Flexible circuit for magnetic head assembly

A head gimbal assembly for use in disk drives comprising:

• an actuator arm formed with a plurality of wiring terminals;
• a load beam characterized by a longitudinal centerline;
• a flexure physically connected to said load beam and having a centerline substantially in alignment with said centerline of said load beam, said flexure being formed with an alignment hole located along said centerline of said flexure;
• an air bearing slider physically connected to said flexure, said slider having a rear end spaced from and facing said alignment hole and a front face opposite to said rear end;
• a transducer disposed on said slider;
• bonding pads formed on said front face of said slider for providing electrical connection to said transducer;
• and
• a flex circuit sandwiched between said flexure and said slider and having a first portion including a plurality of conductors extending in a plane from said wiring terminals to said alignment hole and symmetrically routed in an area around said alignment hole, and having a second portion extending in said plane from said area around said alignment hole to said rear end of said slider thereby defining a planar service loop portion that is entirely linear and symmetrically disposed about said centerline of said flexure between said alignment hole and said bonding pads on said slider, said service loop portion of said flex circuit extending symmetrically and entirely linearly from said flexure to said slider and such that said service loop portion, said flexure and said slider move as an integral unit, said service loop portion having an area of reduced width for providing reduced stiffness to minimize the effects on roll and pitch of said slider.