ta-C films by filtered cathodic vacuum-arc deposition for ABSOC

Summary form only given. In recent years, the areal density of hard disk drives has been increasing by nearly 100 percent per year. The magnetic spacing between the heads and media has thus been rapidly decreasing. On the other hand, there is a strong demand for write head cores to be made of materials like CoNiFe alloys that have higher saturation magnetization than conventional alloys of NiFe. However, these alloys are more easily corroded than NiFe alloy. Hence, a thinner air-bearing surface overcoat (ABSOC) is required without sacrificing either the corrosion resistance or the wear durability of GMR heads, so the material used must be denser, harder and provide a higher degree of coverage of the head element´s surfaces. The tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films deposited by the filtered cathodic vacuum-arc (FCVA) method have been studied for use as the ABSOC and as a disk overcoat. The advantage of ta-C films is that they are denser and harder than hydrogenated amorphous carbon films which have been used as ABSOCs. Although ta-C films provide a promising alternative material for use in ultra-thin ABSOCs, excessive particulate matter is apt to form during their deposition. A recent study has shown that the double-bend FCVA system dramatically reduces the amount of particulate matter that is visible under an optical microscope.