemblies. Such adhesive control and distribution features in accord with the present invention may include through-hole features and component perimeter overlays that impede the flow of adhesive onto surfaces and component interfaces of the flex suspension assembly where the presence of such adhesives may degrade the suspension assembly&#39;s performance attributes.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of Provisional application No. 60/184,913 filed Feb. 25, 2000 and claims the benefit of 60/188,965 filed Mar. 10, 2000. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     Most personal computers today utilize direct access storage devices (DASD) or rigid disk drives for data storage and retrieval. Present disk drives include a disk rotated at high speeds and a read/write head that, in industry parlance, “flies” a microscopic distance above the disk surface. The disk includes a magnetic coating that is selectively magnetizable. As the head flies over the disk, it “writes” information, that is, data, to the hard disk drive by selectively magnetizing small areas of the disk; in turn, the head “reads” the data written to the disk by sensing the previously written selective magnetizations. The read/write head is affixed to the drive by a suspension assembly and electrically connected to the drive electronics by an electrical interconnect. This structure (suspension, electrical interconnect, and read/write head) is commonly referred to in the industry as a Head Gimbal Assembly, or HGA. 
     More specifically, currently manufactured and sold read/write heads include an inductive write head and a magnetoresistive (MR) read head or element or a “giant” magnetoresistive (GMR) read head to read data that is stored on the magnetic media of the disk. The write head writes data to the disk by converting an electric signal into a magnetic field and then applying the magnetic field to the disk to magnetize it. The MR or GMR read head “reads” the data on the disk as it flies above it by sensing the changes in the magnetization of the disk as changes in the voltage or current of a current passing through the MR or GMR head. This fluctuating voltage in turn is converted into data. The read/write head, along with a slider, is disposed at the distal end of an electrical interconnect/suspension assembly. 
     The suspension is essentially a stainless steel support structure that is secured to an armature in the disk drive. Typically, a suspension will include a base plate including a radius (or spring region), a load beam, and a flexure. The read/write head is attached to the tip of the suspension with adhesive or some other means. At least one tooling discontinuity may be included. 
     An interconnect may include a base or substrate, which may be a synthetic material such as a polyimide, that supports typically a plurality of electrical traces or leads of the interconnect. The electrical interconnect may also include a polymeric cover layer that encapsulates selected areas of the electrical traces or leads. The interconnect is terminated to bond pads on the read/write head and forms an electrical path between the drive electronics and the read and write elements in the read/write head. 
     As mentioned previously, the slider “flies” only a microscopic distance—the “fly height”—above the spinning media disk. Control of fly height is critical for the operation of a disk drive. If the fly height is too large, the read/write head will not be able to read or write data, and if it is to small, the slider can hit the media surface, or crash, resulting the permanent loss of stored data. As such, the fly height of the slider is determined in much part by the characteristics of the head suspension assembly to which it is mounted. The head suspension imparts a vertical load, commonly referred to as “gram load”, on the slider, normal to the surface of the disk, in order to oppose the “lift” forces created by the air passing between the slider and the spinning disk. As a result, head suspension assemblies are manufactured with a very precise gram load, typically with a tolerance of ±0.2 grams. Another head suspension assembly characteristic that has a significant effect upon the fly height of a slider, is referred to as “static attitude”. Static attitude is the angular attitude of the gimbal to which the slider is mounted. Typically, head suspension assemblies are manufactured with tolerances for static attitude approaching ±30 arc-minutes. 
     Successful reading or writing of data between the head and the spinning media also requires that the head be precisely positioned directly above the location on the disk to which data is to be written or read. As such, great care is taken to design and manufacture head suspension assemblies so as to optimize the suspension&#39;s vibrational, or resonant, performance. 
     There are three basic configurations of electrical interconnect/suspension assemblies that are currently utilized in the disk drive industry. With the first, a Trace Suspension Assembly, or TSA, the electrical interconnect is fabricated integrally with the flexure. The TSA flexure/interconnect is fabricated by selectively removing material from a laminate of stainless steel, polyimide, and copper. The TSA flexure/interconnect is then attached to a loadbeam, typically with one or more spot welds between the stainless steel layer of the TSA flexure/interconnect and the stainless steel of the loadbeam. Another interconnect configuration, termed CIS, is very similar to TSA in that the CIS interconnect is also fabricated integrally with the flexure. However, the CIS interconnect/flexure is fabricated with “additive” processes, rather than “subtractive” processes. The CIS interconnect/flexure is attached to a load beam in much the same manner as the TSA flexures and conventional flexures are, with one or more spot welds between the stainless steel of the flexure and that of the loadbeam. The last interconnect configuration that is utilized today by disk drive assemblers is essentially a flexible circuit. The flexible circuit consists of a base polymer, typically a polyimide, which supports copper traces, or leads. In this case, the interconnect is fabricated independently from the flexure, and is later adhesively attached to a conventional head suspension assembly, to form a Flex Suspension Assembly, or FSA. 
     The attachment of conventional flexures to load beams with spot welds has been practiced for years throughout the head suspension industry and is well understood. Thus, the attachment of a CIS or TSA interconnect/flexure to a loadbeam utilizes existing techniques, and does not present any significant challenges for manufacturers of head suspension assemblies. On the other hand, adhesive attachment of flexible circuits to conventional head suspension assemblies results in a number of issues which the manufacturer of head suspension assemblies must address. An adequate amount of adhesive is required between the conventional head suspension assembly and the flexible circuit to ensure that the flexible circuit securely attached. However, adhesive that flows into the “active” regions of the flexure or radius can compromise the head suspension assembly&#39;s overall performance, specifically it&#39;s gram load and static attitude attributes. Additionally, the amount of adhesive joining the flexible circuit to the head suspension assembly must be consistent from one FSA to another so as not to impart a significant amount of variation on the resonant performance of the FSA. 
     While FSA is significantly cheaper than it&#39;s counterparts, namely TSA and CIS, the degradation in FSA performance due to the adhesive attachment of the flexible circuit creates a tradeoff between cost and performance that must be considered when comparing the competing technologies. 
     As such, it would be desirable to eliminate the degradation in FSA performance associated with the adhesive attachment of the flexible circuit to the head suspension assembly. 
     SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of adhesively attaching an electrical interconnect to a conventional head suspension assembly without significantly degrading the static attitude attributes of the head suspension assembly. 
     It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method of adhesively attaching an electrical interconnect to a conventional head suspension assembly without significantly imparting variation to the gram load attributes of the head suspension assembly. 
     It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method of adhesively attaching an electrical interconnect to a conventional head suspension assembly without significantly affecting the dynamic resonance attributes of the head suspension assembly. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of adhesively attaching an electrical interconnect to a conventional head suspension assembly without significantly affecting the desired gimbal stiffness attributes of the head suspension assembly. 
     The foregoing objects are provided by the present invention, which is directed to a head suspension assembly that cantilevers a read/write magnetic transducer head adjacent the rotating surface of a disk in a disk drive from an actuator arm of the disk drive, and the method of constructing the head suspension assembly. The head suspension is disclosed in variant embodiments, all including adhesive control and distribution features designed to improve both the performance characteristics and manufacturing yields of head suspension assemblies with adhesively attached electrical interconnects. 
     Head suspension assemblies and electrical interconnects in accord with the present invention may include through-hole features and component perimeter overlays that impede the flow of adhesive into areas of the flex suspension assembly which may degrade the suspension assembly&#39;s performance attributes. 
    
    
     The foregoing objects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art when the following detailed description of the invention is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and claims. Throughout the drawings, like numerals refer to similar or identical parts. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a hard disk drive. 
     FIG. 2A is a side elevation, partial view of a hard disk drive, such as that shown in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of the area shown in the phantom circle in FIG.  2 A. 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged, exploded perspective view of a suspension/electrical interconnect. 
     FIG. 4 is an enlarged, exploded perspective view of the suspension/electrical interconnect of FIG. 3, illustrating the adhesive pattern between each surface of the assembly. 
     FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the suspension/electrical interconnect shown in FIG.  3 . 
     FIGS. 6A-6D are an illustrative, sectional view of a suspension interconnect with various discontinuities in the flexure and load beam layers. 
     FIG. 7 is an exploded, perspective view of a suspension/electrical interconnect that includes an arm. 
     FIG. 8 is an enlarged, exploded, perspective view of a flexure and electrical interconnect, illustrating the use of adhesive control features to restrict the flow of adhesive into the tongue/interconnect interface directly beneath the slider. 
     FIG. 9 is an enlarged top plan view of the gimbal region of the assembly shown in FIG.  8 . 
     FIG. 10 is an exploded, perspective, schematic view of a suspension/electrical interconnect that includes a load beam stiffener. 
     FIG. 11 is an exploded, perspective view of a suspension/electrical interconnect that includes a load beam stiffener and illustrating the use of adhesive control features to facilitate the flow of adhesive into the stiffener/load beam interface and the load beam/flexure interface. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIGS. 1,  2 A and  2 B illustrate a hard disk drive  10  in a top plan, highly schematic view. It will be understood that many of the components found in such a disk drive  10 , such as memory cache and the various controllers are not shown in the figure for purposes of clarity. As illustrated, drive  10  includes at least one, and typically several, disks  12  mounted for rotation on a spindle  14 , the spindle motor and bearing not being shown for purposes of clarity. A disk clamp  16  is used to position and retain the disk  12  on the spindle  14 . The disk drive  10  further includes an “E” block  18 , best seen in FIG.  2 A. The E block  18  gets its name from its shape as viewed from the side. It will be observed that E block  18  includes a plurality of actuator arms  20 ,  22 , and  24 , which are supported for pivotal motion by an actuator pivot bearing  26 . A voice coil motor assembly  28  is used to control the pivoting motion of the actuator arms  20 - 24 . 
     Each actuator arm  20 - 24  includes a head gimbal assembly  30  comprising a suspension  32 , a read/write head/slider  34 , and interconnect  36  that extends from the head/slider to the actuator flex. The dashed circle shows an expanded view of the arm  20 , which includes a substrate  40  (wherein the bracket indicates the lateral extent of the substrate relative to the actuator arm  20  in this particular embodiment) upon which electrical leads or traces  42  are supported. The electrical conductors  42  are typically copper or copper alloy with a gold plating. 
     The substrate  40  will substantially underlie the traces  42 . Substrate  40  may comprise a synthetic material such as polyimide, which may be of the type sold under the brand name Kapton by I.E. DuPont. 
     FIGS. 3-5 illustrate an example of a head suspension/electrical interconnect assembly  44  for which the present invention is intended. Assembly  44  may have varying configurations depending upon the manufacturer. Assembly  44  is comprised of four primary components: electrical interconnect  36 , flexure  45 , loadbeam  46 , and a baseplate (not shown for the purposes of clarity). 
     The loadbeam  46  can be properly described as having a mounting region  48  (to which a baseplate is mounted), a spring region  50 , a load beam body  52 , and a loadpoint  54 . Similarly, the flexure  45  is comprised of a flexure body  56  and a gimbal region  58 . The flexure body  56  is rigidly affixed to the load beam body  52 , typically with one or more spot welds. As such, the gimbal region  58  of the flexure  45  is not rigidly affixed to the loadbeam  46 . Within the gimbal region  58  of the flexure  45 , there is a support pad, commonly referred to as the tongue  60 . The tongue  60  is in point contact with the loadpoint  54 , and provides for a mounting surface to which the slider is affixed with adhesive or some other means. The tongue  60  is connected to the flexure body  56  by resilient springs, commonly referred to as flexure arms  62 . This construction of flexure  45  and load beam  46  provides for the tongue  60  to pivot, or gimbal, about the loadpoint  54  when a small torque is applied. The flexure  45  and load beam  46  assembly is referred to as a “conventional” suspension assembly. After the electrical interconnect  36  has been applied to a conventional suspension assembly, the assembly will more properly be referred to as a head suspension/electrical interconnect assembly  44 . 
     The electrical interconnect  36 , as described previously, generally consists of a base substrate  40 , such as polyimide, supporting electrical leads or traces  42 . At one end of the electrical interconnect  36  are slider termination pads  64  (best seen in FIG. 8) that form electrical connections to the read/write head. The electrical interconnect  36  may also have an area of substrate that is sandwiched between the flexure tongue  60  and the read/write head slider (not shown in these FIGS.  3 - 5 ). The electrical interconnect  36  is attached to the conventional suspension assembly such that is rigidly affixed to the suspension assembly in areas proximal to the flexure body  56  and load beam body  52 . The electrical interconnect  36  may also be rigidly attached to the flexure tongue  60 . 
     It is desirable to attach the electrical interconnect  36  to the conventional head suspension assembly as described previously, without significantly impacting the performance of the conventional head suspension assembly. Specifically, while adhesive is needed to affix the electrical interconnect  36  to both the load beam body  46 /flexure body  56  and flexure tongue  60 , adhesive in the flexure arm  62  region of the conventional assembly can cause significant performance issues. Adhesive in the flexure arm  62  region can cause changes to the static angle of the tongue  60  resting on the loadpoint  54 , as well as increases to the rotational stiffness of the gimbal region  58 . Additionally, due to the wicking nature of the adhesive used to attach the electrical interconnect  36  to the conventional head suspension, an adhesive bond is formed not only at the interface between the adjacent surfaces of the electrical interconnect  36  and the conventional head suspension assembly, but also between the adjacent surfaces of the flexure  45  and the load beam  46 . The adhesive bonds resulting from the attachment of the electrical interconnect  36  to the conventional head suspension assembly can significantly affect the resulting bending stiffness of the head suspension/electrical interconnect assembly  44 , thereby changing it&#39;s dynamic resonant characteristics. As such, it is desired that the adhesive bond characteristics are repeatable from one assembly to the next. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 6A-6D, the present invention will be described in broad detail. FIGS. 6A-6D illustrate a cross sectional view of the various components comprising a head suspension/electrical interconnect  44 . FIG. 6A is a cross section through a typical assembly and provides an example of the layered construction of the head suspension/electrical interconnect  44  prior to adhesive attachment of the electrical interconnect  36 , wherein the construction comprises a stainless steel load beam  46 , a stainless steel flexure  45 , electrical interconnect substrate  40 , and electrical traces or leads  42 . 
     FIG. 6B is a cross section through a typical assembly and exemplifies the adhesive flow characteristics resulting from the administration of adhesive between the substrate material and flexure material, when there is an opening or discontinuity  68  in the flexure material. The adhesive&#39;s cohesive nature is sufficient enough to “wick” or spread across the discontinuity  68 . As such, a discontinuity  68  or opening in the flexure material does not inhibit the adhesive from flowing beyond the discontinuity  68 , if the substrate material and load beam material are still present above and below the discontinuity  68 . 
     FIG. 6C is a cross section through a typical assembly and illustrates the adhesive flow characteristics when a discontinuity  68  is present in both the flexure  45  and the load beam  46 , and adhesive is administered to the construction from the left side of the cross section between the flexure material and substrate material, and between the flexure material and load beam material. In this case, the adhesive is not able to “wick” or flow beyond the discontinuity  68  (to the right side of the cross section). This geometry provides for a good adhesive boundary. 
     In the cross section shown in FIG. 6D, a discontinuity  68  or opening is present in the load beam  46  only. With adhesive presented to the left side of the cross section between the flexure material and substrate material, as well as between the load beam material and flexure material, the flow of adhesive in the flexure  45 /load beam  46  interface is retarded at the discontinuity  68 . FIG. 6D presents an example of a useful means of retarding the flow of adhesive between the flexure  45  and the load beam  46 , while allowing unimpeded adhesive flow at the substrate/flexure  45  interface. 
     Discontinuities  68  in the flexure and load beam material interfaces can be created by placing holes in either of the materials or by perimeter patterning of the two components. These discontinuities, then prevent wicking of the adhesive because of the lack of two adjacent surfaces to flow between. Control of the wicking of the adhesive either through the use of appropriately placed through holes or by the configuration of the two adjacent surfaces enables the manufacturer to control where the adhesive flows. That is, the adhesive will wick or flow readily only between adjacent surfaces. Thus, providing a discontinuity in the adjacency of the surfaces will inhibit the wicking of the adhesive. Such discontinuities can be created by holes or through the configuration of the adjacent surfaces. 
     Referring again to FIGS. 4 and 5, these Figures represent an exploded view and top plan view of the assembly  44  that is shown in FIG. 3, demonstrating the intended usefulness of the present invention. In order to adhesively attach the electrical interconnect  36  to the conventional suspension assembly, comprising a flexure  45  and load beam  46 , adhesive is dispensed onto the surface of the flexure body  56  and the tongue  60 . The electrical interconnect  36  is then placed onto the conventional suspension, causing the adhesive to wick or flow along the substrate  40 /flexure  45 /and load beam  46  interfaces. That is, where there are two adjacent surfaces between the substrate  40  and the flexure  45 , the adhesive will flow therebetween due to the wicking action of the adhesive. 
     The resulting substrate  40 /tongue  60  adhesive interface  70  on the tongue  60  of the flexure  45  in FIG. 4 is illustrated by cross hatching. This adhesive interface  70  is limited to the tongue  60 , and no adhesive is allowed to flow into the sensitive flexure arms  62  region of the gimbal region  58 . Initially, wicking flow of the adhesive is limited by the shape of the tongue itself, whose perimeter  72  is disconnected from the gimbal region  58 . This disconnect halts the wicking flow of the adhesive because there are no longer two surfaces of the interconnect  36  and flexure  45  lying adjacent to each other where the disconnect occurs. That is, this is a result of a disconnect created in the substrate  40 /tongue  60  interface where the substrate  40  overlies the perimeter  72  of the tongue  60  before running adjacent to the flexure arms  62 . That is, flow of the adhesive at the interface  70  is confined to the area outlined by the tongue  60  itself, which is defined in part by an edge or perimeter  72 , and the forwardly extending tab  74 . It will be observed that the adhesive does not wick laterally along the tongue arms  76  because the point where the wicking ceases is where overlying material forming the slider and termination pad support surface  78  of the interconnect  36  ceases. That is, as best seen considering FIGS. 4 and 5, the lateral wicking of the adhesive along the tongue arms  76  of the flexure  45  is inhibited by the lack of an overlying surface on the interconnect  36 . Thus, the lines  80  and  82  at their lower ends delineate the lateral boundary of the adhesive wicking on the tongue  60  and at their upper ends delineate the perimeter  84  of the slider and termination pad support surface  78  of the interconnect  36 . Stated otherwise, the the slider and termination pad support surface  78  of interconnect  36  is defined by its perimeter  84  and that perimeter in part defines the configuration of the adhesive interface  70 . 
     The substrate  40 /flexure body  56  adhesive interface  90  on the flexure body  56  results from adhesive wicking and flow and is illustrated by a cross hatching pattern also. It should be noted that the adhesive interface  90  is also defined by the respective areas of surface overlap or adjacency between the interconnect  36  and the flexure  45 . It will be observed that, as illustrated, this particular interconnect configuration includes openings  92  and  94 . Opening  92  overlies openings  96  and  98  in flexure  45 . Opening  92  thus inhibits wicking flow of adhesive and its perimeter serves to define the perimeter of the opening  100  in the adhesive interface  90 . Lines  102  and  104  at their upper ends delineate the lateral extent of the perimeter  106  defining the opening  92  and at their lower end, the lateral incursion inwardly of the adhesive interface  90 . 
     Because the intereconnect  36  presents a continuous surface distally of the opening  92 , adhesive would flow distally between the interconnect  36  and the flexure  45  since they present adjacent surfaces distally therefrom. To prevent the adhesive from doing so, and thus from flowing onto the sensitive flexure arm  62  region, the adhesive flow is terminated in the distal or longitudinal direction at the flexure adhesive control feature  110 , which comprises a laterally extending opening in the flexure  45 . This opening  110 , then, provides a discontinuity in the adjacency of the surfaces of the interconnect  36  and the flexure  45  and thus inhibits adhesive wicking in the longitudinal direction distally of the adhesive control feature  110 . Thus, line  112  at its upper end marks the distal perimeter of the adhesive control feature  110  and at its lower end marks the distal boundary of the adhesive interface  140 . 
     In addition, lateral flow of the adhesive at the distal end of the interface  90  is inhibited by adhesive control features  120 . This feature was able to inhibit the flow of adhesive into the flexure arm  62  region primarily because the substrate  40  of interconnect  36  passed over the flexure adhesive control feature  120 , which was directly above the load beam adhesive control features  122  found on loadbeam  46 . This created a disconnect in the substrate  40 /flexure body  56  interface similar to that shown in FIG. 6C, where there was a discontinuity or opening  68  in both the flexure and loadbeam materials. Thus, adhesive is kept out of the interconnect  36 /flexure  45  interface  90  in the sensitive flexure arm  62  region. 
     Notice, however, that adhesive was allowed to flow proximally, that is, in the direction of the voice coil motor assembly  28 , past the distal perimeter of the flexure  45  towards the spring region  50  of the suspension, because a substrate  40 /load beam  46  adhesive interface  130  exists (similar to FIG.  6 B). The configuration of this interface defined by the perimeter of the interconnect arm  132 . Thus, the limits of the lateral extent of the adhesive flow is illustrated by lines  134  and  136 , which at their top ends intersect with the lateral extent of the arm  132  and at their bottom ends intersect with the lateral extent of the adhesive interface  130 . 
     The creation of a substrate  40 /load beam  46  adhesive interface  130  also provides the adhesive with access to the flexure body  56 /load beam  46  interface  140 . That is, depending upon the initial placements of the adhesive during the manufacturing operation, the adhesive can wick between the interface  90 , the interface  130 , and the interface  140 . The resulting flexure body  56 /load beam  46  adhesive interface  140  is terminated laterally at the proximal end thereof by the perimeter pattern or configuration of the overlying flexure  45  and at the distal end by the lateral narrowing of the load beam  46 . In addition, the interface  140  is terminated at the distal end in the longitudinal direction by discontinuities created by the flexure adhesive control feature  110  and by adhesive control features  124 , which appear as slots extending laterally from adhesive control feature  120 . This termination is indicated by line  142 . In the lateral direction, interface  140  is terminated at the distal end by the flexure  45 /load beam  45  adhesive control features  120  and  122 , respectively. That is, the primarily longitudinal flow of adhesive at the interface  140  toward the flexure arm  62  region is inhibited by these adhesive control features  110 ,  120 ,  122 , and  124 . As such, adhesive is kept out of the load beam  46 /flexure  45  interface  140  in the sensitive flexure arm  62  region. 
     Flexure adhesive control features  110 ,  120 , and  124 , in combination with the load beam adhesive control feature  122 , create discontinuities in the substrate  40 /flexure  45  interface and the flexure  45 /load beam  46  interfaces that are sufficient to stop the flow of adhesive into the sensitive areas of the suspension/electrical interconnect assembly  44  which could result in part to part variability and degraded performance. 
     FIG. 7 shows the use of adhesive control features on the armature  150  (either a “Una-mount” or an E-block) to which the suspension/electrical interconnect assembly  44  is mounted. The electrical interconnect  36  runs along the length of the armature  150  and is then terminated to the “actuator flex” (not shown). The armature&#39;s adhesive control feature  152  impedes the flow of adhesive from the adhesive interface  154  along the armature  150 /substrate  40  interface from right to left, that is, proximally to distally, in FIG.  7 . Line  156  delineates at its bottom end the proximal end of the interconnect  36 /armature  150  interface  154  and at its top end the proximal end of the interconnect  36 , thus illustrating that the adhesive interface is limited at the proximal end by the overlying configuration of the interconnect  36 . Line  158  delineate at its bottom end the distal extent of the interface  154  and at its top end the distal extent of the termination pad region  160  of the interconnect  36 , thus illustrating how the interface  154  provides a solid attachment between the interconnect  36  and the armature  150 . 
     It will be noted that the interconnect  36  includes a pair of small tabs  162  that overlay the armature  150 , thus cooperating therewith to create interconnect  36 /armature interfaces  164 . In this case the lateral perimeter  166  of the armature  150  serves as a discontinuity in the substrate  40 /armature  150  interface, which impedes the adhesive from flowing any further onto the substrate  40  and the configuration of the tabs  162  prevents the adhesive from flowing further onto the armature  150 . 
     FIGS. 8 and 9 exemplify another useful embodiment of the present invention. As discussed previously, the read/write slider  170  is mounted to the tongue  60  of the flexure  45 . Often times, as depicted in FIGS. 8 and 9, a substrate tongue  172  of the electrical interconnect  36  is “sandwiched” between the read/write slider  170  and the tongue  60  of the flexure  45 . As such, the distance between the adjacent surfaces of the read/write slider  170  and the tongue  60  is a function of the substrate&#39;s tongue  172  thickness and the thickness of the adhesive bond between the substrate tongue  172  and the tongue  60 , if present beneath the read/write slider  170 . As a result, the distance between the read/write slider  170  and the tongue  60  of the flexure can be minimized by not allowing adhesive to be present in the substrate tongue  172 /flexure tongue  60  interface directly beneath the read/write slider. Keeping the adhesive out of this interface also minimizes the angle variation between the substrate tongue  172  and the flexure tongue  60 . FIGS. 8 and 9 depict a configuration wherein adhesive is dispensed on the distal end of the tongue  60 , and substrate adhesive control feature  174  in combination with flexure adhesive control features  176 , configured as slots as shown in the Figures, restrict the flow of adhesive into the substrate/tongue interface beneath the read/write slider  170  by limiting the ability of the adhesive to wick in the proximal direction. The adhesive interface  178  that is created with this construction is represented by cross hatching. 
     FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrates an additional embodiment of the present invention. As discussed previously, a conventional head suspension assembly is typically comprised of a flexure  45 , loadbeam  46 , and electrical interconnect  36  (with the interconnect  36  having been omitted from FIG. 10 for reasons of simplicity of illustration), and may include a baseplate  180 . In some instances, however, it is desirable to also include a loadbeam stiffening member, or stiffener  182 , to enhance the dynamic performance of the head suspension assembly. Typically, the stiffener  182  is attached to the load beam  46  with one or more spot welds  184 , much like the method in which the baseplate  180  is attached to the mounting region  48  of the load beam  46  with spot welds  186 , and the flexure  45  is attached to the load beam  46  with spot welds  188 . The attachment of a stiffener  182  to a loadbeam  46  with spot welds  184  serves to significantly increase the stiffness of the loadbeam member, thereby increasing the natural frequencies of the conventional head suspension assembly. Additional gains in performance can be realized, however, if the stiffener  182  were intrinsically attached to the loadbeam, rather than with just one or more spot welds. These spot welds are shown in FIG. 10, which illustrates the flexure  45 , loadbeam  46  and stiffener  182  in a schematic, outline form for purposes of simplicity of illustration. 
     Thus, FIGS. 10 and 11 show an exploded view of a head suspension assembly which utilizes adhesive control features to facilitate the flow of adhesive not only into the flexure  45 /electrical interconnect interface  90  and flexure  45 /load beam  46  interface  140 , but also into the loadbeam  46 /stiffener  182  interface  190 . This invention provides for adhesive flow ports  192  through the flexure  45  and adhesive flow ports  194  through the load beam  46 , thus allowing the adhesive to flow into load beam  46 /stiffener  182  interface  190 . As a result, the stiffener  182 , is attached to the load beam by both spot welds  184  and the adhesive bond interface  190 . This provides for an intimate union of the load beam  46  and stiffener  182  resulting in a structure with enhanced dynamic response performance. 
     Adhesive flow ports  192  in the flexure  45  may also warrant use with conventional head suspension assemblies that do not include a stiffener  182 , so as to facilitate the flow of adhesive into the loadbeam  46 /flexure  45  interface  140  resulting in enhanced dynamic response performance of the assembly. 
     Modifications, alterations, or substitutions of the foregoing invention are suggested by its teachings. For example, adhesive control features or interface discontinuities could be used to create separation between two dissimilar adhesives on the load beam body or tongue (i.e. a conductive epoxy in proximity to a structural adhesive, or a damping adhesive in proximity to a structural adhesive). 
     In addition, the present invention could find many instances of applications with wireless head suspension assemblies which do not require adhesive attachment of the electrical interconnect (such as TSA, CIS, CAPS, etc.). For example, the addition of structural adhesive into the load beam/flexure body interface can be done to improve the dynamic resonant characteristics of the assembly. As such, adhesive control features would be needed to keep the adhesive interface from encroaching into the sensitive gimbal area of the flexure. 
     The present invention as described herein is applicable to any variant of the components or elements such as, dual-layered interconnects, integrated gimbal products, microactuated products, “Femto” products, and products intended to be used with a headlift. 
     The present invention having thus been described, other modifications, alterations, or substitutions may now suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, all of which are within the spirit and scope of the present invention. It is therefore intended that the present invention be limited only by the scope of the attached claims below.