Transducer-level microactuator with dual-axis control

A disc drive having a recording disc rotatable about an axis, a slider carrying a transducing head for transducing data with the disc, and a support structure supporting the slider and operable to coarsely position the transducing head adjacent to a selected radial track of the disc, the slider comprising:

• a stator portion carried by the support structure;
• a plurality of springs extending from the stator portion, the springs being flexible in a lateral direction and in a vertical direction;
• a rotor portion connected to the stator portion by the plurality of springs, the rotor portion carrying the transducing head and being separated from the stator portion by a gap region;
• a plurality of stator electrodes on the stator portion extending into the gap region;
• a plurality of rotor electrodes on the rotor portion extending into the gap region and suspended so as to interdigitate with the stator electrodes in an electrostatic array configuration in which a two-dimensional array of stator electrodes is arranged around each rotor electrode in the gap region;
• and
• control circuitry for applying selected voltages to the stator electrodes and the rotor electrodes to create a selected force upon each rotor electrode in both the lateral and vertical directions for moving the rotor portion with respect to the stator portion to finely adjust the radial position and flying height of the transducing head.

A method of forming a slider for carrying and finely adjusting both a radial position and a flying height of a transducing head with respect to a track of a rotatable disc having a plurality of concentric tracks in a disc drive system, the method comprising:

• forming a stator portion of the slider in a substrate;
• forming a spring cavity in the stator portion;
• forming a first insulating layer on the stator portion and in the spring cavity;
• depositing a first sacrificial layer on the first insulating layer;
• removing horizontal surfaces of the first sacrificial layer;
• forming springs on the first insulating layer in the spring cavity;
• depositing a second sacrificial layer around the springs;
• forming a stator electrode cavity in the stator portion;
• forming a second insulating layer on the stator portion, over the springs and in the stator electrode cavity;
• removing horizontal surfaces of the second insulating layer;
• forming stator electrodes in the stator electrode cavity;
• depositing a third sacrificial layer between the stator electrodes;
• forming a rotor portion that is attached to the springs and includes at least one rotor electrode suspended between the stator electrodes, configured with a two-dimensional array of stator electrodes around each rotor electrode;
• forming the transducing head on the rotor portion;
• and
• removing the first, second and third sacrificial layers.