HGST Assigned Two Patents

Tunable microstrip signal transmission path in HD

HGST, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (8,305,712) developed by John T. Contreras, Palo Alto, CA, Luiz Franca-Neto, Sunnyvale, CA, and Stephen Williams, Morgan Hill, Canada, for a "tunable microstrip signal transmission path in a hard disk drive."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A disk pack, comprising at least one hard disk, is rotatably mounted to a housing. The disk pack defines an axis of rotation and a radial direction relative to the axis. At least one actuator mounted to the housing is coupled with a suspension and is movable relative to the disk pack. A slider, comprising a slider body and a head configured to read data from and write data to at least one hard disk, is coupled with the suspension. A first suspension electrical interconnect is configured to electrically couple a first signal conducting pathway with the slider and with a first non-terminated signal pathway. A second suspension electrical interconnect is configured to electrically couple a second signal conducting pathway with the slider and with a second non-terminated signal pathway. The length of the second non-terminated signal pathway is selected to achieve a desired impedance level."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 23, 2009 (12/646,612).

Conductor suspension structure
and electrical connection assembly
for transmitting complementary signals in a hard disk drive

HGST, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been assigned a patent (8,310,789) developed by John T. Contreras, San Jose, CA, Nobumasa Nishiyama, Yokohama, Japan, and Xinzhi Xing, San Jose, CA, for a "conductor suspension structure and electrical connection assembly for transmitting complementary signals in a hard disk drive."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "An integrated conductor/suspension structure for supporting and electrically connecting a write/read head in a hard disk drive and methods of making the conductor/suspension structure are provided. The integrated conductor/suspension structure may allow for an increased characteristic-impedance range, greater interference shielding and a reduction of signal loss that is contributed by a lossy conductive substrate. The suspension structure includes apertures formed therein that result in a reduction in the lossy material and its effect on the electrical signals. In addition, the conductor/suspension structure of the present invention provides shielding to reduce the interference from external electric fields."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 22, 2009 (12/645,217).