Gimbal flexure and electrical interconnect assembly

A disk drive head suspension assembly, said suspension assembly comprising:

• a load beam having a distal end portion shaped and arranged for supporting a gimbal flexure;
• a combined gimbal flexure and electrical interconnect assembly including a set of traces including one or more electrically insulated, generally parallel, elongated, substrateless low-profile conductors constructed of a single layer spring material, the set of traces including
• a load beam portion having load beam traces shaped and arranged to extend over and match the surface topology of at least a section of the first surface of the load beam, and
• a gimbal portion having gimbal traces extending from the load beam traces and projecting from a distal end of the load beam and adapted for exclusively supporting a disk drive head slider attached to a distal extremity thereof, the gimbal traces shaped and arranged for acting as a gimbal flexure means providing exclusive gimballing support for a disk drive head and for providing conductive paths for electrically coupling to electrical terminals on the disk drive head.

A multi-signal combined gimbal flexure and electrical interconnect assembly for attachment to a disk drive head suspension assembly, wherein said suspension assembly includes a load beam, the combined gimbal flexure and electrical interconnect, comprising:

• a first and a second set of traces, each set of traces including a pair of electrically insulated elongated substrateless low-profile conductors constructed of a single layer of spring material, both sets of traces including a connector region at their proximal end, a gimbal region at their distal end, and a load beam region, the load beam region of the first set of traces extends over and matches the surface topology of at least a section of the first surface of the load beam;
• the load beam region of the second set of traces matches and mounts atop the load beam region of the first set of traces;
• the connector region of the second set of traces steps down from the first set of traces and extends in the same plane proximally along the connector region of the first set of traces, and the conductors at the gimbal region of each set of traces fan out into torsion arms describing a gimbal flexure pattern that is symmetrical along a longitudinal axis bisecting the suspension assembly, a distal end of the torsion arms spreading out into a flexure bond pad;
• the gimbal regions combining for coupling with and providing gimballing support to the head assembly, said torsion arms and said load beam constructed and arranged such that gimbal regions of the traces provide the exclusive mechanical support for a head assembly attached to the flexure bond pad.

A head gimbal-interconnect harness for mounting a combined electrical interconnect and gimbal flexure assembly and a head assembly to a suspension assembly, wherein said suspension assembly includes a load beam, said load beam having a first surface and a distal end portion shaped and arranged for supporting a gimbal flexure, said head gimbal-interconnect harness comprising:

• a set of traces including one or more electrically insulated elongated substrateless low-profile conductors constructed of a single layer spring material, the set of traces including a load beam portion shaped and arranged to extend over and to match the surface topology of at least a section of the first surface of the load beam, and a gimbal portion located at a distal end of the set of traces shaped and arranged as the sole gimbal flexure means for mechanically coupling with the distal end portion of the load beam, providing the exclusive gimballing support for the floating head assembly, and electrically coupling to electrical terminals on the head assembly;
• a support brace for providing a carrier element for alignment and fabrication of the set of conductive traces, said support brace bracketing the set of conductive traces and including a planar border extending along at least one side of the set of conductive traces, tooling registration holes, and support tabs attaching the set of conductive traces to the planar border, wherein the support brace is detached from the set of conductive traces by disengaging the support tabs;
• and
• a head assembly having a slider, a transducer and electrical terminals, wherein the head assembly attaches to the gimbal portion of the set of traces and the gimbal portion electrically connects to the electrical terminals on the head assembly.