Suspension assembly having a microactuator grounded to a flexure

A dual stage actuation suspension including:

• a stainless steel component having a plated contact, the plated contact comprising a first material plated directly on a second material, the first material conductive and non-corrosive, the first material comprising a metal or metal alloy, the second material comprising stainless steel of the stainless steel component, the stainless steel component including a stainless steel layer of a flexure;
• a motor having an electrical contact;
• a conductive adhesive joint between the electrical contact of the motor and the plated contact of the stainless steel component;
• and
• a baseplate having a through hole,
• wherein the conductive adhesive joint extends from the motor, across a portion of the baseplate, into the though hole of the baseplate and into contact with the plated contact on the stainless steel layer of the flexure.

A dual stage actuation suspension including:

• a stainless steel component having a plated contact, the plated contact comprising a first material plated directly on a second material, the first material conductive and non-corrosive, the first material comprising a metal or metal alloy, the second material comprising stainless steel of the stainless steel component, the stainless steel component including a stainless steel layer of a flexure having a through hole in the stainless steel layer, the through hole exposing plated traces;
• a motor having an electrical contact;
• a conductive adhesive joint between the electrical contact of the motor and the plated contact of the stainless steel component;
• and
• a baseplate having a through hole aligned with the through hole in the flexure,
• wherein the conductive adhesive joint extends from the motor, across a portion of the baseplate, into the though holes of the baseplate and flexure and into contact with the plated contact on the traces of the flexure.

A dual stage actuation suspension including:

• a stainless steel component having a plated contact, the plated contact comprising a first material plated directly on a second material, the first material conductive and non-corrosive, the first material comprising a metal or metal alloy, the second material comprising stainless steel of the stainless steel component;
• a motor having an electrical contact;
• a conductive adhesive joint between the electrical contact of the motor and the plated contact of the stainless steel component;
• and
• a baseplate having a hole;
• wherein the stainless steel component includes a plated plug force fit into the hole in the baseplate, and
• wherein the conductive adhesive joint extends from the plated contact on the plated plug onto the motor.

A method of assembling a disk drive, the method comprising:

• attaching a spindle attached to a disk drive base;
• mounting a disk on the spindle;
• attaching a coarse actuator to the disk drive base, the coarse actuator including an actuator arm;
• and
• attaching a suspension assembly to the actuator arm, the suspension assembly including:
• a flexure, the flexure including a metal layer, an insulator layer, a trace layer which includes a gold-plated ground trace;
• a mounting plate;
• a microactuator mounting structure formed in the mounting plate;
• and
• a microactuator mounted in the microactuator mounting structure, the microactuator to position a read head;
• attaching the flexure to the mounting plate;
• and
• bonding a conductive epoxy to the microactuator and extending the conductive epoxy to bond to the gold-plated ground trace of the flexure, such that the microactuator is grounded to the flexure.

A suspension assembly comprising:

• a mounting plate;
• a microactuator mounting structure formed in the mounting plate;
• a microactuator mounted in the microactuator mounting structure, the microactuator to position a read head;
• a flexure attached to the mounting plate, the flexure including a stainless steel layer, an insulator layer, a trace layer which includes a gold-plated ground trace;
• and
• a conductive epoxy bonded to the microactuator extending to bond to the flexure, wherein the epoxy extends to the gold-plated ground trace of the flexure such that the microactuator is grounded to the flexure.