Disk drive head gimbal assembly having a flexure tail with a dielectric layer that has regions of lesser thickness

Description

BACKGROUND

Information storage devices are used to retrieve and/or store data in computers and other consumer electronics devices. A magnetic hard disk drive is an example of an information storage device that includes one or more heads that can both read and write, but other information storage devices also include heads—sometimes including heads that cannot write. For convenience, all heads that can read may be referred to as “read heads” herein, regardless of other devices and functions the read head may also perform (e.g. writing, micro-actuation, flying height control, touch down detection, lapping control, etc). A contemporary trend is to include more devices in and on the head, which may facilitate reading and writing (for example, a heater to reduce head-disk spacing during reading or writing), and/or perform other functions such as microactuation or lapping control. As more devices are included in and on the head, the number of electrical connections to the head must increase. Hence there is a need in the art for methods and structures to facilitate or accommodate an increased number of electrical connections to a head in an information storage device.

In a modern magnetic hard disk drive device, each head is a sub-component of a head-gimbal assembly (HGA) that typically includes a suspension assembly with a laminated flexure to carry the electrical signals to and from the head. The HGA, in turn, is a sub-component of a head-stack assembly (HSA) that typically includes a plurality of HGAs, an actuator, and a flexible printed circuit (FPC). The plurality of HGAs are attached to various arms of the actuator.

Modern laminated flexures typically include conductive copper traces that are isolated from a stainless steel structural layer by a polyimide dielectric layer. So that the signals from/to the head can reach the FPC on the actuator body, each HGA flexure includes a flexure tail that extends away from the head along a corresponding actuator arm and ultimately attaches to the FPC adjacent the actuator body. That is, the flexure includes traces that extend from adjacent the head and continue along the flexure tail to electrical connection points. The FPC includes conductive electrical terminals that correspond to the electrical connection points of the flexure tail.

To facilitate electrical connection of the conductive traces of the flexure tails to the conductive electrical terminals of the FPC during the HSA manufacturing process, the flexure tails must first be properly positioned relative to the FPC so that the conductive traces of the flexure tails are aligned with the conductive electrical terminals of the FPC. Then the flexure tails must be held or constrained against the conductive electrical terminals of the FPC while the aforementioned electrical connections are made (e.g. by ultrasonic bonding, solder jet bonding, or solder bump reflow).

However, recently for some disk drive products, the aforementioned electrical connections may employ a type of anisotropic conductive film (ACF) bonding. An anisotropic conductive film is typically an adhesive doped with conductive beads or cylindrical particles of uniform or similar diameter. As the doped adhesive is compressed and cured, it is squeezed between the surfaces to be bonded with sufficient uniform pressure that a single layer of the conductive beads may make contact with both surfaces to be bonded. In this way, the thickness of the adhesive layer between the bonded surfaces may become approximately equal to the size of the compressed conductive beads. The cured adhesive film may conduct electricity via the contacting beads in a direction normal to the bonded surfaces (though may not necessarily conduct electricity parallel to the bonded surfaces, since the beads may not touch each other laterally—though axially each bead is forced to contact both of the surfaces to be bonded—hence the term “anisotropic”).

Maintaining sufficient uniform pressure during adhesive curing, such that a single layer of conductive beads in an ACF makes contact with both opposing surfaces to be bonded, may be achievable for existing HGA designs using a patterned thermode tool that is aligned to press only upon bond pad locations. However, in a high-volume manufacturing environment like that necessitated by the very competitive information storage device industry, there is a practical requirement for fast, cost-effective, and robust bonding of many bond pads simultaneously, without the need for precise alignment of the thermode tool. Hence, there is a need in the art for a flexure tail design that can receive pressure only at the bond pad locations from a non-patterned thermode tool that does not need to be precisely aligned.

Some previously disclosed designs have included discontinuous islands in the structural layer of the flexure tail, to facilitate simultaneous ACF bonding of many bond pads simultaneously by a non-patterned thermode tool. However, such discontinuous islands can be disadvantageous in the event that rework of the flexure tail bonding process becomes necessary. Specifically, if a flexure tail needs to be removed after bonding to the FPC, a flexure tail weakness due to the discontinuous nature of the structural layer islands may encourage the flexure tail to tear, rather than to peel away thoroughly from the FPC. Such tearing may result in a portion of the unwanted flexure tail to remain bonded to the FPC, which may then interfere with the adhesion and the proper electrical connection of a replacement flexure tail to be bonded to the same portion of the FPC.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved flexure tail design that facilitates the use of a non-patterned thermode tool to simultaneously apply an acceptably uniform pressure to a group of bond pads during HSA manufacture (e.g. during an ACF bonding process), and that has an enhanced peel strength for possible HSA rework.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a disk drive capable of including an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a head stack assembly (HSA) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a portion of a flexible printed circuit (FPC) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is an assembled plan view of a flexure tail terminal region, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4B is an exploded perspective view of the flexure tail terminal region of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5 is an expanded view of a stepped area of a dielectric layer of a flexure tail terminal region according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a disk drive 100 capable of including an embodiment of the present invention. The disk drive 100 includes a disk drive base 102 and two annular magnetic disks 104. The disk drive 100 further includes a spindle 106, rotatably mounted on the disk drive base 102, for rotating the disks 104. The rotation of the disks 104 establishes air flow through recirculation filter 108. In other embodiments, disk drive 100 may have only a single disk, or alternatively, more than two disks.

The disk drive 100 further includes an actuator 116 that is rotatably mounted on disk drive base 102. Voice coil motor 112 rotates the actuator 116 through a limited angular range so that at least one head gimbal assembly (HGA) 114 is desirably positioned relative to one or more tracks of information on a corresponding one of the disks 104. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the actuator 116 includes three arms upon which four HGAs 114 are attached, each corresponding to a surface of one of the two disks 104. However in other embodiments fewer or more HGAs 114 may be included depending on the number of disks 104 that are included and whether the disk drive 100 is depopulated. Each HGA 114 includes a head 150 for reading and writing data from and to one of the disks 104. The actuator 116 may occasionally be latched at an extreme angular position within the limited angular range, by latch 120. Electrical signals to/from the HGAs 114 are carried to other drive electronics via a flexible printed circuit that includes a flex cable 122 (preferably including a preamplifier circuit) and flex cable bracket 124.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a head stack assembly (HSA) 200 capable of including an embodiment of the present invention. The HSA 200 includes an actuator body 232 and a plurality of actuator arms 226, 236, 238 extending from the actuator body 232. The actuator body 232 includes a pivot bearing cartridge 220 disposed in the actuator bore, and a coil support 234 that supports a coil 235 and extends from the actuator body 232 in a direction that is generally opposite the actuator arms 226, 236, 238. The HSA 200 also includes a plurality of head gimbal assemblies (HGA) 240, 242, 244, 254, attached to the actuator arms 226, 236, 238. For example, such attachment may be made by swaging. Note that the inner actuator arm 226 includes two HGAs, while each of the outer actuator arms 236, 238, includes only one HGA. This is because in a fully populated disk drive the inner arms are positioned between disk surfaces while the outer actuator arms are positioned over (or under) a single disk surface. In a depopulated disk drive, however, any of the actuator arms may have one or zero HGAs, possibly replaced by a dummy mass.

Each HGA includes a head for reading and/or writing to an adjacent disk surface (e.g. HGA 254 includes head 280). The head 280 is attached to a tongue portion 272 of a laminated flexure 270. The laminated flexure 270 is part of the HGA 254, and is attached to a load beam (the part of the HGA 254 to which the numerical label 254 points). The laminated flexure 270 may include a structural layer (e.g. stainless steel), a dielectric layer (e.g. polyimide), and a conductive layer into which traces are patterned (e.g. copper). In certain embodiments, the load beam comprises stainless steel preferably having a thickness greater than that of the structural layer of the laminated flexure 270.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the HSA 200 also includes a flexible printed circuit (FPC) 260 adjacent the actuator body 232. The FPC 260 includes a flex cable 262 and a preamplifier 266. The FPC 260 may comprise a laminate that includes two or more conventional dielectric and conductive layer materials (e.g. one or more polymeric materials, copper, etc.). The laminated flexure 270 includes a flexure tail 274 that runs along the actuator arm 238 to a terminal region 278 of the laminated flexure 270 that is electrically connected to bond pads of the FPC 260.

Methods of electrical connection of the flexure tails (e.g. flexure tail 274) to the FPC 260 include ultrasonic bonding of gold coatings thereon, solder reflow, solder ball jet (SBJ), and anisotropic conductive film (ACF) bonding, and are preferably but not necessarily automated. To electrically connect and securely attach the flexure tails to the FPC 260, the flexure tails are first aligned with the FPC 260, and then pressed against the FPC 260 (at least temporarily) while electrical connection is established and secure attachment is completed. Maintaining alignment and sufficient uniform pressure and temperature to groups of bond pads may be desirable during this process, and may be facilitated by certain inventive structural features in the terminal regions of the flexure tails.

FIG. 3 depicts the FPC 260 before flexure tail terminal regions (i.e. the portion of each flexure tail that overlaps the FPC, for example, flexure tail terminal region 278) are bonded thereto. The FPC 260 includes electrical conduits 382 that terminate at FPC bond pads 380, which are aligned with and connected to flexure bond pads of the terminal regions (e.g. flexure tail terminal region 278) of the HGA flexure tails. The FPC electrical conduits 382 may connect to a pre-amplifier chip 315 (shown exploded from the FPC 260 in FIG. 3). Two of the HGA flexure tails may pass through the FPC slit 310 to help facilitate their support and alignment.

The FPC 260 may include an optional insulative cover layer 320 having windows exposing the regions where the flexure tail terminal regions and the pre-amplifier chip 315 are bonded thereto. The cover layer 320 is shown cut away in the view of FIG. 3, so that the electrical conduits 382 can be better depicted.

FIG. 4A is an assembled plan view of a flexure tail terminal region 400, according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4B is an exploded perspective view of the flexure tail terminal region 400. Now referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B, the flexure tail terminal region 400 includes a structural layer 410 (e.g. stainless steel), a conductive layer 430 (e.g. copper), and a dielectric layer 420 (e.g. polyimide) between the structural layer 410 and the conductive layer 430. The flexure tail terminal region 400 may include first and second longitudinal edges 402, 404.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 4A and 4B, the flexure tail terminal region 400 also includes a cover layer 440 disposed on the conductive layer 430, that comprises an electrically insulative material (e.g. an insulative polymer). In certain embodiments, the thickness of the insulative cover may preferably be in the range of 3 microns to 5 microns. In the embodiment of FIGS. 4A and 4B, the insulative cover layer includes a plurality of openings 442 that expose each of the plurality of flexure bond pads 434 in the flexure tail terminal region 400.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 4A and 4B, the conductive layer 430 of the flexure tail terminal region 400 includes a plurality of flexure bond pads 434 that are aligned with corresponding ones of a plurality of FPC bond pads (e.g. FPC bond pads 380 of FIG. 3). Preferably, each of the plurality of flexure bond pads 434 may comprise a widened region of one of a plurality of electrically conductive traces 438 in the conductive layer 430. In certain alternative embodiments, additional flexure bond pads might be present that do not have the characteristics of the flexure bond pads 434, but in that case the “plurality” under consideration could exclude such flexure bond pads. Hence, any two or more flexure bond pads can be considered a “plurality of flexure bond pads” herein. In certain embodiments, each of the flexure bond pads 434 may preferably be bonded to a corresponding one of the plurality of FPC bond pads 380 (shown in FIG. 3) by an anisotropic conductive film.

In certain embodiments, the flexure tail terminal region 400 defines a flexure tail longitudinal axis (any axis parallel to the longitudinal edges 402, 404), and each of the plurality of flexure bond pads 434 may optionally extend further parallel to the flexure tail longitudinal axis than it extends transverse to the flexure tail longitudinal axis. In certain embodiments, such a geometry (i.e. longitudinally dominant aspect ratio) of the flexure bond pads 434 may advantageously allow a larger flexure bond pad area considering size constraints imposed by the HSA assembly, or better accommodate an expected relative alignment uncertainty between the flexure tail terminal region 400 and the FPC 260 (shown in FIG. 3) during the assembly process.

As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the conductive layer 430 may also include an optional ground pad 436, which may be electrically grounded to the underlying structural layer 410 by optional electrically conductive vias 426 that pass through the dielectric layer 420. The ground pad 436 is preferably exposed by a window 446 through the insulative cover layer 440.

FIG. 5 is an expanded view of a stepped area (indicated by the labeled and dashed circle shown in FIG. 4B) of the dielectric layer 420 of the flexure tail terminal region 400. Now referring additionally to FIG. 5, the dielectric layer 420 defines a first thickness T between the structural layer 410 and the conductive layer 430 at each of the plurality of flexure bond pads 434. For example, in the embodiment of FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 5, the dielectric layer 420 has thickness T in regions 422 that are preferably aligned with the flexure tail bond pads 434. In certain embodiments, the first thickness T may preferably be in the range of 7 microns to 11 microns.

Still referring to FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 5, the dielectric layer 420 defines a second thickness t between the structural layer 410 and the conductive layer 430 in the area 424 that is adjacent to, surrounding, or partially surrounding one or more of the plurality of flexure bond pads 434 in the flexure tail terminal region 400. In the embodiment of FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 5, the second thickness t is less than the first thickness T by a thickness difference d that is preferably no less than the thickness of the cover layer 440.

In certain embodiments, the foregoing inequality, together with the alignment of the thicker regions 422 over the flexure tail bond pads 434, may advantageously help to transfer heat and pressure from a flat (i.e. non-patterned) thermode tool to the plurality of bond pads 434 simultaneously, for example during ACF bonding (and to help facilitate ACF bonding). In certain embodiments, a flat (i.e. non-patterned) thermode tool may simplify and quicken the ACF bonding of the flexure tail bond pads 434, by reducing the need for precise alignment of the thermode tool during use.

The dielectric layer 420 may be fabricated to have the thickness T in the regions 422 and the lesser thickness t in the area 424 by several alternative methods. For example, the area 424 may be partial etched to the lesser thickness t, by a wet etching process that is not the same as or simultaneous with the etching process used to etch vias, holes, or slots all the way through the dielectric layer 420. Alternatively, a single etching process (e.g. oxygen plasma etching) may be used to thin the area 424 to the lesser thickness t, and also to create any necessary through openings in the dielectric layer 420. The different thickness results from such a single etching process may be based on opaque, transparent, versus translucent mask features, sacrificial mask thickness differences, or etching time differences. Alternatively, an additive process may be used to fabricate the dielectric layer 420, in which a patterned polyimide sub-laminate film having a thickness that is approximately the same as thickness difference d, may be laminated to an underlying polyimide sub-laminate film having thickness t.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 5, the thickness difference d between regions of the dielectric layer 420 causes a total thickness of the flexure tail terminal region 400 to be greater at each of the plurality of flexure bond pads 434 than adjacent to the plurality of flexure bond pads 434 (e.g. in the area 424). In certain embodiments, the thickness difference d may preferably be in the range of 4 microns to 8 microns. In certain embodiments, the first thickness T may preferably be approximately twice the second thickness t.

In certain embodiments, the foregoing ranges and inequality may advantageously help to transfer heat and pressure from a flat (i.e. non-patterned) thermode tool to the plurality of bond pads 434 simultaneously, for example during ACF bonding (and to help facilitate ACF bonding). In certain embodiments, a flat (i.e. non-patterned) thermode tool may simplify and quicken the ACF bonding of the flexure tail bond pads 434, by reducing the need for precise alignment of the thermode tool during use.

Certain embodiments described herein may provide the foregoing advantages without a need for the structural layer 410 of the flexure tail terminal region 400 to have discontinuous islands aligned with and backing the flexure bond pads 434. For example, FIG. 4B depicts an embodiment in which the structural layer 410 is generally contiguous where the flexure tail terminal region 400 overlaps the FPC 260 (shown in FIG. 3). In this context, the structural layer 410 can be considered to be generally contiguous in a region, though it may have some holes, slots, or vias in such region, so long as there are no discontinuous islands in the structural layer 410 having an areal size similar to that of a flexure bond pad 434. Accordingly in the embodiment of FIG. 4B, the flexure tail terminal region 400 may have improved peel strength along the length 474 that overlaps the FPC 260, and be less likely to tear in the event that rework of the flexure tail bonding process becomes necessary.

In the foregoing specification, the invention is described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to those. It is contemplated that various features and aspects of the invention may be used individually or jointly and possibly in a different environment or application. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded as illustrative and exemplary rather than restrictive. For example, the word “preferably,” and the phrase “preferably but not necessarily,” are used synonymously herein to consistently include the meaning of “not necessarily” or optionally. “Comprising,” “including,” and “having,” are intended to be open-ended terms.