Flexible Printed Circuit Type Patents (Class 360/245.9)
  • Patent number: 11924958
    Abstract: A hard disk drive flexible printed circuit (FPC) includes a plurality of fingers extending from a main portion, with each finger having a first wiring layer including a first electrically conductive trace layout, a second wiring layer including a second electrically conductive trace layout, and a base film interposed between the first and second wiring layers, where the first conductive trace layout includes at least one thermally conductive protective island overlaying a respective portion of the second trace layout to provide a protective thermal barrier to the base film. Hence, maximum temperatures across various layers of the FPC laminate can be reduced, damage to the FPC prevented, and manufacturing yields improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Teruhiro Nakamiya, Kazuhiro Nagaoka, Satoshi Nakamura, Nobuyuki Okunaga
  • Patent number: 11915721
    Abstract: A hard disk drive (HDD) includes a suspension connected to a stack arm. The suspension includes a mount plate, a hinge, a load beam, and a circuit. The mount plate includes a bottom surface facing a disk and an ear portion extending from a side edge of the mount plate. The bottom surface includes a planar region, a first indented region vertically recessed relative to the planar region, and a second indented region located at the ear portion and vertically recessed relative to the planar region. The load beam terminates in a load beam hinge is connected to the first indented region. The circuit extends along the first and second indented regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Magnecomp Corporation
    Inventors: Kuen Chee Ee, Long Zhang, David Glaess
  • Patent number: 11915732
    Abstract: A gimbal having a base portion and a tongue joined together by a neck portion. The base portion includes a first proximal edge facing away from the tongue. A circuit is mounted on the gimbal and includes a portion mounted to the base portion having a circuit extension region that extends beyond the first proximal edge. The circuit extension region includes a second proximal edge facing away from the tongue. A slider may be mounted on the tongue and electrically connected to the circuit. First and second PZT actuators are mounted to the head gimbal assembly and electrically connected to the circuit. The circuit extension region has a circuit extension region width W of at least 0.1 mm as measured in a direction extending away from the tongue relative to a furthest extending portion of the first proximal edge and a furthest extending portion of the second proximal edge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Magnecomp Corporation
    Inventor: Kuen Chee Ee
  • Patent number: 11900974
    Abstract: A flexure is described, which includes conductive traces extending from a proximal end of the flexure to a distal end of the flexure. The flexure also includes a plurality of outer gimbal struts configured to define an opening at the proximal end of the flexure. The flexure also includes an oblong feature extending into the opening, the oblong feature defines an aperture. The conductive traces include a first semi-circular conductive trace portion overlapping a first section of the oblong feature at a proximal end of the aperture extending to a distal end of the aperture. The conductive traces include a second semi-circular conductive trace portion overlapping a second section of the oblong feature at a proximal end of the aperture extending to the distal end of the aperture. The first and second semi-circular conductive trace portions define the aperture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Magnecomp Corporation
    Inventors: Treesoon Kotchaplayuk, Johnathan Hy-tho Phu, Kuen Chee Ee, David Glaess, Rakkiet Warinsirirux
  • Patent number: 11882138
    Abstract: A method, apparatus and computer system to identify threats on a TCP/IP-based network. The approach leverages a set of reference patterns (or “network spectrals”) associated with one or more defined Indicators of Compromise (IoCs). At least one reference pattern is time-bounded and profiles a network traffic pattern using a set of session data (e.g., volume, direction, traffic metadata) that is payload-neutral and may be derived in part by time-series compression of at least one non-varying encoding interval. Network traffic data associated with a traffic pattern under test is received and encoded to generate a test spectral. A stream-based real-time comparison is performed to determine whether the test spectral matches against any of the reference spectrals. Responsive to identifying a match, a given remediation or mitigation action is then taken. A reference spectral may represent a bi- or multi-directional flow, and the multi-directional flow may involve multiple entities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Wayne Francis Tackabury, Bruno dos Santos Silva
  • Patent number: 11862210
    Abstract: A sag bend portion is formed in a longitudinal part of the load beam and bent in a thickness direction. The load beam includes a first portion and a second portion bordering the sag bend portion. Roots of outrigger portions are secured to the load beam by weld portions. A slit portion is formed around each of the weld portions. The slit portion includes an arc-shaped slit and a pair of extension slits. An outrigger support portion is formed inside the slit portion. The outrigger support portion extends in a direction different from that of the second portion of the load beam with respect to a cross section along the longitudinal direction of the load beam in the thickness direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kenichi Takikawa, Toshiki Ando
  • Patent number: 11715490
    Abstract: 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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: Magnecomp Corporation
    Inventors: Kuen Chee Ee, Ekaratch Pankaew
  • Patent number: 11688421
    Abstract: 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 includes a slot, and the inner strut and the middle strut adjoin the outer gimbal struts to the slider tongue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: Magnecomp Corporation
    Inventors: David Glaess, Kuen Chee Ee
  • Patent number: 11657840
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a suspension assembly includes a support plate, a wiring member disposed on the support plate, and a head supported on the support plate through the wiring member. The wiring member includes a distal end portion electrically connected to the head, a connection end portion extending outside the support plate, and a plurality of wirings extending between the distal end portion and the connection end portion. The connection end portion includes an opening with predetermined length and width and thirteen or more connection terminals disposed in the opening and arranged at intervals in a direction of the length. A percentage of an area of the opening occupied by areas of the thirteen or more connection terminals is 40% to 65% inclusive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kenichiro Aoki
  • Patent number: 11631426
    Abstract: A hard disk drive suspension assembly includes a pad base layer, a pad-end fixing layer, and a plurality of electrical pads each comprising a conductive layer on the pad base layer, where the base layer extends to the fixing layer, to which a distal end of the base layer is fixed. This configuration inhibits the delamination or deformation of the end edge of each pad. An additional cover layer may be implemented to cover the distal end of the conductive layer(s), further inhibiting deformation of the pads. These techniques are especially relevant with narrow, high-density, small pitch electrical pads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kohichiroh Naka, Hiroyasu Tsuchida, Kenichi Murata, Yuhsuke Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 11600298
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a disk device includes a recording medium, a magnetic head, a ramp, and an actuator. The recording medium has a recording surface and is rotatable around a first rotation axis. The actuator includes a first portion extending so as to be separated from a second rotation axis and separated from the recording surface as the distance from the second rotation axis increases, holds the magnetic head, and is rotatable around the second rotation axis. A first support is provided on the ramp, extends around the second rotation axis, and can support the first portion so that the magnetic head is separated from the recording surface. A second support is provided on the ramp, is located between the first rotation axis and the first support, is separated from the second rotation axis farther than the first support, and can support the first portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yasuhiko Kato
  • Patent number: 11567050
    Abstract: A hydrogen sensor and preparation method therefor, and a method for implementing hydrogen detection based on the hydrogen sensor. The hydrogen sensor includes an elastomeric substrate and a hydrogen sensitive material-based nanostructure positioned on the elastomeric substrate, the surface of the elastomeric substrate close to the hydrogen sensitive material-based nanostructure has a nanoarray structure, and the hydrogen sensitive material-based nanostructure and the nanoarray structure are complementary to each other. In addition, the present disclosure provides a preparation method for the hydrogen sensor and a method for implementing hydrogen detection based on the hydrogen sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: SUN YAT-SEN UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Chongjun Jin, Yang Shen, Xiaoyi She
  • Patent number: 11562768
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a magnetic head having a first array of read transducers, an array of write transducers, and a second array of read transducers. A center-to-center pitch of the read transducers in the first array is less than a center-to-center pitch of the write transducers. A center-to-center pitch of the read transducers in the second array is greater than a center-to-center pitch of the write transducers. The read transducers in the first and second arrays are aligned with the write transducers along an intended direction of tape travel thereacross for enabling read-while-write operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jason Liang, Robert Biskeborn
  • Patent number: 11430474
    Abstract: A hard disk drive suspension includes a suspension tail configured to electrically connect to a read-write transducer at a distal end and extending in a proximal direction toward a tapered tip at a proximal end, where the tapered tip comprises a decreasing taper that narrows in the proximal direction. Hence, structural overlap among adjacent suspension tails in misalignment scenarios and consequent marginalized electrical connections between the suspension tail and a corresponding flexible printed circuit are inhibited. The most proximal electrical pads of the suspension tail may be configured with a different aspect ratio, or in a fewer number of lines, from other adjacent electrical pads, thereby fitting within the narrowest portion of the tapered tip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Teruhiro Nakamiya, Yasushi Inoue
  • Patent number: 11348608
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a tri-stage assembly is described herein. The method includes attaching a first microactuator and a second microactuator to a trace gimbal to a flexure during a PZT on flexure process (POF). The first microactuator is located at a distal end of the flexure and the second microactuator located at a proximal end of the flexure. The method also includes welding the trace gimbal to a baseplate, and a load beam to secure the trace gimbal including the first microactuator and the second microactuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: Magnecomp Corporation
    Inventors: Peter Hahn, David Glaess, Kuen Chee Ee, Benjapa Tanampee, Keith Allan Vanderlee, Preecha Sudachun, Johnathan Phu
  • Patent number: 11276425
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a disk device includes a first head actuator, a second head actuator, and a wiring board unit connected to the first head actuator and the second head actuator. The wiring board unit includes a flexible printed wiring board including a base portion and at least two extension portions extending from the base portion, and each of the extension portions includes a joint portion provided with connection pads and a cutting work trace portion. One joint portion is attached to a first actuator block, and the connection end portion of a first wiring member is joined to the connection pads. Another joint portion is attached to a second actuator block, and the connection end portion of a second wiring member is joined to the connection pad.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tomoyuki Tokizaki
  • Patent number: 11264855
    Abstract: A coil substrate includes a flexible substrate, and a coil including a wiring and formed on the flexible substrate. The flexible substrate has a cut penetrating through the flexible substrate such that the cut is formed to extend along a portion of the coil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: IBIDEN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Haruhiko Morita, Hitoshi Miwa, Shinobu Kato, Toshihiko Yokomaku, Hisashi Kato, Takahisa Hirasawa, Tetsuya Muraki, Takayuki Furuno
  • Patent number: 11042716
    Abstract: A system for securing a magnetic card reader, including a surface-mounted magnetic reader head, via at least one mounting end, on a flexible printed circuit. The flexible printed circuit includes: at least one first layer for transporting analogue signals of the magnetic reader head; at least one layer having a plurality of tracks connected to the ground, called ground layer, covering the analogue signals of the first layer; and at least one dynamic security layer covering the ground layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: INGENICO GROUP
    Inventors: Ferhaj Chowdhary, Johann Balasse, Ludovic Neveu, Alexandre Quenet
  • Patent number: 10983506
    Abstract: An automated manufacturing system for manufacturing a discrete object is configured to manufacture a reference feature on a precursor to the discrete object. Reference feature is used to place the precursor at a subtractive manufacturing machine; the reference feature may be based on a locating feature at the subtractive manufacturing machine. Manufacturing reference feature is accomplished by automatedly detecting one or more critical-to-quality features and manufacturing the reference feature based on the one or more detected critical-to-quality features.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Proto Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: James L Jacobs, Arthur Richard Baker, III
  • Patent number: 10978101
    Abstract: A wiring structure of a head suspension including a flexure that supports a head and is attached to a load beam applying load onto the head, includes write wiring and read wiring formed on the flexure and connected to the head, each having wires of opposite polarities and further including a stacked interleaved part which includes segments electrically connected to the respective wires of the write wiring, the segments stacked on and facing the wires through an electrical insulating layer so that the facing wire and segment have opposite polarities, is manufactured by a wiring step, an insulating layer forming step and a stacked interleaved part forming step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Hajime Arai
  • Patent number: 10878843
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a head suspension assembly includes a support plate having a proximal end and a distal end, a wiring member on the support plate and including a metal plate and a wiring board laid on the metal plate, the metal plate including a first joined portion joined to the support plate close to the distal end and a second joined portion joined to the support plate and located on a proximal end side of the support plate, a head mounted on the wiring member, an extendable piezoelectric element mounted on the wiring member, and a damper including a viscoelastic layer and a constraint layer stacked on the viscoelastic layer and attached to the support plate to cover the first joined portion and the second joined portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation
    Inventor: Kenichiro Aoki
  • Patent number: 10791621
    Abstract: A circuit substrate includes an insulating body, a wiring enclosed by the insulating body, a conductive layer formed within the insulating body on a same plane as the wiring, and electrically insulated from the wiring by the insulating body, and one or more conductive vias extending through an edge portion of the conductive layer in a thickness direction intersecting the plane. A first width of the insulating body between the wiring and the conductive layer at a first position in the plane direction that does not correspond to any of said one or more conductive vias is smaller than a second width of the insulating body between the wiring and the conductive layer at a second position in the plane direction that corresponds to one of said one or more conductive vias.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2020
    Assignee: TOSHIBA MEMORY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Satoru Fukuchi
  • Patent number: 10680055
    Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a highly reliable display device. In particular, a display device to which a signal or a power supply potential can be supplied stably is provided. Further, a bendable display device to which a signal or a power supply potential can be supplied stably is provided. The display device includes, over a flexible substrate, a display portion, a plurality of connection terminals to which a signal from an outside can be input, and a plurality of wirings. One of the plurality of wirings electrically connects one of the plurality of connection terminals to the display portion. The one of the plurality of wirings includes a first portion including a plurality of separate lines and a second portion in which the plurality of lines converge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Kensuke Yoshizumi
  • Patent number: 10420224
    Abstract: A dummy trace portion is provided in a region between at least a suspension board with circuit on one end side and a support frame of a suspension board assembly sheet with circuits. A base insulating layer is formed on a support substrate in the dummy trace portion. A plurality of conductor traces are formed on the base insulating layer, and a cover insulating layer is formed on the base insulating layer to cover each conductor trace. At least one of the base insulating layer and the cover insulating layer in the dummy trace portion has a groove.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2019
    Assignee: NITTO DENKO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jun Ishii, Terukazu Ihara, Naohiro Terada
  • Patent number: 10395694
    Abstract: A low permeability electrical feed-through involves a laminate structure having alternating conductive and insulating layers with a conductive through-hole positioned therethrough, by which a lower connector pad is electrically connected with an upper connector pad. Such a feed-through may be used at an interface between a hermetically-sealed internal environment, such as in a lighter-than-air gas filled data storage device, and the external environment. An insulating layer is positioned and configured such that an associated horizontal leak path can meet an allowable feed-through leak rate, while the collection of layers is configured such that an associated vertical leak path can meet the feed-through leak rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kimihiko Sudo, Seong-Hun Choe, Kazuhiro Nagaoka
  • Patent number: 10263063
    Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a highly reliable display device. In particular, a display device to which a signal or a power supply potential can be supplied stably is provided. Further, a bendable display device to which a signal or a power supply potential can be supplied stably is provided. The display device includes, over a flexible substrate, a display portion, a plurality of connection terminals to which a signal from an outside can be input, and a plurality of wirings. One of the plurality of wirings electrically connects one of the plurality of connection terminals to the display portion. The one of the plurality of wirings includes a first portion including a plurality of separate lines and a second portion in which the plurality of lines converge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Kensuke Yoshizumi
  • Patent number: 10249342
    Abstract: A base unit includes a connector electrically connected to a motor having a central axis extending in a vertical direction, and a connector support portion arranged to support a board portion of the connector. The connector support portion includes a bottom plate portion arranged to extend perpendicularly to the central axis, and arranged to support a lower surface of the board portion; a window portion arranged to pass through the bottom plate portion in an axial direction, and arranged to cover or overlap with an electrode terminal of the connector when viewed in the axial direction; a first recessed portion defined in an upper surface of the bottom plate portion around the window portion, and arranged to overlap with the lower surface of the board portion when viewed in the axial direction; and a second recessed portion defined in the upper surface of the bottom plate portion, and arranged to be spaced apart from the first recessed portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: NIDEC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shingo Suginobu, Takumi Shimomura
  • Patent number: 10212809
    Abstract: Flexible printed circuit boards and related methods are disclosed herein. An example printed circuit board includes a controller interface coupled to a surface of the printed circuit board between a first end of the printed circuit board and a second end of the printed circuit board. The example printed circuit board includes a connector coupled to the surface proximate to the first end. The example printed circuit board includes a notch formed between the controller interface and the connector. The notch is to form a narrowed portion of the printed circuit board to enable the printed circuit board to bend at the narrowed portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Fabian Oberndorfer, Klaus Doth, Raffael Lustig, Jan Nicolaas Zelhorst
  • Patent number: 10096669
    Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a highly reliable display device. In particular, a display device to which a signal or a power supply potential can be supplied stably is provided. Further, a bendable display device to which a signal or a power supply potential can be supplied stably is provided. The display device includes, over a flexible substrate, a display portion, a plurality of connection terminals to which a signal from an outside can be input, and a plurality of wirings. One of the plurality of wirings electrically connects one of the plurality of connection terminals to the display portion. The one of the plurality of wirings includes a first portion including a plurality of separate lines and a second portion in which the plurality of lines converge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Kensuke Yoshizumi
  • Patent number: 10063068
    Abstract: A battery system includes a battery module having first and second battery cells. The battery system further includes first and second cell balancing circuits and a microcontroller. The microcontroller determines a first cell balancing current value indicating an amount of electrical current flowing through a first resistor of the first cell balancing circuit based on the first, second, third, and fourth voltage values and a first resistance value. The microcontroller generates a first fault condition code indicating an operational failure of the first transistor in the first balancing circuit if the first cell balancing current value is less than a minimum desired current value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: LG Chem, Ltd.
    Inventor: Richard McCormick
  • Patent number: 10028370
    Abstract: A suspension board with circuit includes a metal supporting board, a conductive layer laminated on the metal supporting board, and a via layer interposed between the metal supporting board and the conductive layer. The conductive layer includes a conductive pattern, and a reference portion serving as a positioning reference for placing the suspension board with circuit on a load beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: NITTO DENKO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasunari Ooyabu, Tetsuya Ohsawa, Emiko Tani
  • Patent number: 10002214
    Abstract: Compound libraries, systems, methods, and apparatus, including computer program apparatus, are described for implementing techniques for processing data from a combinatorial inquiry to determine materials of use in various photoelectronic devices, e.g., organic light emitting diodes. The libraries include a collection of putative compounds of use as components of OLED devices, which are cross-referenced with one or more electronic property relevant to the efficacy of the compounds in an OLED device. The techniques broadly include receiving data from a chemical experiment on a library of materials having a plurality of members and generating a queriable representation of the chemical experiment. The chemical experiment is optionally an in silico experiment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
    Inventors: Mark E. Thompson, Patrick Saris, Peter I. Djurovich, Hsiao-fan Chen
  • Patent number: 9978408
    Abstract: A thin-film piezoelectric material element includes a piezoelectric part having a laminated structure which a lower electrode film, a piezoelectric material film and an upper electrode film are laminated sequentially, and electrode pads connected with the piezoelectric part. The thin-film piezoelectric material element has solder regulating parts formed on pad surfaces being surfaces of the electrode pads. The solder regulating parts have peripheral edge parts and crossing edge parts connected with the two outer edge parts, and formed to cross the pad surfaces. The crossing edge parts are formed in a bow like curve-shape having curved parts, being gradually distant from the shortest line as they are distant more from the outer edge parts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignees: SAE MAGNETICS (H.K.) LTD., TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoto Matono, Kazushi Nishiyama, Hirofumi Nesori, Takuma Kido
  • Patent number: 9972347
    Abstract: A method for head stack assembly (HSA) rework is disclosed. A first head gimbal assembly (HGA) includes a first suspension attached to an arm of the HSA, and a first flexure tail that terminates in a first bonding region that is bonded to a flexible printed circuit (FPC) of the HSA. The first HGA is removed by cutting the first bonding region from a remainder of the first flexure tail and detaching the first suspension from the arm. The first bonding region of the first flexure tail is left bonded to the FPC. A replacement HGA includes a replacement suspension and a replacement flexure tail that terminates in a second bonding region. The replacement HGA is installed on the HSA by attaching the replacement suspension to the arm, overlaying the second bonding region on the first bonding region, and bonding the second bonding region to the first bonding region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Tzong-Shii Pan, Cliff Zhang, Maribel Castro
  • Patent number: 9886984
    Abstract: A base member includes a recessed portion arranged to extend in radial directions and recessed upward from a lower surface of the base member, the radial directions being directions perpendicular to a vertical direction or directions parallel to these directions; and a hole portion arranged to pass through the recessed portion in the vertical direction. The recessed portion includes a recessed portion loop-shaped surface being a loop-shaped surface perpendicular to the vertical direction. A connector is arranged on a lower side of the recessed portion to cover the hole portion. An adhesive is arranged between the connector and the recessed portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: NIDEC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masahiro Akagi, Takeshi Ohiro, Tomohiro Yoneda, Akihiro Yudate, Takayuki Ishino, Sho Nakamura
  • Patent number: 9865288
    Abstract: A suspension board with circuit includes one pair of pedestals. A pedestal conductive layer of one pedestal has a fan portion and a continuous portion. The pedestal conductive layer of the other pedestal has at least the fan portion. When the pedestal conductive layer of the other pedestal has only the fan portion, the pedestal supporting layer is disposed so as to be overlapped with the fan portion in the thickness direction in each of the pedestals and so as not to be overlapped with the continuous portion in the one pedestal and when the pedestal conductive layer of the other pedestal has the continuous portion, the pedestal supporting layer is disposed so as to be overlapped with the continuous portion or is disposed so as to be overlapped with the fan portion and so as not to be overlapped with the continuous portion in each of the pedestals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: NITTO DENKO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naohiro Terada, Saori Kanezaki, Hiroyuki Tanabe, Yoshito Fujimura
  • Patent number: 9856135
    Abstract: A microelectronic interconnect element can include a plurality of first metal lines and a plurality of second metal lines interleaved with the first metal lines. Each of the first and second metal lines has a surface extending within the same reference plane. The first metal lines have surfaces above the reference plane and remote therefrom and the second metal lines have surfaces below the reference plane and remote therefrom. A dielectric layer can separate a metal line of the first metal lines from an adjacent metal line of the second metal lines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Invensas Corporation
    Inventors: Chang Myung Ryu, Kimitaka Endo, Belgacem Haba, Yoichi Kubota
  • Patent number: 9792936
    Abstract: A gimbal assembly includes a flex circuit with a first end extending along a loadbeam and second end having bond pads configured to be electrically coupled to a slider. The gimbal assembly includes a metallic layer with a fixed portion fixably attached to the loadbeam and a movable portion fixably attachable to the slider. The movable portion has at least one extension arm coupled to and providing support to the second end of the flex circuit. First and second linear actuators are coupled between the fixed portion and the movable portion. The first and second linear actuators cause a rotation of the slider in response to an electric signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC
    Inventors: Vijay Kumar, Ravishankar Ajjanagadde Shivarama, Taiho Yeom, Razman Zambri, Bradley Ver Meer
  • Patent number: 9761256
    Abstract: A flexure mounted on a load beam of a disk drive suspension, including a metal base formed of a stainless-steel plate; and a conductive circuit arranged along the metal base. The conductive circuit includes an insulating layer on the metal base; and a conductor on the insulating layer. The conductor includes a thin conductor portion formed in a first region (A1) which is part of the conductive circuit in a longitudinal direction; and a thick conductor portion formed in a second region (A2) which is another part of the conductive circuit in the longitudinal direction, the thick conductor portion being thicker than the thin conductor portion. The flexure includes a flexure tail portion having an opening formed in the metal base; a bent portion of the metal base which is bent in a thickness direction at the opening; and a trace curved portion curved in the thickness direction at a position facing the opening. The trace curved portion includes the thick conductor portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Sei Kawao
  • Patent number: 9704539
    Abstract: A hermetically-sealed hard disk drive (HDD) utilizes a laminated film seal to seal an interface of an electrical flexible cable assembly and an HDD enclosure base. The laminated film seal may be constructed of a heat sealant layer that bonds with a surface of the base and a surface of the flex cable, a barrier layer which inhibits gas from escaping from inside the HDD, and a film surface protective layer which protects the heat sealant and barrier layers. Embodiments may include a heat sealant layer comprising a thermoplastic polymer such as polypropylene, a barrier layer comprising a metal such as aluminum, and a film surface protective layer comprising a thermoplastic polymer such as polyethylene terephthalate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kimihiko Sudo, Takako Hayakawa, Yuichi Arai, Yuta Onobu
  • Patent number: 9679592
    Abstract: A suspension includes a load beam and a flexure. The flexure has a metal base and a conductive circuit portion. The conductive circuit portion has an insulating layer formed on the metal base, and a conductor formed on the insulating layer. The conductive circuit portion includes a first region which constitutes a part of the conductive circuit portion in the longitudinal direction, and a second region which constitutes another part of the same in the longitudinal direction. The conductor includes a thin conductor portion having a first thickness arranged in the first region, and a thick conductor portion having a second thickness arranged in the second region. The second thickness is greater than the first thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Sei Kawao
  • Patent number: 9576600
    Abstract: A tail pad portion is provided in a flexure tail including a metal base and a conductive circuit portion. Tail terminals are arranged in the tail pad portion. The metal base is made of stainless steel, and includes a frame structure having a first frame and a second frame. An opening is formed between the first and second frames. The tail terminals are arranged parallel to each other between the first and second frames. A bridge portion is provided between the first and second frames. The bridge portion is constituted of at least one conductive bridge member, and arranged at a position which does not overlap the tail terminals. One end of the bridge member is connected to the first frame, and the other end of the bridge member is connected to the second frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hajime Arai, Futa Sasaki
  • Patent number: 9576602
    Abstract: A flexure for mounting a plurality of reproduction elements thereon includes a metal base and an interconnection part. The metal base includes a first area, and a second area in which a window portion is formed. The interconnection part includes an insulating layer including a first lane which covers the first area and a second lane which covers the second area, a write trace pair connected to a recording element, read trace pairs provided on the second lane to face the window portion and connected to reproduction elements, respectively, and a ground trace arranged between two adjacent read trace pairs and provided with grounding points at two end portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: NHK SPRING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hajime Arai, Futa Sasaki
  • Patent number: 9570096
    Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided for extending a read bandwidth and increasing a high-frequency signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a front-end of a read path of a hard disk drive (HDD) by introducing a high impedance section at the front-end of the read path. The high impedance section may mitigate capacitive effects found at the front-end of the read path, thereby improving signal transfer by extending the read bandwidth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: HGST NETHERLANDS B.V.
    Inventors: John Contreras, Tatemi Ido, Nobumasa Nishiyama, Xinzhi Xing
  • Patent number: 9557573
    Abstract: A light emitting device is presented. The device comprises an array of pixels and an electrode arrangement, wherein said array of pixels comprises pixels of first and second groups comprising first and second pluralities of light emitting nanorods aligned along first and second predetermined axes respectively, the axes being substantially perpendicular to each other, and the pixels of said array are associated with a plurality of electrode elements of said electrode arrangement thereby enabling modulation of optical emission of one or more pixels separately from one or more other pixels of said pixel array by controllable application of an electric field, the device being therefore configured and operable as an active pixel emitter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignees: Merck Patent GmbH, Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ltd., Qlight Nanotech, Ltd.
    Inventors: Volker Hilarius, Nadja Velesco, Uri Banin, Hagai Arbell, Serge Velesco
  • Patent number: 9543533
    Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a highly reliable display device. In particular, a display device to which a signal or a power supply potential can be supplied stably is provided. Further, a bendable display device to which a signal or a power supply potential can be supplied stably is provided. The display device includes, over a flexible substrate, a display portion, a plurality of connection terminals to which a signal from an outside can be input, and a plurality of wirings. One of the plurality of wirings electrically connects one of the plurality of connection terminals to the display portion. The one of the plurality of wirings includes a first portion including a plurality of separate lines and a second portion in which the plurality of lines converge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Kensuke Yoshizumi
  • Patent number: 9495983
    Abstract: A magnetic head includes a microwave-generating element connected to a ground line. The ground line is made shorter by connecting the ground line to a conductive slider substrate so that the microwave-generating element is in a nearly short-circuited end condition. This allows a microwave excitation current to be efficiently supplied to the microwave-generating element, thus enabling effective microwave-assisted recording.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: TDK CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshikazu Soeno, Takuya Adachi
  • Patent number: 9454982
    Abstract: A wiring structure of a head suspension including a flexure that supports a head and is attached to a load beam applying load onto the head, comprises write wiring and read wiring formed on the flexure and connected to the head, each having wires of opposite polarities. The wiring structure further comprises a stacked interleaved part includes segments electrically connected to the respective wires of the write wiring, the segments stacked on and facing the wires through an electrical insulating layer so that the facing wire and segment have opposite polarities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2016
    Assignee: NHK Spring Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hajime Arai
  • Patent number: 9391661
    Abstract: A signal transmitter includes a carbon nanotube antenna and a heat to electricity conversion device, which powers an amplifier in the transmitter. The heat from the inefficiency of the antenna is conducted to the heat to electricity conversion device. Additional heat from the transmitter electronics and any other inefficient processes can also be conducted to the heat to electricity conversion device. In this manner, the overall efficiency of the carbon nanotube antenna can be substantially increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Inventor: Jack Winters
  • Patent number: 9330693
    Abstract: An electrical circuit for a disk drive suspension has a first signal trace above a grounded support layer which is typically stainless steel, and a second signal trace below the support layer, the two signal traces typically being opposite polarities of a differential signal pair. The support layer between the two signal traces is windowed, and the two traces are physically separated by a distance that equals the nominal thickness of the support layer plus the thicknesses of the top and bottom dielectric layers that separate the signal traces from the support layer. The physical separation combined with the windowing reduces the impedance and increases the bandwidth of the differential pair. The impedance can be controlled by the percentage of windowing in the support layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2016
    Assignee: MAGNECOMP CORPORATION
    Inventors: Peter Hahn, Benjapa Tanampee, Jatuporn Nakarpha, Christopher G. Dunn