JP3662562B2 - Magnetic head support mechanism, magnetic head support device, and magnetic disk device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a magnetic head support mechanism , a magnetic head support device, and a magnetic disk device .
[0002]
In recent years, a magnetic disk device, which is a kind of external storage device for computers, has been rapidly required to be downsized and increased in capacity. One way to increase the capacity of the magnetic disk device is to increase the number of magnetic disks attached to the spindle. There is also a method of increasing the recording density per unit area by renovating the elemental technology of the magnetic head and magnetic disk. For example, technical development of a magnetoresistive head (MR head) in a magnetic head can be mentioned.
[0003]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, various magnetic head support mechanisms have been proposed. For example, the magnetic head support mechanism disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a suspension in which a spring arm and a gimbal are integrally formed by etching or pressing a single stainless steel plate.
[0004]
A core slider having a magnetic head is mounted on a gimbal using an adhesive. A wiring pattern connected to the magnetic head is formed on the suspension. The wiring pattern is formed by forming a film on the suspension in the order of an insulating layer, a conductive layer, and a protective layer.
[0005]
The wiring pattern and the magnetic head are electrically connected using a gold ball or the like. This wiring pattern is connected to a flexible wiring board provided in the magnetic disk device, and transmits a write signal and a read signal. Such a suspension is fixed to the carriage arm of the magnetic disk apparatus directly or via a slider.
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-6-215513 (FIGS. 1 and 2)
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in recent years, as the density and size of the magnetic disk and the magnetic head are increased, the core slider tends to be reduced in size. Further, along with the miniaturization of the core slider, the gimbal on which it is mounted has also been miniaturized.
[0008]
Conventionally, the magnetic head has a configuration in which an adhesive is applied to the bottom surface of the magnetic head and is adhered to the gimbal. Therefore, the adhesion area of the magnetic head on the gimbal is equal to the area of the bottom surface of the magnetic head.
[0009]
For this reason, when the magnetic head and the gimbal are downsized, the bonding area of the magnetic head on the gimbal is reduced accordingly. However, the adhesive force between the magnetic head and the gimbal correlates with the adhesive area, and the adhesive force decreases as the adhesive area decreases. Therefore, in the conventional magnetic head support mechanism, when the magnetic head is downsized, the adhesive force between the magnetic head and the gimbal is weakened, and the reliability of the magnetic head support mechanism may be reduced. It was.
[0010]
The present invention has been made in view of the above points. A magnetic head support mechanism , a magnetic head support device, and a magnetic disk that can prevent a decrease in adhesive force between the magnetic head and the gimbal even if the magnetic head is downsized. An object is to provide an apparatus .
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is characterized by the following measures.
[0012]
According to a first aspect of the present invention, in the magnetic head support mechanism having a suspension in which a core slider having a magnetic head is bonded to a gimbal of a spring arm, the gimbal is interposed via a bridge portion extending from a tip portion thereof. The area expanding portion is provided on the side portion of the gimbal where the core slider is disposed, except for the bridge portion .
[0013]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the magnetic head support mechanism according to the first aspect, the area enlargement portion is provided on two sides along the longitudinal direction of the gimbal. .
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the magnetic head support mechanism according to the first or second aspect, a wiring pattern extending to the gimbal is formed on the spring arm, and a terminal is formed near the bridge portion of the gimbal. It is characterized by.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the magnetic head support device having a core slider having a magnetic head and a suspension in which the core slider is bonded to a gimbal of a spring arm, the gimbal has a bridge portion extending from a tip portion thereof. And an enlarged area portion is provided on the side of the gimbal where the core slider is disposed except for the bridge portion.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a magnetic disk device including a core slider having a magnetic head and a magnetic head support device having a suspension in which the core slider is bonded to a gimbal of a spring arm. It is connected to the spring arm via a bridge portion extending from the area, and an area expansion portion is provided on a side portion of the gimbal excluding the bridge where the core slider is disposed. It is.
[0014]
According to the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, the gimbal width and length are set to be larger than the width and length of the core slider, and the side portion at the position where the gimbal core slider is disposed. By forming the area-enlarged portion in this case, when the core slider is bonded to the gimbal, the adhesive can be disposed not only on the bottom surface but also on the side surface of the core slider.
[0015]
As a result, the bonding area between the gimbal and the core slider can be widened, and even if the core slider is downsized, the gimbal and the core slider can be securely fixed, thereby improving the reliability of the magnetic head support mechanism. it can.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a magnetic head support mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. The magnetic head support mechanism includes a suspension 10 and a spacer 20. As will be described later, the main feature of this embodiment is that the positioning hole 17 and the side surface angle of the carriage arm (not shown in FIG. 1) and the side surface angle of the spacer 20 are the same, and the terminal portion is formed along the side surface of the spacer 20. 19 is provided. By adopting these configurations, assembly workability can be improved.
[0016]
The suspension 10 includes a spring arm 11, a gimbal 12, a rib portion 15, a slit 16, and a positioning hole 17. The portion having the positioning hole 17 is tapered and wider than the other portions.
[0017]
The spring arm 11 can be formed, for example, by etching or pressing a stainless steel plate material. A wiring pattern 14 is formed on the spring arm 11. One end of the wiring pattern 14 is connected to the magnetic head of the core slider 13, and the other end is a terminal portion 19.
[0018]
The rib portion 15 is provided at a position distant from the spacer 20 and gives the spring arm 11 a predetermined bending characteristic. The slits 16 of the spring arm 11 are provided on both sides of the wiring pattern 14 to provide low rigidity and high frequency characteristics, and to reduce the moment applied to the core slider 13 when the magnetic disk is mounted.
[0019]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating two configuration examples at the tip portion of the spring arm 11. The gimbal 12 has a cantilever (cantilever) configuration, and a core slider 13 having a magnetic head is fixed thereon with an adhesive.
[0020]
The wiring pattern 14 extends to the gimbal 12 through the bridge portion 12A. A conductive layer, which will be described later, is exposed at the tip of the wiring pattern 14, and the conductive layer and the terminal portion of the core slider 13 are electrically connected using gold balls 22.
[0021]
2A shows a configuration in which the width of the gimbal 12 is substantially equal to the width of the core slider 13, and FIG. 2B shows a configuration in which the width and length of the gimbal 12 is larger than the width and length of the core slider 13. Show.
[0022]
That is, the gimbal 12 shown in FIG. 2B has an area enlarged portion 12B. This area enlarged portion 12B is used for bonding the core slider 13. As the core slider 13 is downsized, the bonding area is reduced. Therefore, by using the area enlargement portion 12B shown in FIG. 2B, not only the bottom surface of the core slider 13 but also the side surface is used as the bonding portion, thereby increasing the bonding strength.
[0023]
As shown in FIG. 3, the gimbal 12 on which the core slider 13 is mounted is bent so as to have a certain angle (for example, 1.5 ° to 3.5 °) with the spring arm 11. This is to make the core slider 13 parallel to the magnetic disk surface in the mounted state.
[0024]
4 is a cross-sectional view in the short-side direction of the suspension 10 shown in FIG. As described above, the wiring pattern 14 is provided on the spring arm 11. The wiring pattern 14 includes an insulating layer 24 provided on the spring arm 14, a plurality of conductive layers 25 provided thereon, and a protective layer 26 that protects the conductive layer 25. A method for forming the wiring pattern 14 is detailed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-215513.
[0025]
One end of the wiring pattern 14 is a terminal portion 19 as shown in FIG. The terminal portion 19 is obtained by bending one end of the wiring pattern 14 by 90 °. In the terminal portion 19, the conductive layer 25 is formed wide and exposed. The terminal portion 19 is provided along the side surface 27 of the spacer 20.
[0026]
The suspension 10 configured as described above is attached to the spacer 20 by spot welding 18. As shown in FIG. 5, the spacer 20 is also provided with a positioning hole 17 (corresponding to the second positioning hole in the claims; the positioning hole of the spring arm corresponds to the first positioning hole in the claims).
[0027]
The positioning hole 17 has a shape such as a perfect circle or an ellipse, and the spring arm 11 and the spacer 20 have the same diameter. At the time of spot welding, the spring arm 11 and the spacer 20 are overlapped, and a positioning rod (not shown) is passed through the positioning hole 17. As a result, the two positioning holes overlap completely, and the spring arm 11 and the spacer 20 can be positioned accurately.
[0028]
In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the number of positioning holes 17 is one, but two or more positioning holes may be provided. In this case, a positioning rod is inserted into each positioning hole, and spot welding is performed.
[0029]
FIG. 6 is a view of the magnetic head support mechanism in the magnetic disk apparatus as viewed from below. FIG. 6 shows the relative positional relationship between the magnetic head support mechanism and the magnetic disk 30. When actually viewed from below, the magnetic disk 30 hides the core slider 13 and the like, and these cannot be seen. Alternatively, when the magnetic disk device has a configuration having a plurality of magnetic disks, the magnetic disk 30 may be considered to correspond to an adjacent upper magnetic disk.
[0030]
The spacer 20 is supported by the carriage arm 31 using the caulking hole 21. The carriage arm 31 is formed wider toward the spindle shaft 32.
[0031]
The angle θ1 formed between the side surface 27 of the spacer 20 and the center line O of the magnetic head support mechanism is the same as the angle θ2 formed between the side surface 33 of the carriage arm 31 and the center line O (θ1 = θ2). This is intended to improve the efficiency of attachment and connection work of the relay flexible wiring board (relay FRP) 34.
[0032]
The relay FRP 34 electrically connects the wiring pattern 14 and a flexible wiring board 35 extending from a signal processing circuit (not shown) inside the magnetic disk device. One end of the flexible wiring board 35 is a terminal portion 35 </ b> A, and is fixed to the side surface of the carriage arm 31 (also referred to as the side surface of the spindle 32).
[0033]
As described above, the terminal portion 19 of the wiring pattern is formed along the side surface 27 of the spacer 20. Therefore, the terminal portion 19 is oriented in the same direction as the side surface 27 of the spacer 20 and the side surface 33 of the carriage arm 31. Thereby, the relay FRP 34 can be connected to the terminal portion 19 and the terminal portion 35 </ b> A of the flexible wiring board 35 in a state where the relay FRP 34 is straightly extended.
[0034]
If the terminal portion 19 and the terminal portion 35A of the flexible wiring board 35 are not in the same direction, the connection work must be performed in a state where the flexible wiring board 35 is bent (warped state). Is extremely bad. In addition, since the relay FRP 34 is in a straight state after connection, excessive stress is not applied to the connection portion with the terminal portions 19 and 35A, and high reliability is obtained.
[0035]
The improvement in workability according to the present embodiment ultimately requires that the terminal portion 19 and the terminal portion 35A of the flexible wiring board 35 be on the same plane. In order to realize this, in the above embodiment, θ1 = θ2. It is set. However, the present invention is not limited to this realization means, but includes other realization means in which the terminal portion 19 and the terminal portion of the flexible wiring board 35 are located on the same plane.
[0036]
In FIG. 6, 36 is a coil and 37 is a magnetic circuit. Further, the relay FRP 34 may be a conventionally used one. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the spacer 20 and the carriage arm 31 are formed as separate members, but may be formed integrally. The integrally formed carriage arm has one continuous side surface, and a terminal portion 19 is provided along this side surface. Further, the carriage arm has a plurality of side surfaces facing the same angle on the same side, and the terminal portion 19 is provided along one of these side surfaces.
[0037]
Here, as the size of the core slider 13 is reduced, an important problem is how to set the characteristics of the suspension 10, particularly the resonance point and the rigidity, to desired values. According to an experiment by the present inventor, the values of the width (root width) W1 (see FIG. 1) of the base portion 11A of the spring arm 11 and the width W2 (see FIG. 2) of the bridge portion 12A of the gimbal 12 are adjusted. Thus, it was found that the resonance point and rigidity of the suspension 10 can be adjusted effectively.
[0038]
FIG. 7 is a graph showing changes in the resonance point with respect to the root width W1, and changes in rigidity and resonance point with respect to the width W2 of the bridge portion 12A. In the figure, resonance point 1 is a resonance point of torsional vibration, and resonance point 2 is a resonance point of in-plane vibration. In addition, the rigidity was measured by vertical rigidity, roll rigidity, and pitch rigidity. The suspension 10 used for the measurement has the configuration shown in FIG. 1, and the spring arm 11 is made of stainless steel.
[0039]
Both resonance points 1 and 2 are preferably at as high a frequency as possible. In FIG. 7, the resonance points 1 and 2 are at a high frequency (about 10 kHz) in the vicinity of the root width W1 = 2 mm. Therefore, the range of the root width W1 may be set so that the allowable resonance frequency range is centered on the root width W1 where the resonance points 1 and 2 substantially coincide. In the example of FIG. 7, it can set to the range of 1.5 mm-2.5 mm, for example.
[0040]
The width W2 of the bridge portion 12A is set so that the changes when the changes in the rigidity and the resonance point 1 are normalized by a certain value are within a predetermined range. For example, in the example of FIG. 7, the width W2 can be set in a range of 0.5 mm to 0.7 mm.
[0041]
In this way, the resonance points 1 and 2 can be set to desired values by adjusting the root width W1, and the rigidity can be set to desired values by adjusting the width W2.
[0042]
The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made.
[0043]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when the core slider is bonded to the gimbal, the adhesive can be disposed on the side surface as well as the bottom surface of the core slider. Therefore, the bonding area between the gimbal and the core slider can be widened, and even if the core slider is downsized, the gimbal and the core slider can be securely fixed, and the reliability of the magnetic head support mechanism can be improved. .
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a magnetic head support mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is an enlarged plan view showing a configuration near a gimbal in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1; FIG.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view showing a configuration in the vicinity of the gimbal of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;
4 is a cross-sectional view of a wiring pattern formed on the spring arm of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. FIG.
5 is a perspective view of the spacer of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. FIG.
6 is a view showing a mounting state of the magnetic head support mechanism shown in FIG. 1 from below. FIG.
7 is a diagram showing characteristics of the magnetic head support mechanism shown in FIG. 1; FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Suspension 11 Spring arm 12 Gimbal 12A Bridge part 13 Core slider 14 Wiring pattern 15 Rib part 16 Slit 17 Positioning hole 18 Spot welding 19 Terminal part 20 Spacer 21 Caulking hole 27 Side surface 31 Carriage arm 33 Side surface 34 Relay FRP
35 Flexible wiring board

Claims (5)

In a magnetic head support mechanism having a suspension in which a core slider having a magnetic head is bonded to a gimbal of a spring arm,
The gimbal is connected to the spring arm via a bridge portion extending from the tip portion,
2. A magnetic head support mechanism according to claim 1, wherein an area expansion portion is provided on a side portion of the gimbal excluding the bridge portion where the core slider is disposed . 2. The magnetic head support mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the area enlargement portion is provided on two sides along a longitudinal direction of the gimbal. 3. The magnetic head support mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a wiring pattern extending to the gimbal is formed on the spring arm, and a terminal is formed in the vicinity of the bridge portion of the gimbal. In a magnetic head support device having a suspension in which the core slider is bonded to a gimbal of a core slider having a magnetic head and a spring arm,
  The gimbal is connected to the spring arm via a bridge portion extending from the tip portion,
  2. A magnetic head support device according to claim 1, wherein an area enlargement portion is provided on a side portion of the gimbal excluding the bridge portion where the core slider is disposed. In a magnetic disk device comprising a magnetic head support device having a core slider having a magnetic head and a suspension in which the core slider is bonded to a gimbal of a spring arm,
  The gimbal is connected to the spring arm via a bridge portion extending from the tip portion,
  2. A magnetic disk apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an area expansion portion is provided on a side portion of the gimbal excluding the bridge where the core slider is disposed.

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