Direct visualization of molecularly thin lubricant films on magnetic disks with a digitally enhanced ellipsometric microscope

An ellipsometry-based direct visualization method for molecularly thin lubricant films on magnetic disks is presented. Visualization of a molecularly thin film is useful for the investigation of replenishment and retention characteristics of thin lubricant films. Ellipsometric information of a sample surface is converted into a dark-bright contrast image and then is directly visualized with a CCD camera. By combining of optical and digital image processing techniques, weak contrasts are enhanced and noise intensity is reduced. Thus, our method can provide direct visualization of thin lubricant films on the order of 1 nm.