ESD-sensitivity study of GMR recording heads with a flex-on-suspension head-gimbal assembly

The goal of this paper is to share information on the study of the ESD sensitivity of giant magnetoresistive recording transducers built on flex-on-suspension (FOS) or trace-suspension assembly (TSA) head-gimbal assemblies (HGA). In order to measure the tribo-charging of these very small assemblies, a small 1 pF sensor plate was built. Using this sensor plate, the relative tribo-electric voltages of the FOS/TSA HGA were measured. A field induced charge-device-model (CDM) test, using the sensor plate, was performed on both the FOS and wire HGAs. Damage due to electromagnetic interference (EMI) was also evaluated on both the FOS and wire HGAs.