JP2001043648A - Process for producing head suspension from sheet laminated with structural blanks of multiple layers - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to precisely form a function part of a suspension to a wide range of desired thicknesses by forming this function part by etching respective layers of blanks. SOLUTION: A laminate 110 includes layers 112, 114 and 116 of stainless steel and an adhesive layer 118 adheres the layers 112 and 114 of the stainless steel and an adhesive layer 120 adheres the layers 114 and 116 of the stainless steel. The formation of the function part to the laminate 110 is executed by forming patterns on the layers 112 and 116 of the stainless steel by usage of a standard PCM method and forming openings A and B by etching to the layers 112 and 116 of the stainless steel, than subjecting the laminate 110 to etching to erode and dissolve the adhesive layers 118 and 120 using metal as a mask with chemical etching. Also, the patterns are formed at the adhesive layers 118 and 120 in such a manner that only the blanks of their portions are removed like the adhesive layer 118 in the aperture A in place of the method described above. The function part is formed when the apertures A and B are matched.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a general disk drive head suspension. In particular, the invention relates to a method of manufacturing a head suspension from a laminated sheet material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some head suspensions that support a magnetic head on a rotating disk have a functional portion whose thickness is changed in order to improve its performance.

[0003]

However, it is difficult to manufacture a head suspension having a functional portion of varying thickness due to disadvantages associated with the partial etching of the stainless steel layer. For example, for a layer of stainless steel having a nominal thickness of 0.1 mm, only 0.02
In the case of a head suspension having a region with a thickness of 5 mm, it is necessary to partially etch the head suspension to a depth of 0.075 mm to form a 0.025 mm functional portion. However, it is difficult to control the depth at which the etchant removes one stainless steel layer. With today's etching techniques, a typical etch can partially etch a layer of stainless steel within about 5 micrometers of the desired depth.
Determined empirically. However, it is desirable to be able to precisely form the functional portions of the suspension structure to any desired thickness.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a method for manufacturing a head suspension or a component of a head suspension from a laminated sheet of material including a plurality of metal layers separated from each other by an etch stop layer. The method includes etching each of the layers of material to form features of the suspension, such as a mounting area, a load beam, a spring area, a spring arm, a tower, an extension base and a gimbal of a headlift actuator arm. Therefore, the functional portion of the suspension can be precisely formed in a desired wide range of thickness.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a method for manufacturing a head suspension or a component of the head suspension (eg, flexure, load beam, etc.) from a multi-layer laminate of sheet material. The laminated sheet is made of, for example, one side of 0.025 mm stainless steel (ie,
Layers of different thicknesses, such as a laminate of stainless steel layers with a thickness of 0.075 mm on the other side. As will be described in detail below, each layer of stainless steel of the laminate can be etched into the thickness of the layer to form the desired functional portion. The first advantage of such a laminate is that the registration can be maintained by the artwork when performing the forming process as conventionally performed. The stainless steel layers can be bonded together with an adhesive, such as an insulating adhesive, such as polyimide or polyamide. Bonding the stainless steel layers of the laminate also provides considerable damping characteristics. Although the present invention has been described herein with reference to a typical laminate having multiple layers of stainless steel, the method of the present invention may be applied to laminates having layers of other materials, or (e.g., key electrical properties). It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other materials can be used to form the functional portions of the structural suspension with the major mechanical properties or functions (as opposed to the conductive layers that make up the conductors with the wires). It should be obvious.

[0006] It is contemplated that the laminate may be comprised of a layer of stainless steel of any desired thickness. For example, two layers of 0.05 mm stainless steel can be joined together to form a 0.1 mm thick suspension.

[0007] The multi-layer laminate can be formed into a functional part of a head suspension by etching completely through the desired layer of stainless steel in the desired area of the laminate. For example, as shown in FIG. 1 attached hereto, the laminate 10 can be composed of a first layer 12 of stainless steel and a second layer 14 of stainless steel. Adhesive layer 16 is used to adhere layers 12 and 14 together. A feature such as tower 18 is formed by etching the first layer of stainless steel by performing an etch through the thickness of layer 12 completely around tower 18 in the desired area of the first layer. can do.
With respect to the adhesive layer 16, an "etch stop" that prevents etching into the stainless steel layer 14
Used as "layer". In this way, it is possible to form a functional unit having a height that is more precisely controlled.

An important aspect of the present invention is that the functional part of the laminate 10 can also be used to form the thickness of the second stainless steel layer 14. This is the first
This is performed by removing a selected portion of the layer 12 to form a desired functional portion while leaving the second layer. Note that preferably, a relatively thin layer 14 of stainless steel is used to define the features. The etching process described herein can end with a plasma etch using metal as a mask to remove one or more desired locations of insulating adhesive layer 16.

[0009] Laminates are also contemplated, including multiple layers (ie, two or more layers) of stainless steel or other material. For example, three or more layers can be stacked together to form a multi-layer metal, and the functional portions can be formed on the multi-layer laminate by plasma etching. In addition to using different thicknesses of metal, controlled diffusion partial etching (see, for example, US Pat.
(Shown at 442), a number of different combinations are possible by forming a partial etch in any layer of the laminate.

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of a three-layer laminate 110, while FIG. 3 shows a three-layer laminate 110 etched primarily according to the above description. The laminate 110 comprises a first layer 112 of stainless steel,
It includes a middle layer 114 of stainless steel and a third layer 116 of stainless steel. Adhesive layer 118 attaches layer 112 to 11
4 and the adhesive layer 120 is layer 1
Used to bond 14 to 116.

The first step in forming the features in laminate 110 is to use standard PCM techniques to form metal layers 112 and 11.
6 and the layers 112 and 116 are etched to form openings A and B. Then, the laminate 110
The layer 118 and / or 120 may be eroded using a metal as a mask in a chemical process such as a plasma.
Further dissolving etching is performed. Alternatively, the layers 118 and 120 may be patterned such that only a portion of the material is removed, such as the layer 118 at location A as shown. Layer 1 at position A
20 may be etched with the layer 118 at that location in a later step and left intact (ie,
(It can be left unetched as shown). Once layers 118 and / or 120 have been removed, subsequent patterning can be used to etch metal layer 114. When the openings "A" and "B" match,
A functional part is formed.

The layer 120 at position B can be left as it is or removed as described above. Further, the metal layer 114 can be formed by metal etching in a cross section similar to that of the position A.

Alternatively, the metal layers 112 and 116 may be used as a mask to remove all of the adhesive layers 118 and 120 that were exposed during the metal etching step. The metal layer 114 is thus exposed and can be further etched without being masked or masked. In this step, the upper layers 112 and 116
It is desirable to protect Note also that any of these layers can be partially etched, if desired.

In each of these embodiments, the adhesive or insulating layer can be polyimide or polyamide, but if there is no need to electrically insulate between the stainless steel layers, these may be necessary. is not. Any material can be used as long as it can stop the etching of the metal layers of the laminate and properly bond the layers.

The suspension formed by the above-described method has a suspension gram load caused by swaging of the suspension.
It also helps to reduce the change of. As shown in FIG. 4, an extended base or arm (sometimes referred to as an Unamount suspension) can be incorporated into the structure of the suspension through etching of the multilayer laminate. In the illustrated embodiment, the laminate 210 is made of stainless steel 212, 21.
4, and 216 are formed,
An adhesive is placed between these stainless steel layers and adhered to each other. In this embodiment, the arm 220 can be etched from a layer of stainless steel 212. This concept can be used to dimple or place the tower 222 of a relatively thick metal layer 216, as opposed to the relatively thin metal layer shown in the embodiments described above (eg, tower 18 of FIG. 1). Note that you can

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the functional parts of the head suspension are the tower, the load point, and the extended base / actuator arm head suspension has been described. The functional part of any head suspension formed by the process can be advantageously formed. According to the principles described above, for example, a headlift formed in a stainless steel layer of a multilayer laminate can be etched, as well as a spring region of a suspension load beam, a spring arm of a load beam, or a suspension. can do.

Further, the selection of components constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention involves the use of copper / adhesive / stainless steel / adhesive / stainless steel laminates. By using a known technique, an electric circuit can be formed on the surface of the copper, and the functional portion of the suspension can be formed on the stainless steel layer. In such an embodiment, the load point control of the suspension is increased, which is effective in minimizing the gain. Also,
Circuits can also be built on the surface of the stainless steel layer of the laminate. In addition, a laminate having a copper material bonded centrally between two stainless steel layers via an adhesive can also be used. In such an embodiment, the central copper layer can be used as a ground or shield layer for the head suspension.

While the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the functional parts and details can be changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It will be.

[0019]

According to the method of the present invention, a head suspension or a component of the head suspension is manufactured from a laminated sheet of a material including a plurality of metal layers separated from each other by an etching stop layer. Can be precisely formed in a wide range of desired thicknesses.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a laminated sheet of a material having two layers of stainless steel of a suspension mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a stainless steel 3 used in the manufacture of a suspension or suspension component according to the invention.
It is sectional drawing of the laminated sheet of the material which has a layer.

3 is a view showing a state in which a functional part of a suspension is formed on each stainless steel layer of the laminated sheet of the material shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a laminated sheet of material having three layers of stainless steel for a suspension mechanism including an actuator arm extension base formed on a stainless steel layer.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 110, 210 Laminated plate 12, 14, 112, 114, 116, 212, 21
4,216 stainless steel layer 16,118,120 adhesive layer 18 tower 220 arm 222 dimple or tower

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5D059 AA01 BA01 CA02 CA11 CA14 DA01 DA26 DA31 DA33 EA03 EA12

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing a head suspension or components of a head suspension from a laminated sheet of a material including a plurality of stainless steel metal layers separated from each other by an etching stop layer, wherein each layer of the material is etched. A method comprising forming a feature of a suspension. 2. Each metal layer is etched to include a mounting area, a load beam, a spring area, a spring arm,
The method of claim 1, wherein one or more features are formed from a group including a tower, a headlift, an extended base arm, and a gimbal. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein etching into the metal layers comprises etching through each of the metal layers. 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising etching through the etch stop layer. 5. The method of claim 1 for manufacturing a head suspension or a component of a head suspension from a laminated sheet of material that also includes at least one conductive metal layer separated from the metal layer by an etch stop layer. 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising etching the conductive metal layer to form a conductor. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein etching the conductive metal layer comprises etching through the conductive metal layer. 8. The method of claim 1 for manufacturing a head suspension or a component of a head suspension from laminated sheets of material including a plurality of metal layers having different thicknesses. 9. A method for manufacturing a head suspension or a component of a head suspension, comprising: forming a laminated sheet of material comprising at least two stainless steel layers and a conductive metal layer separated from each other by an etch stop layer. Prepare and etch each of the stainless steel layers to form at least one suspension feature from a group including a mounting area, a load beam, a spring area, a spring arm, a tower, a head lift, an unmounted base and a gimbal. Performing etching through the conductive metal layer to form a conductor, and etching at least a portion of each etching stop layer. 10. Providing a laminated sheet of material,
10. The method according to claim 9, comprising providing laminated sheets of material comprising at least two layers of stainless steel having different thicknesses.
the method of. 11. A method of manufacturing a head suspension or a component of a head suspension from a laminated sheet of a material including a plurality of stainless steel metal layers separated from each other by an etching stop layer, wherein each of the material layers is etched. And forming a functional part of the suspension to impart main mechanical suspension characteristics excluding electrical characteristics. 12. An etching of a layer of material, wherein each of the layers of material is etched into one of a group comprising a mounting area, a load beam, a spring area, a spring arm, a tower, a headlift, an extension base arm and a gimbal. 12. The method of claim 11, comprising forming a feature or more. 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the head suspension or a component of the head suspension is manufactured from a laminated sheet of material comprising at least one metal layer. 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the head suspension or a component of the head suspension is manufactured from a laminated sheet of material comprising at least two metal layers.