Durability and structure of RF sputtered carbon-nitrogen thin film overcoats on rigid disks of magnetic thin film media

Author

Yeh, Tse-An ; Lin, Chien-Li ; Sivertsen, John M. ; Judy, Jack H.

Author_Institution

Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis, MN, USA

Volume

27

Issue

6

fYear

1991

fDate

11/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

5163

Lastpage

5165

Abstract

Thin carbon film overcoats were deposited on rigid disks of magnetic thin film media by RFD diode sputtering using a mixture of argon and nitrogen gas. Constant drag test (CDT) and initial take-off velocity of thin film head sliders were measured using a computer-controlled friction-wear tester. As the nitrogen partial pressure was increased from 0 mTorr to 7.5 mTorr, the number of revolutions before wear failure increased from 3000 to 9000 revolutions and the initial take-off velocity decreased from 3.82 m/s to 2.58 m/s. The chemical bonding and elemental composition as determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the microstructure as observed by transmission electron microscopy were used to correlate the durability and structure of RF sputtered carbon-nitrogen thin films

Keywords

X-ray photoelectron spectra; bonds (chemical); carbon; friction; hard discs; magnetic disc storage; nitrogen; sputtered coatings; surface chemistry; transmission electron microscope examination of materials; wear resistant coatings; 0 to 7.5 mtorr; 3.82 to 2.58 m/s; C:N films; RFD diode sputtering; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; chemical bonding; durability; elemental composition; initial take-off velocity; magnetic thin film media; microstructure; number of revolutions; rigid disks; thin film head sliders; transmission electron microscopy; wear failure; wear resistant coatings; Argon; Chemicals; Diodes; Magnetic films; Magnetic heads; Nitrogen; Radio frequency; Sputtering; Testing; Velocity measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.278774

Filename

278774