Development of hard carbon coatings for thin-film tape heads

Author

Bhushan, Bharat ; Gupta, B.K. ; Sundaram, Ramesh ; Dey, Subrata ; Anders, Simone ; Anders, Andre ; Brown, Ian G. ; Reader, Paul D.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mech. Eng., Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH, USA

Volume

31

Issue

6

fYear

1995

fDate

11/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2976

Lastpage

2978

Abstract

Major problems in thin-film recording heads are pole tip/gap recession in the inductive head and scratching/smearing, electrical short, electrostatic charge build up, and corrosion of the MR stripe in the MR heads. Wear of head structure can be minimized by depositing a hard carbon coating over the entire ABS including the head structure. In this study, we have deposited carbon coatings on Ni-Zn ferrite and Al ₂O₃-TiC substrates and dummy heads by various deposition techniques and characterized for mechanical and tribological properties. Ion beam carbon coatings on Ni-Zn ferrite and cathodic arc carbon coatings on Al₂O₃-TiC heads exhibit most wear resistance compared to other coatings in a tape drive test

Keywords

carbon; coatings; magnetic heads; magnetic recording; magnetic tape equipment; magnetic thin film devices; wear resistant coatings; ABS; Al₂O₃-TiC; Al₂O₃-TiC substrate; C; Ni-Zn ferrite substrate; NiZnFe₂O₄; cathodic arc coatings; corrosion; electrical short; electrostatic charge; hard carbon coatings; inductive head; ion beam coatings; magnetoresistive head; mechanical properties; pole tip/gap recession; scratching; smearing; tape drive; thin-film recording heads; tribological properties; wear resistance; Coatings; Corrosion; Electrostatics; Ferrites; Ion beams; Magnetic heads; Mechanical factors; Substrates; Testing; Transistors;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.490208

Filename

490208