Patent ID: 6870706

Claim:
A method for preventing electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage during the head-suspension assembly (HSA) construction process, comprising: providing a plurality of sliders, each slider having a conductive substrate, and an equal number of GMR magnetic recording heads, each said GMR magnetic recording head being electrically connected to each said slider substrate and each said GMR magnetic recording head having a plurality of terminals for connections thereto; attaching each slider to one end of a conductive suspension to form, thereby, a plurality of head-gimbals assemblies (HGA's), there being also attached to each said suspension a conductive circuit, said circuit comprising a plurality of conducting traces insulated from said suspension and said circuit having a first end with a plurality of connective terminals facing the slider and a second end with a plurality of connective terminals facing an end of the suspension opposite to the end on which the slider is attached; connecting the terminals on the magnetic recording head formed on each slider mounted on its HGA to the terminals on the first end of the conductive circuit; establishing electrical connection between said conductive slider substrate and said conductive suspension on each of said head-gimbals assemblies (HGA's), attaching each of said plurality of HGA's to a conductive rigid frame, said conductive rigid frame having a signal processing circuit, to form, thereby, a head-suspension assembly (HSA), all said suspensions on said HSA being electrically connected to said conductive rigid frame; connecting said second end of all said conductive circuits to said signal processing unit; connecting said conductive rigid frame to a ground potential; connecting all external conductive surfaces which could electrically contact said suspensions to a ground potential.