Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6163953?dq=7,117,286
Timestamp: 2017-11-22 08:36:38
Document Index: 101976404

Matched Legal Cases: ['art.\n2', 'art 81', 'art 81', 'art 81', 'art 81', 'art 81', 'art 131', 'art 131', 'art 140', 'art 140']

Patent US6163953 - Manufacturing method of a suspension - Google Patents
A suspension includes a resilient flexure for supporting a magnetic head slider near its one end, and a load beam with a base end portion, for supporting the flexure. Particularly, connection conductors are formed on the flexure in a thin film pattern, and one ends of the connection conductors are to...http://www.google.com/patents/US6163953?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6163953 - Manufacturing method of a suspension
Publication number US6163953 A
Application number US 09/033,582
Also published as US5754368
Publication number 033582, 09033582, US 6163953 A, US 6163953A, US-A-6163953, US6163953 A, US6163953A
Inventors Masashi Shiraishi, Shunichi Kudo, Haruyuki Morita, Akihiro Takei, Ichiro Takadera
Original Assignee Tdk Corporation, Nhk Spring Co., Ltd
Patent Citations (22), Referenced by (7), Classifications (23), Legal Events (4)
Manufacturing method of a suspension
US 6163953 A
1. A method of manufacturing a suspension for a magnetic head slider comprising the steps of:
forming a resilient flexure having a) a first connection terminal part positioned near one end of said flexure and to be connected to the magnetic head slider, b) a second connection terminal part positioned near the other end of said flexure, and c) connection conductors with both ends connected respectively with said first and second connection terminal parts, in a thin film pattern;
forming a load beam having one end portion and a terminal support part protruded from a side edge of said one end portion of said load beam;
attaching said flexure on said load beam so that said second connection terminal part is fixed on said terminal support part and so that said flexure has a free movement part near said other end of the flexure, said free movement part being capable of freely moving without applying excess stress to said thin film pattern of said flexure when said load beam is bent; and
thereafter bending said terminal support part of said load beam by an arbitrary angle so that said second connection terminal part faces outwardly at a position of said terminal support part.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said load beam forming step includes a step of forming a slit for providing less resistance when said terminal support part is bent.
3. A method of manufacturing a suspension for a magnetic head slider comprising the steps of:
attaching said flexure on said load beam so that said second connection terminal part is fixed on said terminal support part and so that said flexure has a free movement part near said other end of the flexure, said free movement part having a play curved to provide an anti-twist function in order to freely move without applying excess stress to said thin film pattern of said flexure when said load beam is bent; and
thereafter, bending said terminal support part of said load beam by an arbitrary angle so that said second connection terminal part faces outwardly at a position of said terminal support part.
This application is a divisional application of Ser. No. 08/736,436 U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,368, filed Oct. 24, 1996.
FIGS. 9a to 9c are sectional views along the A--A line shown in FIG. 8;
FIG. 7 illustrates measured flying characteristics of the slider-suspension assembly in this embodiment and of the conventional slider-suspension assembly using wires as for the lead lines. In FIG. 7, (average value), (average value+3σ) and (average value-3σ) of the flying height versus position of the slider along the disk radius, with respect to the assembly of this embodiment and to the conventional assembly are illustrated. Solid lines of (average value+3σ) and (average value -3σ) correspond to the assembly of this embodiment, and broken lines of (average value+3σ) and (average value-3σ) correspond to the conventional assembly. Also, σ indicates a standard deviation. These. flying characteristics were measured for 100 samples under the condition of a disk speed of 7200 rpm.
The terminal support part 81a may be perpendicularly bent with respect to the load beam 81 in a direction of the base plate 82 as shown in FIGS. 9c and 9d, or in the opposite direction of the base plate 82 as shown in FIGS. 9a and 9b. The other end portion of the flexure 80 is fixed on the terminal support part 81a so that the second connection terminal part (90) is outward appeared with respect to the base plate 82. It is desired that the terminal support part 81a has a shorter length in the protruding direction as shown in FIGS. 9b and 9d, so that the upward and downward protruding length of this support part can be shortened. Although the terminal support part 81a is bent to an angle of about 90° in this embodiment, this bending angle may be adaptively decided on condition that the connection work with the external circuit can be easily executed. Smaller bending angle is advantageous because the protruding length of the terminal support part 81a will be decreased.
The thin film conductive pattern can be formed by a well known method similar to the patterning method of forming a printed circuit board on a thin metal plate. Namely, the conductive pattern are formed by sequentially depositing a polyimide layer with a thickness of about 5 μm (lower insulating material layer), a patterned Cu layer with a thickness of about 4 μm (conductive material layer), and a polyimide layer with a thickness of about 5 μm (upper insulating material layer) on the flexure 130 in this order. Within the regions of the connection terminals 133a-36a and 133b-136b, a Ni layer and an Au layer are sequentially deposited on the Cu layer and there is no upper insulating material layer. In order to easily understand the structure, the connection conductors 133-136 are indicated by solid lines in FIGS. 13 and 14.
The load beam 131 is made of in this embodiment a stainless steel plate with a thickness of about 62-76μm and supports the flexure 130 along its whole length by fixing it at a plurality of points. As mentioned above, this load beam 131 has the terminal support part 131a protruded from the side edge of the base plate 132 and bent to an angle of about 90° with respect to the surface of the base plate 132. On the terminal support part 131a, the other end portion of the flexure 130 on which the second connection terminal part 140 is positioned is fixed so that this second connection terminal part 140 is outward appeared with respect to the base plate 132.
The thin film conductive pattern can be formed by a well known method similar to the patterning method of forming a printed circuit board on a thin metal plate. Namely, the conductive pattern are formed by sequentially depositing a polyimide layer with a thickness of about 5 μm (lower insulating material layer), a patterned Cu layer with a thickness of about 4μm (conductive material layer), and a polyimide layer with a thickness of about 5 μm (upper insulating material layer) on the flexure 170 in this order. Within the regions of the connection terminals 173a-176a and 173b-176b, a Ni layer and an Au layer are sequentially deposited on the Cu layer and there is no upper insulating material layer. In order to easily understand the structure, the connection conductors 173-176 are indicated by solid lines in FIG. 17.
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U.S. Classification 29/603.03, 29/603.04, G9B/11.046
International Classification G11B21/16, G11B5/48, G11B11/105
Cooperative Classification G11B5/484, G11B11/1055, Y10T29/49025, G11B11/1058, G11B5/4833, G11B11/10534, G11B11/10569, G11B5/486, Y10T29/49027, G11B5/4826, G11B21/16
European Classification G11B5/48A3, G11B11/105G, G11B21/16, G11B5/48A2, G11B5/48A7, G11B11/105G4