A suspension assembly for a disk drive includes a load beam and a flexure.
The flexure has a first end including a plurality of bond pads for
electrical connection to a slider and a second end having a tail for
attachment to a flexible cable. The tail includes a support layer having
a free end defining cutouts forming a plurality of peninsula-shaped
regions, such that a plane oriented perpendicular to the support layer
and disposed between the peninsula-shaped regions and extending beyond
the free end of the tail does not cut through any support layer material.
An insulating layer may be disposed on the support layer. A connection
pad may be disposed on the insulating layer on each of the
peninsula-shaped regions. Conductive traces may be disposed on the
insulating layer to electrically connect each connection pad to a
corresponding bond pad. A head is coupled to the bond pads.