Method of correcting head suspension, method of manufacturing head suspension, head suspension and method of processing thin plate

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10109306-B2
Application number	US-32156509-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 22, 2009
Priority date	Jan 22, 2008
Publication date	Oct 23, 2018
Grant date	Oct 23, 2018

Abstract

A method corrects a head suspension by irradiating an objective part of the head suspension with a laser beam before or after mounting a read/write head on the head suspension. The method can precisely correct the head suspension even when correcting the head suspension a plurality of times. The method includes drawing, with the laser beam, a straight line of predetermined length on the objective part and repeating this process a plurality of times in such a way that the direction of a straight line drawn this time crosses the direction of a straight line drawn last time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of correcting a head suspension by irradiating an objective part of the head suspension with a laser beam to bend the objective part with heat before or after mounting a read/write head on the head suspension, comprising the steps of:
irradiating with the laser beam a surface of the head suspension within the objective part defined on an outrigger of the head suspension to heat the surface, thereby correcting at least one of a roll angle and a pitch angle of a surface of the head mounting part, the outrigger surrounding the head mounting part and a distal end of the outrigger constituting a distal end of the head suspension and the head mounting part and the outrigger being connected to one another only at the distal end of the head suspension and a remaining periphery of the head mounting part being spaced from the outrigger by an air gap; and
wherein the irradiating step comprises:
intermittently emitting the laser beam, along a first straight line of predetermined length on said surface, so that a first irradiation history is formed within said objective part by the laser beam and includes plural irradiation spots each having a center on the first straight line and so that each of the laser irradiation spots includes a region formed by a higher irradiation energy density of the laser beam than the rest of the spot and the irradiation spots are continuous and partly overlap respective adjacent irradiation spots so that the regions formed by the higher irradiation energy density in the adjacent irradiation spots do not overlap each other; and
intermittently emitting the laser beam, along a second straight line of predetermined length on said surface, and which crosses the first straight line at a predetermined angle so that a second irradiation history is formed within the objective part by the laser beam and includes plural irradiation spots each having a center on the second straight line and so that each of the laser irradiation spots includes regions formed by higher irradiation energy density of the laser beam than the rest of the spot and are continuous and partly overlap respective adjacent irradiation spots so that regions formed by higher irradiation energy density in adjacent irradiation spots do not overlap each other, the second straight line crossing the first straight line on a same plane which is said surface at a point intermediate ends of both said straight lines and at a predetermined angle resulting in an area of overlap of the first and second irradiation histories;
guiding the laser beam to set the overlapping area, with a correlation that the overlapping area decreasing with an increase of the crossing angle from more than 0 degrees to almost 90 degrees in one direction and the overlapping area increasing with an increase of the crossing angle from more than 90 degrees to less than 180 degrees in said one direction;
wherein the decrease of the overlapping area with the increase of the crossing angle from more than 0 degrees to almost 90 degrees in the correlation becomes gradual starting from a first crossing angle of 30 degrees based on the interval between the adjacent irradiation spots in the irradiation histories of this time and the last time, and the increase of the overlapping area as with the increase of the crossing angle from more than 90 degrees to less than 180 degrees in the correlation is gradual to a second crossing angle of 150 degrees based on said interval between said adjacent irradiation spots; and
wherein the crossing angle that is set based on the correlation is within a range of the correlation spanning between said first and second crossing angle, thereby correcting the head suspension with high accuracy.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
intermittently emitting the laser beam along a third straight line of predetermined length which crosses the first straight line intermediate ends of the first and third straight lines so that a third irradiation history is formed which third straight line includes plural irradiation spots each having a center on the third straight line and each including a region formed by higher irradiation energy density of the laser beam than the rest of the spot and the irradiation spots are continuous and partly overlap respective adjacent irradiation spots so that regions formed by higher irradiation energy density in adjacent irradiation spots do not overlap each other and which third straight line is substantially symmetrical to the second straight line with respect to the first straight line for setting at least an overlapping area between the second and third irradiation histories.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
intermittently emitting the laser beam along a third straight line of predetermined length which crosses the second straight line intermediate ends of the second and third straight lines so that a third irradiation history is formed and the second and third irradiation histories overlap to form an overlap area and which third straight line includes plural irradiation spots each including a center on the third straight line and each including a region formed by higher irradiation energy density of the laser beam than the rest of the spot and the irradiation spots are continuous and partly overlap respective adjacent irradiation spots so that regions formed by higher irradiation energy density in adjacent irradiation spots do not overlap each other and so that the third straight line forms a crossing angle with the second straight line according to a correlation for setting at least an overlapping area between the second and third irradiation histories.

4. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the crossing angle is substantially forms a right angle.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein:
the first line is in a longitudinal direction of the objective part.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein:
the first line is in a longitudinal direction of the objective part.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein:
the first line is in a longitudinal direction of the objective part.

8. A method of manufacturing a head suspension, comprising:
correcting the head suspension according to the method of claim 1 .

9. A head suspension manufactured according to the method of claim 8 .

10. A method of correcting load and attitude angle of a thin plate of a head suspension, in which objective parts are repeatedly corrected to accurately achieve a desired correction, comprising:
irradiating a surface of said objective parts of said thin plate of the head suspension with the laser beam to bend said objective parts with heat, wherein said objective parts are defined on an outrigger of the head suspension, thereby correcting to a desired angle at least one of a roll angle and a pitch angle of a surface of the head mounting part on which the head is mounted, the outrigger surrounding the head mounting part and a distal end of the outrigger constituting a distal end of the head suspension and the head mounting part and the outrigger being connected to one another only at the distal end of the head suspension and a remaining periphery of the head mounting part being spaced from the outrigger by an air gap; and
wherein the irradiating with the laser beam a plurality of times to correct the pitch angle and/or roll angle, comprises irradiating a same surface, as follows:
emitting laser energy of a laser beam to create irradiation spots in which a central portion of each one irradiation spot has a higher irradiation energy density than a peripheral portion of said each one irradiation spot;
controlling the laser beam to form a respective sequence of said irradiation spots, each having a center on a respective one of at

Assignees

• Furuta Eijiro
• Ninomiya Isamu
• Nhk Spring Co Ltd

Inventors

• Furuta Eijiro
• Ninomiya Isamu

Classifications

• G11B5/4833 Primary

  Structure of the arm assembly, e.g. load beams, flexures, parts of the arm adapted for controlling vertical force on the head (G11B5/484 takes precedence) · CPC title