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.

The disk device according to one embodiment includes magnetic disks, a magnetic head, a ramp, and a suspension. The suspension includes a sliding portion provided on a load beam. The suspension rotates about a second rotation axis between a load position and an unload position. The ramp includes a wall and a protrusion. The wall has a first support surface that supports the sliding portion when the suspension is located in the unload position. The protrusion includes a second support surface and an intermediate portion. The second support surface faces the magnetic head when the suspension is located in the unload position. The intermediate portion is located between the wall and the second support surface. The intermediate portion includes a first portion and a second portion. The second portion is located between the first portion and the first support surface in the radial direction of the second rotation axis.

A system and methods for manufacturing devices such as flexures using process coupons are described are described. The method including performing a test on at least one feature of a coupon, the coupon is included on an assembly sheet used in manufacturing flexures. The at least one feature is produced by a manufacturing processing step that is used to produce a portion of a flexure. And, the physical characteristics of the feature include at least one physical characteristic that is different than physical characteristics of the portion. The method also including determining the manufacturing processing step will produce an abnormal portion of a flexure based on the performed test. Further, the method includes adjusting the manufacturing processing step and manufacturing a portion of a flexure using the adjusted manufacturing processing step.

A gimbal assembly includes a frame having base, tip and mount portions, and a crossbar joined to the tip portion by a neck region. Portions of the crossbar and neck region define transition edge regions each extending from a point of minimum width D of the neck region to where the edge of the crossbar becomes substantially straight. Each of the transition edge regions includes a transition length a and a transition width b. The frame comprises an area of interest that includes the neck region and a portion of the crossbar that has a length of 0.6 mm and is centered to the neck region, and has a total area size A, a centroid C and a centroid distance H between the centroid C and a far side of the neck region. The crossbar and neck region have geometries that satisfy a design metric that is less than 0.05.

A trace gimbal is described herein. In some embodiments, the trace gimbal includes outer struts including a front outrigger at a distal end of the trace gimbal and a rear outrigger at a proximal end of the trace gimbal. The front outrigger includes a distal front outrigger and a proximal front outrigger, and the rear outrigger includes a distal rear outrigger and a proximal rear outrigger. The trace gimbal further includes a middle strut extending in a width direction of the trace gimbal and adjoining the proximal front outrigger to the rear outrigger, and an inner strut connecting the middle strut to a slider tongue. The inner strut and the middle strut adjoin the outer gimbal struts to the slider tongue.

An improved load beam is described herein. In some embodiments, the load beam comprises a major surface including a proximal end and a distal end, the distal end including a tip weld, a dustpan, and a lift tab; side rails extending from the major surface and the dustpan; and a slit disposed on the major surface about the tip weld.

A base plate includes a plate body and a connection portion provided at the plate body. The connection portion includes a through hole gassing through the plate body in a thickness direction of the plate body, a plurality of protrusions provided along an edge of the through hole in a circumferential direction about a central axis of the through hole and inserted into an attachment hole provided in the arm, and an inner circumferential surface formed by the plurality of protrusions and the through hole. The inner circumferential surface includes a plurality of recesses formed between the plurality of protrusions.

A method for manufacturing a suspension assembly for a hard disk drive. The method includes applying a resist mask pattern onto a coupler piece, where the resist mask pattern defines an aperture in the coupler piece. The aperture has dimensions large enough to enable a plurality of actuators to fit within said aperture. The method includes etching the coupler piece into the shape of the resist mask and removing the resist mask after patterning.

A flexure includes a metal base, a base insulation layer formed on the metal base, a terminal formed on the base insulation layer, a conductor portion electrically conductive to the terminal and an detouring extending portion formed on the conductor portion. The conductor portion includes a conductor and a cover layer covering the conductor. A conductive adhesive is supplied to the terminal. The detouring extending portion is formed in a longitudinal middle of the conductor portion and extends from the side surface of the conductor portion in a direction intersecting the length direction of the conductor portion along the base insulation layer.

Devices including a substrate and a plurality of coil portions disposed on the substrate. The plurality of coil portions electrically coupled to form a coil structure.