Suspension standoff arrangement for confining adhesive

A data recording device comprising:

• a disk comprising a data surface of concentric data tracks;
• a rotator for rotating the disk about an axis generally perpendicular to the disk;
• a slider maintained in operative relationship with the data surface when the disk is rotating;
• a suspension coupled to the slider with a plurality of adhesive dots disposed in an adhesive pocket on the suspension, the suspension comprising an adhesive spread region;
• a plurality of dielectric standoffs comprising a first dielectric standoff, a second dielectric standoff, and a third dielectric standoff disposed on the suspension, the first dielectric standoff and the second dielectric standoff bounding the adhesive pocket, the third dielectric standoff disposed in the adhesive spread region between the first dielectric standoff and the second dielectric standoff, wherein the plurality of dielectric standoffs are configured to facilitate the plurality of adhesive dots merging to form a merged adhesive shape, and are configured to confine a spread of the adhesive shape;
• a transducer attached to the slider for reading data from and writing data to the data surface;
• an actuator for moving the slider generally radially to the disk to allow the transducer to access the data tracks;
• and
• an electronics module for processing data read from and written to the data surface.

A head gimbal assembly for a data storage device, comprising:

• a suspension;
• a plurality of adhesive dots on the suspension;
• a permissible adhesive spread region on the suspension, the permissible adhesive spread region defining outer limits in which the adhesive dots may spread without causing damage to the head gimbal assembly;
• a first dielectric standoff disposed on the suspension, the first dielectric standoff comprising a shape that conforms to a shape of permissible adhesive spread region;
• a second dielectric standoff disposed on the suspension, the second dielectric standoff disposed near an upper perimeter of the permissible adhesive spread region;
• and
• a third dielectric standoff disposed on the suspension, the third dielectric standoff disposed between the first dielectric standoff and the second dielectric standoff in a central region of the permissible adhesive spread region,
• wherein the first and second dielectric standoffs are configured to facilitate the plurality of adhesive dots merging to form a merged adhesive shape.