Patent ID: 8009390

Claim:
A head gimbal assembly comprising: a head slider having a head element for reading and/or writing data from/to a magnetic disk; a flexure for holding the head slider; and a load beam to which the flexure is fixed, and including a flange formed to protrude on the side opposite to the surface of the load beam on the side opposing the magnetic disk at an edge of the load beam extending in the longitudinal direction, and a recessed portion provided to open to the side opposing the magnetic disk and having an opening area greater than the area of a first surface of the head slider opposing the flexure, wherein the position of the surface of the load beam on the side opposing the magnetic disk being between a virtual surface including a surface of the head slider opposing the magnetic disk and a virtual surface including the first surface, the head slider being positioned in the recessed portion, and wherein the load beam has a structure comprising a layered material having an intermediate layer between a first plate and a second plate, the first plate forms the substrate of the load beam, the intermediate layer forms the sidewall of the recessed portion, and the second plate forms the bottom of the recessed portion.