Patent ID: 8089730

Claim:
A suspension assembly for holding a read head and providing a plurality of electrical connections thereto, the suspension assembly comprising: a suspension mounting plate; a load beam attached to the suspension mounting plate; a laminated flexure comprising a structural layer, a conductive layer, and a dielectric layer disposed between the structural and conductive layers, wherein the laminated flexure defines a body region, a tongue region, and at least two flexure beams, the tongue region defining a flexure plane, the body region being connected to the tongue region by the at least two flexure beams, the structural layer being attached to the load beam in the body region, and a plurality of conductive traces being defined in the conductive layer; a read head clamp attached to the tongue region of the laminated flexure, the read head clamp including a first cantilevered clamping arm that has a first arm supported end and a first arm distal end, the first cantilevered clamping arm being sized so that the first arm distal end is positioned to contact a leading face of the read head; and a first wall positioned to face a trailing face of the read head; wherein the laminated flexure includes a plurality of conductive probes defined in the structural layer in the tongue region, each of the plurality of conductive probes being electrically connected to a corresponding one of the plurality of conductive traces by a plurality of conductive vias through the dielectric layer, and wherein each of the plurality of conductive probes is bent out of the flexure plane and is positioned to contact the trailing face of the read head.