Patent ID: 8885294

Claim:
A head gimbal assembly comprising: a load beam; a base plate fixed to a proximal-end portion of the load beam; a flexure comprising a thin metallic plate, an insulating layer on the thin metallic plate, and a conductive layer on the insulating layer and including a plurality of traces, the flexure being an elongate belt-shape and attached to the load beam and the base plate at the thin metallic plate side thereof; a gimbal portion formed of a distal-end portion of the flexure positioned on a distal-end portion of the load beam; a magnetic head attached to the gimbal portion, and electrically connected to the traces of the flexure; a concave portion formed in the gimbal portion, and concaved toward the thin metallic plate side; and a piezoelectric element arranged in the concave portion, fixed on a bottom of the concave portion, and configured to expand and to contract in a longitudinal direction of the flexure by application of a voltage thereto, wherein the thin metallic plate comprises a step portion formed by bending a part of the thin metallic plate in the thickness direction or formed by removing part of the thin metallic plate in the thickness direction by etching.