A damage quantification method for air-bearing-surface overcoats on magnetic head sliders

Author

Momose, S. ; Sato, A. ; Oshima, N. ; Kawahara, H. ; Baba, K. ; Tsukamoto, Y. ; Sakairi, T. ; Aoyagi, T.

Author_Institution

NEC Corp., Kawasaki, Japan

Volume

32

Issue

5

fYear

1996

fDate

9/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

3780

Lastpage

3782

Abstract

A damage quantification method air-bearing-surface (ABS) overcoats which consist of a Si underlayer and a carbon toplayer was developed. This method is applicable to head sliders composed of Al₂O ₃-TiC. In this method, a 70% HNO₃ treatment is initially applied, to distinguish the ABS´s exposed Al₂O₃-TiC area. A 3.5% HF treatment followed by a second 70% HNO₃ treatment are then applied to reveal the region in which the carbon overcoat is worn out but the Si underlayer remains. In addition to the amount of damage, the method also reveals the modes by which ABS overcoats are damaged. Flaking at the carbon/silicon interface was found to be the dominant damage mode when the ABS overcoat had relatively low adhesive strength

Keywords

adhesion; alumina; hard discs; magnetic heads; magnetic recording; surface treatment; titanium compounds; wear resistant coatings; wear testing; ABS overcoat damage modes; Al₂O₃-TiC; C toplayer; C-Si; HF; HF treatment; HNO₃; HNO₃ treatment; Si underlayer; adhesive strength; air-bearing-surface overcoats; damage quantification method; exposed Al₂O₃-TiC area; interface flaking; magnetic head sliders; rigid disk data storage; wear durability; Adhesive strength; Brightness; Cascading style sheets; Disk recording; Hafnium; Magnetic heads; Magnetic recording; National electric code; Silicon; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.538834

Filename

538834