JP2011181159A - Head gimbal assembly using near-field light and information recording and playback device equipped with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive head gimbal assembly using near-field light while securing service life of a semiconductor laser as a light source, and to provide an information recording and playback device. <P>SOLUTION: A pad part 204a is composed of a rigid body section 307 and a spring part 308. The pad part 204a is connected with other sections of a flexure 204 via the spring part 308. A reinforcing part 309 is mounted on the rigid body section 307. The laser 303 is fixed to the rigid body section 307 of the pad part 204a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly that records and reproduces various information on a recording medium using near-field light, and an information recording / reproducing apparatus including the same.

  In recent years, an information recording / reproducing apparatus such as a hard disk drive in a computer device has been demanded to have a higher density in response to a need to record and reproduce a larger amount of high-density information. Therefore, in order to minimize the influence of adjacent magnetic domains and thermal fluctuation, it is considered to employ a recording medium having a strong coercive force. Therefore, it has been difficult to record information on the recording medium.

  Therefore, in order to eliminate the above-mentioned problems, a magnetically assisted magnetic recording system in which the magnetic domain is locally heated using near-field light to temporarily reduce the coercive force and during which writing to the recording medium is performed. An information recording / reproducing apparatus has been devised and developed.

  An information recording / reproducing apparatus using the heat-assisted magnetic recording system requires a near-field light element for generating near-field light and an optical system for driving the near-field light element. Various types of near-field light elements and optical systems have been devised.

  As a main component of the optical system, a semiconductor laser serving as a light source can be considered. For example, as shown in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, a configuration in which this semiconductor laser is fixed to a slider having a head is known. In such a configuration, since the number of component parts constituting the optical system is reduced, light loss between the component parts is reduced, and therefore, laser light can be supplied to the near-field light element with relatively low loss. It is considered.

  On the other hand, in the information recording / reproducing apparatus using the heat-assisted magnetic recording method, it is necessary to separate the recording element and the reproducing element from the recording medium by a certain distance, like the hard disk drive that is an existing information recording / reproducing apparatus. Therefore, air floating slider technology is used. In this method, an air flow generated by a rotating recording medium causes the slider on which the recording element and the reproducing element are fixed to float on the air. The air flow generates a desired pressure distribution between the slider and the recording medium. The slider floats in a desired state by the balance between the positive pressure for separating the slider from the recording medium, the negative pressure for attracting the slider to the recording medium, and the pressing force by the suspension that mechanically supports the slider. .

  Currently, the clearance between the recording medium and the slider is about 10 nm or less, and not only the design of the pressure distribution between the slider and the recording medium, but also the design of the mechanical characteristics of the suspension is important. As disclosed in Patent Document 3 and Patent Document 4, a method is known in which a reinforcing member is added to an appropriate portion of a suspension to ensure a desired pressing force and a flying stability of the slider.

JP 2007-335027 A JP 2008-59645 A JP 2008-59645 A JP-A-5-159262

In general, it is said that the lifetime of a semiconductor laser is greatly influenced by its fixing method. In Patent Document 1, a semiconductor laser is fixed to a unit substrate, and the unit substrate is fixed to a slider and a suspension. Since the semiconductor laser can be stably fixed by using the unit substrate, it is considered that the life of the semiconductor laser can be secured. However, since another member called a unit substrate is prepared, there is a drawback that it is easy to increase the cost.
On the other hand, in Patent Document 2, the semiconductor laser is fixed so as to be sandwiched between the suspension and the slider, and the suspension mechanically supports the slider via the semiconductor laser. Since the aforementioned unit substrate is not necessary, an inexpensive information recording / reproducing apparatus may be realized. However, since the semiconductor laser is constantly stressed, there is a drawback that the life of the semiconductor laser is shortened.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly and information recording / reproducing apparatus while ensuring the life of a semiconductor laser as a light source. It is to be.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following means.
The near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to the present invention extends along the surface of the recording medium, and forms a suspension having a flexure and a load beam, a part of the flexure, and is connected to the spring portion and the spring portion. A flexure tongue that includes a rigid body, a laser provided on the rigid body, and a flexure tongue that is fixed on the flexure tongue so as to face the surface of the recording medium, and generates near-field light using a light beam generated from the laser. And a pressing portion that is provided at the tip of the load beam and presses a portion of the flexure tongue that is opposite to the side where the laser is disposed, and the flexure tongue rotates around the pressing portion. The rigid body portion is characterized in that it suppresses the bending of the surface orthogonal to the pressing direction by the pressing portion.

  The near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to the present invention is characterized in that the rigidity of the rigid part is higher than the rigidity of the spring part.

  The near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to the present invention is characterized in that the rigidity of the rigid portion is higher than the rigidity of the laser.

  In the near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to the present invention, the gimbal mechanism operates with respect to the waviness of the recording medium. Will not take. Therefore, the laser can be stably fixed, and the life of the laser can be extended.

  Here, in Patent Document 3, a reinforcement portion by bending is provided on the contour of the load beam (load arm), but it is a part different from the gimbal mechanism, and the same effect as the present invention cannot be realized. The suspension tongue (slider holding portion) for fixing the slider is provided with a reinforcing portion (stepped portion), but it is not assumed that a laser is mounted on the head gimbal assembly. The slider must be held by only a part of the laser beam, and bending stress is applied to the laser. Therefore, the same effect as the present invention cannot be realized.

  In Patent Document 4, the suspension tongue (suspension tongue) is provided with a reinforcing portion (strengthening member), but it is not assumed that a laser is mounted on the head gimbal assembly, and the entire suspension tongue is provided. A reinforcing portion is provided, which prevents the cymbal mechanism from operating while preventing bending stress from being applied to the laser. Therefore, the same effect as the present invention cannot be realized.

  The near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to the present invention is characterized in that the reinforcing portion is formed by plastic deformation of a part of the flexure tongue.

  In the near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to the present invention, it is not necessary to prepare a separate member in order to make the rigid body portion have a predetermined rigidity, and the head gimbal assembly including this can be made inexpensive.

  The near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to the present invention is characterized in that the reinforcing portion is a laser guide for positioning the laser.

  In the near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to the present invention, the laser guide positions the laser so that the assembly can be easily performed. Further, since the laser guide also serves as the reinforcing portion, it is not necessary to prepare a separate member, and the head gimbal assembly including this can be made inexpensive.

  An information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention includes the near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly of the present invention and the recording medium.

  Since the information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention includes the near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly of the present invention, it can be long-lived and inexpensive.

  According to the near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an inexpensive near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly and information recording / reproducing apparatus while ensuring the life of the semiconductor laser as the light source.

It is a block diagram which shows the information recording / reproducing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the head gimbal assembly shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of a pad portion 204a shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A ′ of FIG. 3. It is an expansion perspective view of the pad part 204a which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the variation of FIG. It is a figure which shows another variation of FIG. It is an enlarged view near the pad part 204a which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which follows the B-B 'line of FIG.

(First embodiment)
A first embodiment according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an information recording / reproducing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. In addition, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 1 of this embodiment is an apparatus which writes with respect to the recording medium D which has a magnetic-recording layer with a heat-assisted magnetic recording system.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in the information recording / reproducing apparatus 1 of this embodiment, a suspension 3 to which a slider 2 is fixed is fixed to a carriage 11. The slider 2 and the suspension 3 are collectively referred to as a head gimbal assembly 12 (a near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly). The disc-shaped recording medium D is rotated in a predetermined direction by the spindle motor 7. The carriage 11 is rotatable about the pivot 10 and is rotated by an actuator 6 controlled by a control signal from the control unit 5, so that the slider 2 can be disposed at a predetermined position on the surface of the recording medium D. The housing 9 has a box shape made of aluminum or the like (in FIG. 1, the peripheral wall surrounding the periphery of the housing 9 is omitted for easy understanding), and the above components are stored therein. The spindle motor 7 is fixed to the bottom surface of the housing 9. The slider 2 includes a recording element (not shown) for generating a magnetic field toward the recording medium D, a light guide unit (not shown) for generating near-field light, and a reproducing element (for reproducing information recorded on the recording medium D). (Not shown). The recording element and the reproducing element are connected to the control unit 5 through the flexible wiring 13 laid along the suspension 3 and the carriage 11, the terminal 14 provided on the side surface of the carriage 11, and the flat cable 4.

  One recording medium D may be provided, but a plurality of recording media may be provided as shown in FIG. As the number of recording media D increases, the number of head gimbal assemblies 12 also increases. Although FIG. 1 shows a configuration in which the head gimbal assembly 12 is provided only on one side of the recording medium D, it may be provided on both sides. Therefore, the number of head gimbal assemblies 12 is at most twice the number of recording media D. Thereby, the recording capacity per information recording / reproducing apparatus can be increased.

  FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the head gimbal assembly 12 according to the first embodiment. The suspension 3 includes a base plate 201 made of a thin stainless plate, a hinge 202, a load beam 203, and a flexure 204. The base plate 201 is fixed to the carriage 11 by mounting holes 201a provided in a part thereof. The hinge 202 connects the base plate 201 and the load beam 203. The hinge 202 is thinner than the base plate 201 and the load beam 203, and the suspension 3 is bent around the hinge 202. The flexure 204 is an elongate member fixed to the load beam 203 and the hinge 202, is thinner than the load beam 203 and the base plate 201, and is easily bent. A substantially rectangular parallelepiped slider 2 is fixed to the tip of the flexure 204.

  The surface opposite to the surface fixed to the flexure 204 in the surface of the slider 2 is a surface facing the recording medium D. This surface is a surface that generates a pressure for the slider 2 to rise from the viscosity of the air flow generated by the rotating recording medium D, and is called ABS (Air Bearing Surface). An uneven shape (not shown) is provided on the ABS, and a desired pressure distribution is generated between the slider 2 and the recording medium D. The slider 2 floats in a desired state due to the balance between the positive pressure for separating the slider 2 from the recording medium D, the negative pressure for attracting the slider 2 to the recording medium D, and the pressing force of the suspension 3. The minimum clearance between the recording medium D and the slider 2 is about 10 nm or less. The pressing force by the suspension 3 is mainly generated by the elasticity of the hinge 202. Further, since the hinge 202 and the flexure 204 are bent with respect to the undulation of the surface of the recording medium D, a desired floating state can be maintained.

  Flexible wiring 13 is provided on the flexure 204. The flexure 204 has a substantially U-shaped opening, and the slider 2 is fixed by sandwiching a laser 303 or the like (described later) on a pad portion 204a surrounded by the opening and having a tongue shape. Of the ends of the slider 2, the base side (carriage 11 side) of the suspension 3 is called an inflow end. The tip side of the opposite suspension 3 is called the outflow end of the slider 2. These are named based on the direction of the air flow by the recording medium D described above. The flexible wiring 13 extended from the base side of the suspension 3 branches into two from the middle, and is connected to the outflow end side of the slider 2 so as to go around the opening and both sides of the slider 2.

  FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the pad portion 204a according to the first embodiment. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A 'of FIG. The flexible wiring 13 includes a base film 301 and six metal wirings 302 mounted thereon. The base film 301 is made of a resin such as polyimide. The metal wiring 302 is made of copper and has a surface plated with gold. The base film 301 insulates the metal wiring 302 and the flexure 204 from each other. Although not shown, a part of the metal wiring 302 is covered with a resin such as polyimide for protection. Four of the six metal wirings 302 are respectively connected to two recording elements (not shown) and two reproducing elements (not shown) provided on the slider 2. However, the number of metal wirings 302 is not limited to six and can be increased or decreased as necessary.

  In addition, a U-shaped laser guide 304 is disposed on the pad portion 204a. The laser guide 304 has the same material and the same thickness as the base film 301. Therefore, the laser guide 304 and the base film 301 can be formed simultaneously. The laser 303 is fitted in a U-shaped laser guide 304 in a plan view, and positioning is easy. Since the laser 303 is an edge emitting laser, laser light is emitted from the side surface. The laser guide 304 does not hinder the emission of laser light from the side surface of the laser 303. The thickness of the laser 303 is equal to that of the laser guide 304. The slider 2 is fixed so as to be placed on a part of the base film 301, the laser 303 and the laser guide 304. Of the end surface of the base film 301, the surface facing the laser 303 is an oblique plane inclined by 45 degrees with respect to the optical axis direction of the light emitted from the laser 303, and a mirror is formed by coating the oblique plane with a metal film. A surface 301a is formed. Aluminum or gold is used for the metal of the coating. Therefore, the light emitted from the laser 303 installed so as to be sandwiched between the slider 2 and the pad portion 204a is bent by 90 degrees at the mirror surface 301a, and a near-field light element (not shown) provided inside the slider 2 is shown. ).

  The laser 303 has a cathode electrode 303 a on the surface in contact with the pad portion 204 a and an anode electrode 303 b on the surface in contact with the slider 2. The slider 2 has an electrode 2a (slider side conductive film) on the surface in contact with the anode electrode 303b. A part of the electrode 2 a has a protruding portion 2 b on the side surface of the slider 2. The protruding portion 2b and one of the six metal wirings 302, which are not connected to the magnetic pole and the reproducing element, are electrically connected by ball bonding with the balls 305. The remaining one of the six metal wirings 302b extends from the base film 301 and contacts the pad portion 204a. The cathode electrode 303a and the anode electrode 303b are made of a metal such as gold. The electrode 2a is also made of a conductive material. For example, when tin is used, the anode electrode 303b and gold-tin can be joined conveniently. The ball 305 is made of metal such as gold or solder. Therefore, the electric signal from the control unit 5 drives the laser 303 through the electric wiring 302a, the ball 305, the electrode 2a, and the anode electrode 303b, and through the electric wiring 302b, the pad unit 204a, and the cathode electrode 303a. Light from the laser 303 is introduced into the light guide unit 306 and becomes near-field light to heat a minute region of the disk D, thereby realizing heat-assisted magnetic recording.

  The pad part 204 a is composed of a rigid part 307 and a spring part 308. The pad portion 204 a is connected to other portions of the flexure 204 by a spring portion 308. The rigid body portion 307 suppresses the bending of the surface orthogonal to the pressing direction by the dimple 203a. As shown in FIG. 5, a reinforcing portion 309 constituting a part of the rigid body portion 307 is provided on the contour line of the rigid body portion 307. This is formed by bending a part of the pad part 204a so as to be perpendicular to the surface of the pad part 204a. A hemispherical dimple 203a (pressing portion) is provided at the tip of the load beam 203 on the slider 2 side. The top of the dimple 203a is in contact with the rigid body portion 307. As described above, the pressing force of the suspension 3 against the slider 2 is mainly generated by the elasticity of the hinge 202, and the pressing force is transmitted through the contact between the dimple 203 a and the rigid portion 307. Further, the pad portion 204a and the slider 2 can be rotated around the apex of the dimple 203a. That is, the dimple 203a and the pad portion 204a constitute a gimbal mechanism. Further, as described above, the flexure 204 is deflected by the waviness of the surface of the recording medium D, so that the slider 2 can maintain a desired floating state. At this time, the pad portion 204a is provided for the reinforcing portion 309. Among them, the rigid body portion 307 is not bent, and only the spring portion 308 is bent. The laser 303 is fixed to the rigid portion 307 in the pad portion 204a.

  Up to this point, the reinforcing portion 309 has been formed by bending a part of the pad portion 204a as shown in FIG. 5, but it may have any shape as long as the rigidity of the rigid portion 307 is ensured. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, a portion obtained by extruding a part of the pad portion 204 a into a rib shape may be used as the reinforcing portion 309. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, a laser guide 304 may be used as the reinforcing portion 309.

  According to the present embodiment, since the rigid body portion 307 does not bend with respect to the undulation of the recording medium D, the bending stress is not applied to the laser 303 fixed on the rigid body portion 307. Therefore, the laser 303 can be stably fixed, and the life of the laser 303 can be extended. Further, since the reinforcing portion 309 is used, it is not necessary to prepare a separate member in order to ensure the rigidity of the rigid portion 307, and the head gimbal assembly 12 and the information recording / reproducing apparatus 1 including the member can be made inexpensive.

(Second Embodiment)
Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. The difference between this embodiment and the first embodiment is that the laser has an inclined surface, and thus it is not necessary to provide a reflecting surface on the side surface of the base film.

  FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the pad portion 204a according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a B-B ′ cross section of FIG. 5. The flexible wiring 13 includes a base film 501 and six metal wirings 502 mounted thereon. The base film 501 is made of a resin such as polyimide. The metal wiring 502 is made of copper and has a surface plated with gold. The base film 501 insulates the metal wiring 502 and the flexure 204 from each other. Although not shown, a part of the metal wiring 502 is covered with a resin such as polyimide for protection. Four of the six metal wirings 502 are connected to two recording elements (not shown) and two reproducing elements (not shown) provided on the slider 2, respectively.

  The base film 501 has an extending portion 501 a that is substantially the same size as the planar size of the slider 2 and extends to the rigid body portion 307. Of the six metal wires 502, one electric wire 502b that is not connected to the magnetic pole and the reproducing element extends to the extended portion 501a, and the tip of the electric wire 502b is an electrode having the same size as the planar size of the slider 2. It has become. A laser 503 is disposed on the electric wiring 502b placed on the extended portion 501a. The slider 2 is fixed so as to be placed on the laser 503. Light from the laser 503 is emitted in the direction of the slider 2 and introduced into a light guide unit 306 having a near-field light element (not shown) provided inside the slider 2.

  The protruding portion 2b of the electrode 2a and the remaining one of the six metal wires 502 that are not connected to the magnetic pole and the reproducing element 502a are electrically connected by wire bonding using a wire 503. Therefore, the electric signal from the control unit 5 drives the laser 503 through the electric wiring 502a, the wire 503, the electrode 2a, and the anode electrode 503b, and through the electric wiring 502b and the cathode electrode 503a. Light from the laser 503 is introduced into the light guide unit 306 and becomes near-field light to heat a minute region of the disk D, thereby realizing heat-assisted magnetic recording.

  According to the present embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be realized. That is, since the rigid portion 307 does not bend with respect to the undulation of the recording medium D, no bending stress is applied to the laser 303 fixed on the rigid portion 307. Therefore, the laser 303 can be stably fixed, and the life of the laser 303 can be extended. Further, since the bent portion 309 is used, it is not necessary to prepare a separate member for ensuring the rigidity of the rigid body portion 307, and the head gimbal assembly 12 and the information recording / reproducing apparatus 1 including the member can be made inexpensive.

  In addition, since the laser 503 has the inclined surface 503c, the laser 503 and the light guide unit 306 can be easily aligned, and as a result, the head gimbal assembly 12 and the information recording / reproducing apparatus 1 can be manufactured at low cost. Can do.

  It should be noted that the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes those in which various modifications are made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention. In other words, the configuration described in the above-described embodiment is merely an example, and can be changed as appropriate. Moreover, it is also possible to employ | adopt combining each embodiment mentioned above suitably.

D recording medium 1 information recording / reproducing apparatus 2 slider 2a electrode 3 suspension 11 carriage 12 head gimbal assembly 13 flexible wiring 204 flexure 204a pad portion 301a mirror surface 302 electrical wiring 303 laser 303a cathode electrode 303b anode electrode 306 light guide portion 307 rigid body portion 308 Spring part 309 reinforcement part 503 laser

Claims (6)

A suspension extending along the surface of the recording medium and having a flexure and a load beam;
A flexure tongue that comprises part of the flexure and comprises a spring portion and a rigid portion connected to the spring portion;
A laser provided on the rigid body;
A slider that is fixed on the flexure tongue so as to face the surface of the recording medium and generates near-field light using a light beam generated from the laser;
A pressing portion that is provided at a tip of the load beam and presses a portion of the flexure tongue that is opposite to the side where the laser is disposed;
The flexure tongue portion rotates around the pressing portion,
The near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly, wherein the rigid body portion suppresses bending of a surface orthogonal to a pressing direction by the pressing portion.   The near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to claim 1, wherein the rigidity of the rigid part is higher than the rigidity of the spring part.   3. The near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to claim 1, wherein the rigidity of the rigid portion is higher than the rigidity of the laser.   4. The near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to claim 1, wherein the rigid body portion is formed by plastic deformation of a part of the flexure tongue portion.   5. The near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to claim 1, wherein the rigid body portion is a laser guide for positioning the laser.   An information recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: the near-field light utilizing head gimbal assembly according to claim 1; and the recording medium.

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