According to one embodiment, a head suspension assembly includes a support plate having a proximal end and a distal end, a wiring member on the support plate and including a metal plate and a wiring board laid on the metal plate, the metal plate including a first joined portion joined to the support plate close to the distal end and a second joined portion joined to the support plate and located on a proximal end side of the support plate, a head mounted on the wiring member, an extendable piezoelectric element mounted on the wiring member, and a damper including a viscoelastic layer and a constraint layer stacked on the viscoelastic layer and attached to the support plate to cover the first joined portion and the second joined portion.

According to one embodiment, an actuator assembly includes a head actuator including an actuator block having a first surface, a second surface intersecting the first surface, and a first groove provided on the second surface, and a suspension assembly supporting a magnetic head and a wiring board including a plate arranged on the first surface, a flexible printed circuit board provided on the plate, and an IC chip provided on the flexible printed circuit board, wherein the plate comprises a first engaging portion engaging with the first groove.

An apparatus includes a slider configured for heat-assisted magnetic recording, the slider comprising an air bearing surface (ABS), a writer, a reader, and a plurality of electrical bond-pads. The apparatus also includes a first component situated at the ABS of the slider proximate the reader and operatively coupled to a first pair of the plurality of electrical bond-pads, the first component being a thermocouple configured to sense for a thermal aspect of a magnetic recording medium surface. According to aspects of the invention, the slider is configured to share at least one bond-pad by operatively coupling a second pair of the plurality of electrical bond-pads to a second component, and the slider is configured to selectively utilize the thermocouple and the second component.

Disk drive head suspension components having microstructured surfaces and a method for making the components. One embodiment of the method includes depositing a layer of photoimageable polymer having an associated set of process parameters including a minimum resolution and exposing the photoimageable polymer through a photomask having a microstructure-producing region with features below the minimum resolution for the photoimageable polymer. The exposed photoimageable polymer is developed to produce a layer of polymer having a thickness and a microstructured surface region with depressions that are less than the thickness of the polymer. In one embodiment the photomask has a microstructure-producing region with features sized and spaced between about 1 m and 10 m. Microstructured surfaces on structures such as flying leads, flying termination pads, cover coat layers and at insulating layer-trace interfaces and insulating layer-cover coat interfaces can be manufactured.

A data storage device can employ a microactuator system that efficiently translates longitudinal microactuator strain into movement in-plane with a mid-plane of a gimbal tongue. A gimbal tongue may be suspended from a load beam with a transducing head mounted to the gimbal tongue and the transducing head separated from a magnetic recording medium by an air bearing. A microactuator attached to the gimbal tongue can be positioned so that a mid-plane of the microactuator is congruent with a mid-plane of the gimbal tongue.

According to one embodiment, a head suspension assembly includes a support plate having a proximal end and a distal end, a wiring member on the support plate and including a metal plate and a wiring board laid on the metal plate, the metal plate including a first joined portion joined to the support plate close to the distal end and a second joined portion joined to the support plate and located on a proximal end side of the support plate, a head mounted on the wiring member, an extendable piezoelectric element mounted on the wiring member, and a damper including a viscoelastic layer and a constraint layer stacked on the viscoelastic layer and attached to the support plate to cover the first joined portion and the second joined portion.

According to one embodiment, a microactuator includes a wiring substrate, and a piezoelectric element connected to first and second connecting pads of the wiring substrate. The piezoelectric element includes a piezoelectric substrate, and a first electrode and a second electrode provided on surfaces of the piezoelectric substrate. The first electrode includes a first electrode portion on an end portion on a first main surface. The second electrode includes a fifth electrode portion having an electrode end which faces the first electrode portion across a gap and provided on the first main surface. The piezoelectric element includes a protective insulating layer covering at lease an end portion of the fifth electrode including the electrode end.

A method of assembly a dual stage actuated suspension includes either applying an adhesive to a microactuator motor and then B-staging the adhesive, or applying an adhesive that has already been B-staged such as in film adhesive form to the microactuator then assembling the microactuator into a suspension and then finishing the adhesive cure. The adhesive can be applied to bulk piezoelectric material, with the adhesive being B-staged either before or after it is applied to the bulk piezoelectric material, and the piezoelectric material then singulated into a number of individual piezoelectric microactuators. The method allows greater control over how much adhesive is used, and greater control over spread of that adhesive and control over potential contamination, than traditional liquid epoxy dispense methods.

Exemplary methods and apparatus are disclosed for a head assembly of a hard disk drive. In one example, a tilt-preventing standoff or datum is formed on a flexure cover layer of a head assembly of the hard disk drive to prevent tilting of a slider of the head assembly relative to the flexure cover layer during fabrication. The flexure cover layer may be, e.g., a laminate cover layer that covers and protects the flexure of the head assembly. In some examples, a primary standoff (or adhesive limitation) is formed on the flexure layer and shaped to limit the spread of an adhesive. The tilt-preventing standoff is a secondary standoff or datum that is sized and positioned to prevent tilting of the slider relative to the flexure cover layer during mounting of the slider to the flexure cover layer. The primary and secondary standoffs may be formed, for example, of polyamide.

A magnetic recording head is provided including a body with a trailing surface, a plurality of bond pads in a row, each of which is spaced by a gap from an adjacent bond pad along a width of the trailing surface. Each bond pad includes a base layer having a top surface, a coating layer covering at least a portion of the top surface of the base layer, two side edges spaced from each other across a width of the bond pad, wherein a width of the gap between adjacent bond pads is defined by one side edge of each of two adjacent bond pads, a top edge extending between the two side edges, and at least one solder dam comprising a nonwettable, electrically conductive material positioned adjacent to the top edge of at least one of the bond pads.