Abstract: An improved suspension assembly comprises a suspension, a slider and a ground trace. The suspension includes a load beam and a gimbal connected to a distal end of the load beam, the gimbal having a slider opposing face. The slider supports a transducing head and the slider supported by the slider opposing face of the gimbal. The slider includes a slider body having a gimbal opposing face and a disc opposing face, the slider body having a forward face extending between the gimbal opposing face and the disc opposing face. A slider bond pad and a slider ground pad are located on the forward face of the slider body. A ground trace is interconnected with the slider ground pad.

Abstract: A method is used for aligning a slider on a gimbal. The gimbal includes a slider opposing face with a flex circuit material on the slider opposing face and a flex on suspension (FOS) bond pad is disposed on the flex circuit material. The slider has a gimbal opposing face and a disc opposing face. Both faces are bounded by a leading edge and a trailing edge. The slider has a forward face along the trailing edge extending between the gimbal opposing face and the disc opposing face. An extended bond pad is formed on the forward face of the slider. A notch is formed on the slider in the forward face adjacent the gimbal opposing face. The slider is placed on the flex circuit material such that the extended bond pad is positioned relative to the FOS bond pad to improve bond strength and static attitude.