Copper gimbal and gimbal damping for integrated lead suspension

A flexure leg for a suspension assembly in a disk drive system, the flexure leg comprising:

• a first electrically conducting layer;
• a second electrically conducting layer;
• and
• a dielectric layer disposed between the first electrically conducting layer and the second electrically conducting layer;
• wherein the flexure leg includes no steel.

An integrated lead suspension for a disk drive, comprising:

• a slider positioned on the integrated lead suspension;
• a layer of polymer material on the integrated lead suspension;
• and
• a dimple structure positioned in contact with the layer of polymer material on the integrated lead suspension;
• wherein the layer of polymer is positioned between the dimple structure and the slider.

A disk drive comprising:

• at least one disk;
• a rotatable hub for mounting the disk;
• a read/write head adapted to read from and write to the disk;
• and
• at least one flexure leg adapted to support at least a portion of the head, the flexure leg consisting of a single layer of a material other than steel.

A disk drive comprising:

• at least one disk;
• a rotatable hub for mounting the disk;
• a read/write head adapted to read from and write to the disk;
• and
• at least one flexure leg adapted to support at least a portion of the head, the flexure leg formed from a material other than steel, the flexure leg comprising first and second electrically conducting layers and a dielectric material disposed between the first and second electrically conducting layers.

A method for damping a contact between a dimple structure and a slider in an integrated lead suspension, comprising:

• providing a dimple structure on the integrated lead suspension;
• forming a polymer layer in direct contact with the dimple structure;
• positioning a slider on the integrated lead suspension;
• wherein the polymer layer is positioned between the slider and the dimple structure.

A method for damping a contact between a dimple structure and a slider in an integrated lead suspension, comprising:

• providing a dimple structure on the integrated lead suspension;
• forming a polymer layer in direct contact with the dimple structure;
• forming a metal layer in direct contact with the polymer layer;
• and
• positioning a slider on the metal layer;
• wherein the dimple structure is separated from the slider by at least the polymer layer and the metal layer.

A method for forming a flexure leg structure from materials other than steel, for use in an integrated lead suspension in a disk drive, comprising:

• forming a laminated structure comprising a first layer including copper, a second layer including copper, and a polymer layer therebetween;
• and
• forming a channel through the first layer including copper and the polymer layer so that the first layer including copper includes electrically isolated portions separated by the channel and the polymer layer includes spaced apart portions separated by the channel;
• wherein the channel is formed so that it does not extend through the second layer including copper.