Ion beam deposition of carbon overcoats for magnetic thin film media

Author

Grannen, Kevin J. ; Ma, Xiaoding ; Thangaraj, Raj ; Gui, Jing ; Rauch, Gary C.

Author_Institution

Recording Media Oper., Seagate Technol., Fremont, CA, USA

Volume

36

Issue

1

fYear

2000

Firstpage

120

Lastpage

124

Abstract

Ion beam deposited carbon has been investigated for its use as an overcoat for magnetic thin film media. By using a gridless end-Hall ion source, carbon has been deposited that possesses hardnesses to 18 GPa, stress to 4.5 GPa, and densities up to 2.6 g/cc. Contact-start-stop testing of ion beam deposited carbon to fifty thousand cycles shows a marked improvement in failure rate compared to hydrogenated and nitrogenated carbon. Energetic deposition of carbon thin films can lead to implantation of energetic species into the magnetic layer. Simulations have been performed to assess the vulnerability of the magnetic layer to energetic implantation of carbon. In addition, the effect of the partial pressure on the magnetic performance is assessed and a critical impurity concentration defined.

Keywords

carbon; corrosion protective coatings; density; failure analysis; hardness; impurities; internal stresses; ion beam assisted deposition; magnetic recording; materials testing; wear resistant coatings; C; C overcoats; carbon overcoats; contact-start-stop testing; critical impurity concentration; density; energetic C implantation; failure rate; gridless end-Hall ion source; hardness; ion beam deposition; magnetic performance; magnetic thin film media; partial pressure; Amorphous magnetic materials; Amorphous materials; Anodes; Argon; Atomic layer deposition; Hydrocarbons; Ion beams; Ion sources; Magnetic films; Sputtering;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.824436

Filename

824436