According to one embodiment, a suspension assembly includes a support plate, a trace member on the support plate and a drive element mounted on the trace member. The trace member includes a metal plate, and a multilayered member on the metal plate. The multilayered member includes a first insulating layer, a conductive layer stacked on the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer stacked on the conductive layer. The multilayered member includes a mount portion on which the drive element is mounted, and a branching portion arranged along the mount portion with a gap therebetween. At least one portion of the branching portion is formed into a thin portion having a thickness less than other portions of the multilayered member.

A PZT microactuator such as for a hard disk drive has a restraining layer bonded on its side that is opposite the side on which the PZT is mounted. The restraining layer comprises a stiff and resilient material such as stainless steel. The restraining layer can cover most or all of the top of the PZT, with an electrical connection being made to the PZT where it is not covered by the restraining layer. The restraining layer reduces bending of the PZT as mounted and hence increases effective stroke length, or reverses the sign of the bending which increases the effective stroke length of the PZT even further. The restraining layer can be one or more active layers of PZT material that act in the opposite direction as the main PZT layer. The restraining layer(s) may be thinner than the main PZT layer.

A PZT microactuator such as for a hard disk drive has a restraining layer bonded on its side that is opposite the side on which the PZT is mounted. The restraining layer comprises a stiff and resilient material such as stainless steel. The restraining layer can cover most or all of the top of the PZT, with an electrical connection being made to the PZT where it is not covered by the restraining layer. The restraining layer reduces bending of the PZT as mounted and hence increases effective stroke length, or reverses the sign of the bending which increases the effective stroke length of the PZT even further. The restraining layer can be one or more active layers of PZT material that act in the opposite direction as the main PZT layer. The restraining layer(s) may be thinner than the main PZT layer.

A head stack assembly for a hard disk drive includes a head gimbal assembly. The head gimbal assembly includes a slider, a plurality of microactuators, and a microactuator controller. The slider includes active components which are configured to perform drive operations in response to receiving control signals from a drive controller. The microactuators are configured to adjust the position of the slider relative to a magnetic disk during drive operations. The microactuator controller is configured to selectively couple the microactuators to a microactuator power source based on the control signals.

A data storage device is disclosed comprising a first plurality of heads actuated over a first subset of disk surfaces by a first servo control loop comprising a first coarse actuator and a first fine actuator, and a second plurality of heads actuated over a second subset of the disk surfaces by a second servo control loop comprising a second coarse actuator and a second fine actuator. A plurality of access commands are received, wherein each access command is associated with one of the heads. While executing a first access command using the first servo control loop, a disturbance is ramped while injecting the disturbance into the second servo control loop, and the second fine actuator is calibrated based on the disturbance.

An adhesive reactive to ultraviolet rays is applied to an actuator mounting portion of a suspension. An electrical conducting material is applied to a conductor and the like of the actuator mounting portion. When the adhesive is irradiated with ultraviolet rays, the viscosity of the adhesive is increased. A piezoelectric element is placed on the adhesive the viscosity of which is increased. Thereafter, the adhesive and the electrical conducting material are heated, whereby the adhesive and the electrical conducting material are cured.

A method of manufacturing a disk drive suspension includes applying an adhesive to an actuator mounting portion, increasing viscosity of the adhesive by emitting light to the adhesive applied to the actuator mounting portion, arranging the piezoelectric element on the adhesive having the increased viscosity, detecting a height of the piezoelectric element arranged on the actuator mounting portion, and correcting an irradiation condition of the light in accordance with the detected height of the piezoelectric element.

According to one embodiment, a head suspension assembly includes a support plate, a wiring member on the support plate, a head, and a piezoelectric element on the wiring member. The wiring member includes a metal plate and a multilayered member including a first insulating layer, a conducting layer, a second insulating layer, and connection pads formed from the conducting layer. Each of the connection pads is overlaid on a recess formed in the first insulating layer, so as to form a recessed portion along the recess, and the second insulating layer includes an opening opposing each of the connection pads. The piezoelectric element is connected to the connection pads by a conductive adhesive filled in the openings and the recessed portions of the connection pads.

An approach to a piezoelectric (PZT) device, such as a hard disk drive microactuator, includes one or more layers of poled PZT material, with top and bottom surfaces coupled with respective electrode layers coupled with a power source to drive the active PZT layer(s). The electrode layers have different thicknesses, where the particular thicknesses may be configured to mitigate the variation of out-of-plane motion or bending associated with operational variations in the z-height between a corresponding actuator arm and recording medium and, likewise, the phase variation of flexure vibration.

A multi-layer piezoelectric microactuator assembly has at least one poled and active piezoelectric layer and one poled but inactive piezoelectric layer. The poled but inactive layer acts as a constraining layer in resisting expansion or contract of the first piezoelectric layer thereby reducing or eliminating bending of the assembly as installed in an environment, thereby increasing the effective stroke length of the assembly. Poling only a single layer would induce stresses into the device; hence, polling both piezoelectric layers even though only one layer will be active in use reduces stresses in the device and therefore increases reliability.