Patent ID: 7349184

Claim:
A suspension for a disk drive, comprising: a mount plate; a flexure mounted to the mount plate for providing structural support and a reference plane, the flexure extending in a longitudinal direction and defining a lateral direction that is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and a transverse direction that is perpendicular to both the longitudinal and lateral directions; at least one conductor extending from an area adjacent the mount plate to the flexure, the conductor being laterally spaced apart from at least a portion of the flexure to define a freestanding portion of the conductor that is outboard in the lateral direction; an insulator located between the flexure and the conductor to insulate the conductor from the flexure, such that the conductor and insulator are stacked in the transverse direction; an auxiliary reference plane formed on the freestanding portion of the conductor for improving transmission of the conductor, the auxiliary reference plane having a conductive reference for increasing signal coupling, the conductive reference being stacked on the freestanding portion of the conductor in the transverse direction; and an adhesion layer of Cr between the second insulator and the conductive reference at the freestanding portion, and a protective coating of Cr on the conductive reference to protect the conductive reference against corrosion, such that the protective coating, conductive reference, adhesion layer, second insulator, insulator, and conductor are stacked on each other in the transverse direction.