Abstract: An apparatus for positioning a component relative to an associated component. The apparatus includes a component receiver and onto which the component is disposed. The apparatus also includes an associated component receiver and onto which the associated component is disposed. The component receiver orients the component into a position for retaining the component to the associated component. The apparatus further includes a retention device driver for inserting a retention device, the retention device retaining the component to the associated component in the position. The apparatus also includes an optical position verifier for verifying the position of the component and the associated component.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention help to achieve a solder joining structure having high reliability, in which even if a componential material of a flange of a feed-through of a sealed magnetic disk drive is an iron-based material such as kovar, and a componential material of a base of the drive is an aluminum-based alloy, leakage of low-density gas is dramatically reduced. According to one embodiment, a base has a stepped portion in the inside of a periphery of an opening, and an inclined surface extending to the outside of the base is formed at an edge of a surface of the stepped portion, on which a flange of a feed-through is placed, thereby when the stepped portion of the base is joined by soldering with the flange of the feed-through, a solder fillet is formed not only in the inside of the base, but also in the outside thereof.

Abstract: The present invention provides a head holding member and a head holding method of a head actuator having a very high impact resisting property by a simple construction, and a disk device using the head holding member and the head holding method. Concretely, a head support arm has a leaf spring portion for pressing the head support arm against a lamp portion (14), and is constructed so as to be rotated around a line perpendicular to a plane formed by a center line of the longitudinal direction of the head support arm and the axis of a rotating shaft. The head holding member is constructed by forming a load side wall face (14d), a tab portion upper wall face (14g) and a tab portion holding plane (14e) in the lamp portion (14). The load side wall face (14d) prevents tab portion (8a) from being moved from an escaping position to the direction of recording medium (4) and tab portion (8a) abuts on load side wall face (14d).

Abstract: A storage disk driving apparatus for driving a storage disk includes a carriage holding a head slider at the tip of the carriage. A shroud surface is disposed upstream of an air flow generated by the rotation of the storage disk with respect to the carriage, such that a plane surface extending in parallel with an outer edge line of the storage disk and away from the outer edge of the storage disk downstream of the air flow. In this manner, the air is directed more towards the axis of the carriage, and away from the arms of the carriage.

Abstract: A quasi-static tester is disclosed. The quasi static tester comprises: a mount configured to fix a head gimbal assembly in a given position; a camera configured to observe the head gimbal assembly when the head gimbal assembly is fixed in the mount, wherein the camera is used to position the head gimbal assembly in an observation position; and a magnet for performing quasi-static testing of the head gimbal assembly when the head gimbal assembly is fixed in the mount, wherein the observation position and a testing position in a uniform area of the magnet are a predetermined distance apart.

Abstract: A head stack assembly (HSA) mounting structure and a hard disk drive (HDD) including the assembly includes a base member including a shaft protruding upwards and a shaft circumference groove formed around the shaft. An HSA is rotatably placed on the shaft through a pivot bearing including an inner case contacting the shaft, and including a lower end portion received in the shaft circumference groove. A cover member may be coupled to the base member and a fixing screw may pass through the cover member to be threadedly coupled to the shaft.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a magnetic disk device that can reduce an external force applied to the carriage. According to one embodiment, in a magnetic disk device, a bracket inserted between a carriage and a base is supported toward the base side by support portions owned by the bracket and by a band with a space provided between the bracket and the opposed side of the carriage (such as a top surface of the mounting stand). This configuration cannot apply an external force in the rotation direction to the carriage from the bracket even when the bracket is thermally expanded due to heat generated from a head amplifier or the like mounted on a flexible substrate.

Abstract: A head suspension assembly including a stainless steel hinge member, an integrated lead flexure and a polymer stiffener member. The stainless steel hinge member includes a proximal mounting region, a beam region having a load point dimple, and a spring region between the mounting and beam regions. The integrated lead flexure is attached to the hinge member and has a slider bond pad engaged by the load point dimple. The stiffener member is molded onto the beam portion of the hinge member and attached by rivets extending through apertures in the hinge member.

Abstract: The present invention provides a magnetic head suspension including a flexure part including a magnetic head mounting region for supporting a magnetic head slider; a load bending part for generating a load to press the magnetic head slider towards a recording medium; a load beam part for transmitting the load generated by the load bending part to the magnetic head mounting region; and a base part connected to a proximal end side of the load bending part. The base part has a thin thickness region extending from a distal end towards a proximal end side by a predetermined distance and having a thin thickness compared to other region.

Abstract: The present invention provides a magnetic disk device which uses a plurality of screws of different weights for fastening a disk clamp, and which combines the screws of different weights in such a manner to eliminate weight imbalance. Accordingly, the device does not use extra components such as a weight for eliminating the weight imbalance, and thus achieves cost reduction.

Abstract: A suspension is provided for improving reliability in reading/writing of data by improving stiffness in a longitudinal direction of a flexure while realizing low pitch/roll stiffness of a tongue part. The suspension includes: a flexure, including two branched outrigger parts extending to the tip side of the flexure, and a tongue part for mounting a magnetic head slider, located between the outrigger parts and linked to the tip sides of the outrigger parts; a trace formed on the flexure; and a fixed part in which at least a part of a bent part formed in the trace is fixed to the tongue part.

Abstract: A suspension for a HGA includes a base plate, a flexure having a suspension tongue for holding a slider, a load beam, and a hinge that are assembled together; wherein a strengthening plate is formed on the suspension tongue to increase stiffness of the suspension tongue. So the invention enable the use of the suspension with lower pitch and roll stiffness while preventing the suspension deformation. This ensures the slider mounted on the suspension have a good flying performance. The invention also discloses a HGA with such a suspension and a disk drive unit having such an HGA.

Abstract: A device is provided by which the stiffness coefficient of a flexure, in either a pitch or roll direction, can be measured while a slider is mounted thereon and while the flexure and slider are in a loaded condition as might be obtained during normal operational conditions of a HGA in a HDA. There are two methods of making the measurement, a static method in which the slider is loaded by an external weight called a pendulum and the angular displacement of the slider is measured, and a dynamical method in which the pendulum is caused to oscillate while in contact with the slider and its natural and loaded frequencies of oscillation are measured.

Abstract: A head support device is thin and assures excellent flexibility and shock resistance while applying a sufficient load to a head. A disk drive uses the head support device. The head support device comprises a support arm, a head disposed at one end of the support arm, which is mounted on a head slider so as to be opposed to a recording medium, an elastic member such as a plate spring which provides the support arm an activating force in a direction perpendicular to the recording medium when the support arm comes to a rotational center in vertical rotation against the recording medium, and a holder connected to the elastic member. When an external impact force is applied to the head slider, with a distance from an action point of load that activates the head slider toward the recording medium to an immovable point in the rotation of the head slider in a direction of pitch being Lo, and a length of head slider in a direction of air flow being Ls, then 0.5<Lo<Ls<2.

Abstract: Thermal pole tip protrusion is caused by materials in and around head slider expanding during write operations till they protrude, leading to contact with the rotating disk surface, altering the flying height and often wearing down part of the disk surface. While well known that read-write heads expand during writing, the inventors who recognized this situation's significance, particularly as flying height decreases and data rates increase, both required for high areal density disk drives. The inventors realized that they could detect the problem at the spin stand level by testing head gimbal assemblies to reliably, and inexpensively, predict the tendency for thermal pole tip protrusion. This leads to selection of head gimbal assemblies, which do not have the thermal pole tip protrusion tendency. The selected head gimbal assemblies have better reliability, as do actuators and disk drives made with the selected head gimbal assemblies.

Abstract: A suspension for use in a disk drive is disclosed. The suspension has a hinge and load beam which are separately formed and subsequently joined together. The load beam is formed from a material which has improved damping characteristics. The load beam additionally has ribs constructed in order to balance the mass of the suspension about the torsional rotation axis. The location of the torsional rotation axis can be designed to intersect the head gimbal pivot point.

Abstract: An actuator arm assembly has an actuator arm and an actuator for moving the actuator arm whereby the arm assembly experiences vibrations. The actuator has a body with a recess formed therein, and a strain sensor is fitted essentially inside the recess such that the sensor generates signals correlated to the vibrations. This arrangement produces a high gain boost from the strain based sensor, making an amplifier circuit unnecessary. The sensor signals are used to damp the vibrations.

Abstract: A suspension load beam for an actuator assembly of a disk drive includes a bend radius portion with a spring rate that is less than 18 Newtons per meter, a first bending mode that is greater than 3,500 Hertz, and a first torsion mode that is greater than 5,300 Hertz. The method of making this suspension load beam includes cutting a sheet of material to form a flat suspension load beam including a bend radius portion, removing material in the bend radius portion from full thickness, inspecting the bend radius portion to determine its thickness, and removing material from the bend radius portion and/or from the main body of the suspension load beam to compromise the performance difference due to thickness variation in bend radius portion.

Abstract: A process for the fabrication of devices that integrate protected microstructures, comprising the following steps: forming, in a body of semiconductor material, at least one microstructure having at least one first portion and one second portion which are relatively mobile with respect to one another and are separated from one another by at least one gap region, which is accessible through a face of the body; and sealing the gap. The sealing step includes depositing on the face of the body a layer of protective material, in such a way as to close the gap region, the protective layer being such as to enable relative motion between the first portion and the second portion of the microstructure.

Abstract: A resist pattern for lift-off is formed on a first film composed of one or more layers deposited on a substrate. The first film is patterned by dry-etching using the resist pattern as a mask. Subsequently, a second film is deposited with presence of the resist pattern on the first film. Then, the resist pattern for lift-off is removed for conducting lift-off. Subsequently, the resulting substrate is etched. In the etching, the substrate is dry-etched using etching particles which are oriented at an incident angle set in a range of 60° to 90° relative to the normal direction of the substrate.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for enhancing thermal stability, improving biasing and reducing damage from electrical surges in self-pinned abutted junction heads. The head includes a free layer having a first end and a second end defining a width selected to form a desired trackwidth and an extended self-pinned bias layer extending beyond the ends of the free layer, the self-pinned bias layer extending beyond the free layer increasing the volume of the extended self-pinned bias layer to provide greater thermal stability and stronger pinning of the free layer.

Abstract: A head carriage device includes a carriage, a head arm, a flat spring extending from the head arm, a fixing member to fix the flat spring to the carriage, a resilient member to resiliently urge the head arm in a direction in which the head arm moves toward the carriage, a lifting mechanism to pivot the head arm away from and toward the carriage, and a finger to which the lifting mechanism is applied, the finger being provided at one side of the head arm. The head carriage device is provided with a first protrusion and a second protrusion. When the head arm is pivoted away from the carriage, a restricting finger restricts the movement of a free end of the first protrusion away from the carriage, and a restricting face provided on the carriage restricts the movement of a free end of the second protrusion toward the carriage.

Abstract: The present invention provides a wiring integrated flexure including a stainless-steel substrate for supporting a magnetic head slider thereon, a wiring conductor formed on the stainless-steel substrate, posts made of a flexible resin and interposed between the stainless-steel substrate and the wiring conductor for electrically isolating the wiring conductor from the stainless-steel substrate, and the posts disposed along the lengthwise direction of the wiring conductor with spacing from each other. A method of manufacturing the wiring integrated flexure is also provided.

Abstract: An improved magnetic medium has a metal or semiconductor surface in which the surface of the magnetic medium has an approximate monolayer of fullerene molecules bonded to the metal or semiconductor surface. The bond strength between the fullerene molecules and the surface is stronger than the fullerene-fullerene intermolecular bond strength. The magnetic media can be used in the production of components for data storage system, in particular heads with magnetic transducers and magnetic or optical-magnetic discs. In methods for forming the fullerene coatings, an approximate monolayer of fullerene molecules are deposited on a metal or semiconductor surface substantially free of contaminants.

Abstract: An integrated lead suspension is formed from a laminate of three materials in a variety of configurations having from three to five layers. The materials are stainless steel, polyimide and copper. Each layer is essentially homogeneous, but may be formed with one or more holes or voids prior to the formation of the laminate. After the copper layer is etched to form a tab which overhangs the steel layer, the suspension is welded to a load beam. The load beam prevents the downward motion of the suspension. The tab acts as a flexure motion limiter for upward motion of the suspension. The voids allow a precise amount of polyimide undercut between the steel and copper layers which otherwise could not be achieved.

Abstract: A disc drive disc stack assembly and a method for forming the disc stack assembly to reduce servo pattern runout. The disc stack assembly includes a number of prewritten discs having a servo pattern and a disc alignment mark. The first step is to place a first disc about a spindle motor hub of the disc drive. The second step is to align a disc alignment mark of the first disc in relation to a direction of a biasing force. The third step is to apply the biasing force to the first disc to engage the first disc against the spindle motor hub. The fourth step is to repeat the first three steps for each remaining disc in the disc stack assembly. The final step is to clamp the prewritten discs with a disc clamp to secure the position of each prewritten disc relative to the spindle motor hub.

Abstract: An actuator that can vary the gram load of a suspension arm of a hard disk drive. The actuator may be a shape memory alloy, piezoelectric transducer, or other means for deflecting and changing the gram load of a suspension arm of an actuator arm assembly. When the disk drive is not operating the gram load may be set to a high value that will prevent head slapping. The gram load of the suspension arm may be varied by the actuator to reduce the gram load when the disk drive is operating.

Abstract: A gimbal formed integral with a load beam by through etching a H pattern at the end of the beam to define a pair of tabs connected by a pair of beams; half etching from the head direction one tab with an defined area masked to form a load button; and half etching the beam from the other direction to provide the proper gimbal stiffness. In practice, the head is glued to the other tab and load is applied through the button.

Abstract: A magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus capable of recording or reproducing signals satisfactorily for a thin type disc-shaped recording medium. The magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus 10 includes a disc-shaped recording medium 1 having a recording layer formed on one major surface of a resin substrate, a floating slider 11 carrying a magnetic head and arranged facing the major surface of the disc-shaped recording medium having the recording layer and a dummy slider 12 arranged facing the opposite side major surface of the disc-shaped recording medium so that the dummy slider faces the floating slider 11 with the disc-shaped recording medium 1 in-between.

Abstract: A read head has a flux guide layer that is immediately adjacent (abuts) the back edge of a read sensor. The flux guide layer is made of a high resistance soft magnetic material that conducts magnetic flux from the back edge of the read sensor so that the magnetic response at the back edge of the read sensor is significantly higher than zero. This increases the efficiency of the read sensor. The material for the flux guide layer is A-B-C where A is selected from the group Fe and Co, B is selected from the group Hf, Y, Ta and Zr and C is selected from the group O and N. In a preferred embodiment A-B-C is Fe-Hf-O and the Ms&rgr; of the flux guide layer is greater than 50 times the Ms&rgr; of the read sensor layer where the read sensor layer is NiFe, Ms is saturation magnetization and &rgr; is resistivity. Because of the flux guides high resistance current shunting losses are nearly eliminated.