JP2000021157A - Electrostatic discharge breakdown protection device for magnetic head and magnetic storage apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To protect a head element from discharge of electrostatic charges by disposing means for ensuring electrical short-circuiting of a terminal section of a recording and reproducing head to be used for connection with an external circuit. SOLUTION: A short-circuiting member 30 is provided at terminals 10 to be used for connection with recording and reproducing channels in a terminal made of an FPC 20. This short-circuiting member 30 is disposed so that its opening is positioned across a terminal section of a head arm, and an end of a support piece 32 is adhered to the lower surface of a head arm support plate 4. Furthermore, a bending process is performed so that a surface of a short-circuiting piece 31 that is to come into contact with the terminals constitutes an outer surface while bent and the peak point 34 in the bending process comes into contact with a slope provided in a connector 10. With such a configuration, it becomes possible to adhere the short-circuiting piece 31 to the terminals 10 with a strong force in a normal condition so as to allow the terminals to be surely short-circuited, and it becomes possible to easily release the terminals from the short-circuited condition when connecting the terminals 10 to the connector.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a storage device for performing high-density magnetic recording such as a magnetic disk storage device, and more particularly to a device for preventing a recording / reproducing head from being damaged by static electricity.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent high-density storage devices such as magnetic disk devices, a reproducing head (hereinafter referred to as an MR head) by a magnetoresistive effect is mainly used as an element for reproducing a signal from a recording medium, instead of a conventional inductive magnetic head. A recording / reproducing head in which a recording head element and an MR head element formed by a thin film process are integrated has come to be used. The MR head is made of an ultra-thin alloy film, and is provided with a recording element at a fine interval. As a result, electrostatic charges may flow in from the signal lead lines of the recording / reproducing head element or the connection terminal to the external circuit, and may be damaged through the MR head element and markedly deteriorate in performance due to discharge through the MR head element. .

Therefore, when using the MR head, electrostatic charges are not discharged through the MR head in all stages of the manufacturing process of the MR head element, as well as in the process of assembling, transporting, and assembling the device into a magnetic disk drive. Is an important issue.

Therefore, in the manufacturing process of the recording / reproducing head, the assembling work of the magnetic head, and the work of assembling the magnetic head into the apparatus, measures to prevent generation of static electricity as much as possible and enclose them in a conductive case during transportation are taken. It has been mainly used in the past. Inspections have been performed in each process to prevent the damaged MR head from being incorporated into the device and deteriorating the operation quality of the device.

However, in response to recent demands for higher density of storage devices, the thickness of MR heads is also becoming increasingly thinner. A way to prevent damage has become necessary.

[0006] From such a background, it is possible to reliably prevent electrostatic destruction in each process from manufacturing to transportation and to assembling into a magnetic storage device, and to easily release it when necessary as well as during assembling into the device as well as performance inspection. A possible electrostatic discharge protection device is desired.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to ensure that the terminals of the MR head are short-circuited during the transporting of the recording / reproducing head and in the process of assembling the magnetic disk drive, thereby causing the MR head element to be electrostatically charged. Provided is an electrostatic protection device for a recording / reproducing head which protects against discharge of a recording and reproducing head and can easily release a short circuit at the time of connection work to an external circuit such as inspection of a recording / reproducing element, assembling work to a magnetic disk device, etc. It is to be.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a high-quality magnetic storage device in which a recording / reproducing head is prevented from being deteriorated by static electricity by an electrostatic protection device.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides means for electrically short-circuiting a terminal portion for connecting to an external circuit of a recording / reproducing head. Further, the magnetic disk device is provided with a means for canceling the short circuit by the short circuit means.

That is, the terminal for connecting the recording / reproducing head to an external circuit is not used until the process of assembling the recording / reproducing head into the magnetic storage device. Therefore, by short-circuiting the terminals in advance by the means for short-circuiting the terminals, it is possible to assemble the magnetic head element with the terminals of the magnetic head element short-circuited. In addition, it is possible to maintain a short-circuited state of the signal terminal of the recording / reproducing element until just before the terminal is connected to an external circuit during the transporting process and in the work of assembling the magnetic recording device. Further, the means for releasing the short circuit immediately before assembling the device minimizes the period in which the terminals of the MR head element are open. As a result, even if the electrostatic charge flows in, it is discharged through the short-circuit member, thereby minimizing damage to the read / write head element due to the electrostatic charge.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a general configuration of a magnetic disk drive. A magnetic disk 1 having a magnetic layer formed on its surface is fixed to a shaft of a motor 2 while rotating.
A recording / reproducing element (not shown) incorporated at the tip of the head arm 3 performs data recording / reproducing on the magnetic layer. The head arm 3 includes a support plate 4, a load spring 5 fixed to the support plate 4, and a slider 6 attached to a tip of the load spring 5. The recording / reproducing element is incorporated in the head slider 6, and while maintaining an appropriate distance from the magnetic disk 1 with an appropriate load by the load spring 5, data is recorded or read on the magnetic layer formed on the surface of the magnetic disk. Perform playback.

The head arm 3 includes a voice coil motor 7
The voice coil motor 7 is driven and positioned at a specific position on the magnetic disk based on an instruction from the controller 8 so that recording and reproduction can be performed at a target track position on the magnetic disk.
The signal line 9 from the recording / reproducing element incorporated in the head slider 6 is the connector 1 to which the terminal 10 provided on the head arm 3 and the signal line reaching the recording / reproducing channel 12 are connected.
The recording / reproducing data is transmitted / received to / from a higher-level device via an interface 13 based on an instruction from a controller 8 via a recording / reproducing channel 12.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an upper surface of a head arm 3 according to the present invention. The head arm 3 has a load spring 5 fixed to a support plate 4, and a slider 6 having a recording / reproducing element incorporated therein is attached to the tip of the load spring. A terminal 10 is provided on the head arm to connect a signal drawn from a signal terminal of the recording / reproducing element to a recording / reproducing channel,
This terminal is inserted into the connector 11 connected to the input / output terminal of the recording / reproducing channel 12 in the apparatus. The terminal is provided with a portion for the terminal on the head arm support plate 4,
A printed circuit board 20 (hereinafter, referred to as FPC) having a terminal pattern formed on one end was bonded and formed. At the other end of the FPC 20, a relay terminal pattern 21 for connecting a signal lead-out wiring 22 from the recording / reproducing head element was formed, and the signal lead-out wiring 22 from the recording / reproducing head element was connected by thermocompression bonding.

A short-circuit member 30 is installed at the terminal 10 on the recording / reproducing channel connection side of the terminal formed by the FPC 20. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the upper surface of the terminal portion of the head arm. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the lower surface of the terminal portion of the head arm. The short-circuit member 30 has a structure in which a short-circuit piece 31 made of one conductor for short-circuiting a terminal and a support piece 32 made of a spring material are added to both ends of the short-circuit piece 31. One end of the support piece is connected to the support plate 4 of the head arm. And the short-circuit piece 31 was brought into contact with the terminal 10 by a spring. In the embodiment, the short-circuit member 30 formed by processing a plate-shaped spring material into a shape as shown in FIG. 5 was used.

When the material of the shorting piece 31 is not conductive,
It is naturally necessary that the terminal can be electrically short-circuited, for example, by bonding a conductive material to a portion in contact with the terminal 10. However, even when the conductive material is used, an FPC having a short-circuit pattern is formed. It is desirable that the terminals be short-circuited with lower resistance, such as by bonding. Further, it is preferable that the contact surface can more reliably contact the terminal, for example, by providing a beam on the side surface of the surface that contacts the terminal.

The short-circuit member 30 has an opening 3
3 was arranged so as to straddle the terminal portion of the head arm, and the end of the support piece 32 was fixed to the lower surface of the head arm support plate 4. Further, the bending process is performed so that the surface of the short-circuiting piece 31 that contacts the terminal is the outer surface of the bend, and when connecting to the connector, the vertex 34 of the bend is in contact with the slope 40 provided on the connector 10. Was.

By doing so, the short piece 31 can be firmly brought into close contact with the terminal 10 with a stronger force and the terminal can be reliably short-circuited, and when the terminal 10 is connected to the connector 11, it can be easily made. The short circuit of the terminal can be released. When the short-circuit member 30 is fixed to the head arm 3 as in this embodiment, it is desirable to select a material in consideration of the influence of distortion due to a change in ambient temperature and the like.

In the embodiment, an example in which the signal lead-out wiring of the magnetic head element is connected by the relay terminal 21 has been described.
Extend PC20 and connect signal terminals of magnetic head element to FPC
There is no problem in practicing the present invention even if it is directly joined to the terminal portion. A terminal 10 connected to the recording / reproducing channel 12
However, it is apparent that the present invention can be easily implemented by changing the shape of the short-circuit member 30 even if the terminal is formed by another method without using the FPC 20.

FIG. 6 shows the connector 11 for inserting the terminal 10 on the head arm provided with the short-circuit member 30 and electrically connecting the signal lead-out line of the recording / reproducing element to the input / output terminal of the recording / reproducing channel. FIG. The connector 11 has a connector 41 embedded in a housing 41 formed of an insulating material such as plastic, similar to a general connector, in which a connector 42 that is in electrical contact with a terminal to be connected is embedded. Is provided. In FIG. 6,
It is shown as a cutaway view of one side of the housing, and the slopes are actually provided on both sides.

The slope 40 needs to be provided at a position where the vertex 34 of the short-circuit member 30 that has been bent when the connection terminal of the magnetic head arm is inserted into the connector 11 contacts the slope 40. FIGS. 7 and 8 schematically show the relationship between the inclined surface 40 provided on the connector, the short-circuit member 30 and the terminal 10 of the head arm. When the terminal portion of the magnetic head arm is started to be inserted into the connector, the vertex 34 of the short-circuit member 30 bent as shown in FIG. 7 comes into contact with the slope 40, and when further inserted, the vertex 34 is pushed up as shown in FIG. Connection terminal 1 between the short-circuit member 30 and the magnetic head arm
The short circuit of 0 is released.

Before or after the short-circuit of the connection terminal 10 is released, the connection terminal 10 of the head arm contacts the connector 42 of the connector and is connected to the recording / reproducing channel 12 via the connector 42. Since the short-circuit member 30 is fixed to the head arm support plate 4, when the terminal 10 is pulled out from the connector 11, the position of the short-circuit member 30 is simultaneously returned to the initial state by a spring, and the terminal is short-circuited. In this manner, the period during which the terminal 10 of the head arm, that is, the terminal of the recording / reproducing element, is open can be minimized.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the head arm and the short-circuit member are integrally formed. When shaping the support plate 4, a portion to be a short-circuit member was formed around a portion to be a connection terminal, and this was bent to form a short-circuit member 30 integrally with the head arm. The bending is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.
0 so that the surface in contact with the terminal 10 is the outer surface of the bend.
In addition, folding was performed so that the back surface of the portion serving as the short-circuit piece 41, that is, the back surface of the support plate 4 was in contact with the terminal. Similarly to the first embodiment, when the connector is inserted into the connector having the slope portion 40, the bent vertex 34 is pushed up and the connection terminal 1
The zero short is released. In the present embodiment, the number of components does not need to be increased, and the operation of fixing the short-circuit member is unnecessary, so that an increase in cost can be suppressed.

FIG. 10 is a view showing the appearance of a short-circuit member according to a third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a diagram schematically showing a state where the short-circuit member of the present embodiment is mounted on the terminal 10 of the head arm. The terminal of the head arm is sandwiched by the short-circuit member 30 to short-circuit the terminal 10. The short-circuit member 30 has a structure in which an opening 35 is provided by molding a piece of a plate-like spring material, and the outer surface bent into a substantially U-shape crosses the opening so as to contact the terminal. With such a structure, the short-circuit piece 31 can be brought into contact with the terminal 10 with a stronger force. In this embodiment, in the process of incorporating the head arm into the magnetic disk drive, it is necessary to remove the short-circuit member 30 with a tool or the like at the time of joining to the connector to release the short-circuit. Can be used for convenience.

[0024]

According to the present invention, the terminals of the MR head are reliably kept short-circuited in the process of transporting the recording / reproducing head and in the process of assembling into the magnetic disk drive, thereby protecting the MR head element from discharging electrostatic charges, and The short circuit can be easily released at the time of connection work to an external circuit, and deterioration of the recording / reproducing head due to static electricity can be prevented, and a high-quality magnetic storage device can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a head arm according to the present invention as viewed from above.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a general configuration of a magnetic disk drive.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view in which a terminal unit upper surface of a head arm on which a short-circuit member is installed is perspectively viewed.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view in which a lower surface of a terminal portion of a head arm on which a short-circuit member is installed is perspectively viewed.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of the shape of a short-circuit member.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a connector for inserting a terminal of a head arm and electrically connecting a signal lead line of a recording / reproducing element to an input terminal of a recording / reproducing channel.

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the relationship between the terminal of the head arm, the short-circuit member, and the slope provided on the connector immediately before the terminal is inserted into the connector.

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a relationship between a terminal of a head arm, a short-circuit member, and a slope provided on the connector while the terminal is being inserted into the connector.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a short-circuit member according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic sectional view showing a state where a short-circuit member according to a third embodiment of the present invention is mounted on a terminal portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Magnetic disk, 2 ... Motor, 3 ... Head arm, 4 ... Support plate, 5 ... Load spring, 6 ... Slider.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic head assembly comprising a magnetic data recording / reproducing element and a terminal for electrically connecting a terminal of the recording / reproducing element to an external circuit, comprising a means for short-circuiting the terminal. Electrostatic breakdown protection device for magnetic head. 2. A short-circuit member for short-circuiting a terminal connecting a terminal of a recording / reproducing element to an external circuit, the short-circuit member having a spring member for supporting a portion in contact with the terminal, wherein the spring member is short-circuited. An electrostatic discharge protection device for a magnetic head, wherein a protrusion is provided in a direction of a surface of the member that contacts the terminal. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a back surface of an extension of a surface of the short-circuit member that contacts the terminal of the terminal portion that connects the terminal of the recording / reproducing element to an external circuit is fixed to the back surface of the terminal portion substrate. 3. The electrostatic discharge protection device for a magnetic head according to claim 2, wherein: 4. A short-circuit member for short-circuiting a terminal connecting a terminal of a recording / reproducing element to an external circuit, the short-circuit member having an opening, and intersecting a double piece bent in a substantially U shape at the opening. 2. An electrostatic discharge protection device for a magnetic head according to claim 1, wherein the outer surface of the bend contacts the terminal. 5. A magnetic head comprising a short-circuit member for short-circuiting a connection terminal portion for electrically connecting a signal lead-out terminal of a recording / reproducing element of a magnetic head and a recording / reproducing control unit, and a connector having a slope contacting the short-circuit member. Magnetic storage device.