Diamond-like carbon applications in high density hard disc recording heads

Goglia, P. R.; Berkowitz, Jeffrey; Hoehn, J.; Xidis, Anthony; Stover, Lance

doi:10.1016/s0925-9635(00)00589-6

Cited by 119 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…In particular, diamond-like carbon films, a type of a-C:H film, have been applied to mechanical parts (4)- (6) . Various a-C:H applications, such as hard disks, require both thin and considerably hard films (7)- (9) . Ultrahigh-hardness films have limited thicknesses, because these films generally have a high internal stress, which is eliminated from a substrate on a the thick film (10)- (12) .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Substrates on Film Hardness Measurements of Nanometer Thick Amorphous Carbon Films

Akasaka

Ito

Nakano³

et al. 2009

JMMP

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Amorphous carbon film (a-C:H) applications, such as hard disks, require films with nanometer thicknesses. In an indentation test, the obtained hardness values of these films are affected by substrates. On the indentation tests, we studied the effect of substrate hardness on films less than 200 nm in thickness. a-C:H and Si doped a-C:H (a-C:Si:H) films were deposited by electron cyclotron resonance plasma chemical vapor deposition onto aluminum (Al) and silicon (Si) substrates. The film thicknesses were approximately 140 nm. The hardnesses of the a-C:H film and substrates were obtained using a high-resolution indentation tester (pico-dentor) with a Vickers tip whose depth resolution was 0.04 nm. Maximum indentation loads were varied from 0.01 to 0.5 mN. The Martens hardnesses of films on the Al and Si substrates were 600 and 7000 N/mm 2 , respectively. On the a-C:Si:H film deposited on the Al substrate, the hardnesses increased from 1600 to 3900 N/mm 2 with decreasing indentation load. The hardnesses of the films deposited on the Si substrate decreased from 5300 to 3500 N/mm 2 when the maximum indentation loads were reduced. The effect of the substrates increased with the maximum load increasing. From these findings, the actual hardness value was determined to be 3600 N/mm 2 . These results indicate that the high-resolution indentation test achieved hardness estimations for nanometer-thick films with certain hardnesses.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Substrates on Film Hardness Measurements of Nanometer Thick Amorphous Carbon Films

Akasaka

Ito

Nakano³

et al. 2009

JMMP

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“…The tribological properties of the head-disk interface are not only of mechanical but also of chemical nature: the overcoat should protect the magnetic layers against wear and corrosion [1, 2]. The areal density of information stored in disk drive products increased at an amazing rate of over 65% for many years rate, and continues to accelerate to even greater rates [3]. To accomplish this, the "magnetic spacing" between the magnetic layers of the disk and read/write sensor of the head must continue to decrease.…”

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confidence: 99%

Ultrathin diamond-like carbon films deposited by filtered carbon vacuum arcs

Anders

Fong

Kulkarni

et al. 2001

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

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Ultrathin (< 5 nm) hard carbon films are of great interest to the magnetic storage industry as the areal density approaches 100 Gbit/in 2 . These films are used as overcoats to protect the magnetic layers on disk media and the active elements of the read-write slider. Tetrahedral amorphous carbon films can be produced by filtered cathodic arc deposition, but the films will only be accepted by the storage industry only if the "macroparticle" issue has been solved. Better plasma filters have been developed over recent years. Emphasis is put on the promising twist filter system -a compact, open structure that operates with pulsed arcs and high magnetic field. Based on corrosion tests it is shown that the macroparticle reduction by the twist filter is satisfactory for this demanding application, while plasma throughput is very high. Ultrathin hard carbon films have been synthesized using Sfilter and twist filter systems. Film properties such as hardness, elastic modulus, wear, and corrosion resistance have been tested. Index Terms: diamond-like carbon, cathodic vacuum arc, macroparticle filtering, magnetic storage, carbon overcoats 3 I. INTRODUCTIONUltrathin (< 5 nm) hard carbon films are used as protective overcoats on hard disks and readwrite heads. The tribological properties of the head-disk interface are not only of mechanical but also of chemical nature: the overcoat should protect the magnetic layers against wear and corrosion [1, 2]. The areal density of information stored in disk drive products increased at an amazing rate of over 65% for many years rate, and continues to accelerate to even greater rates [3]. To accomplish this, the "magnetic spacing" between the magnetic layers of the disk and read/write sensor of the head must continue to decrease. The magnetic spacing includes the overcoats, lubrication, and the fly height. Thinner overcoats allow the read-write head to be closer to the magnetic layer of the disk, and hence, the size of individual bits on the disk to be smaller. As we work toward an areal density of 100 Gbit/in 2 , the magnetic spacing approaches the sub-10-nm regime (pseudo-contact recording) and overcoat thickness must shrink to 1-2 nm. Overcoats currently used are sputtered or ion-beam deposited diamond-like carbon films, typically doped with hydrogen or nitrogen. They cease to provide acceptable levels of corrosion protection when the film thickness is less than 5 nm.Overcoats need to be tough (hard and elastic), chemically inert, pinhole-free, and compatible with the lubricant. The challenge of ultrathin film synthesis is to make the films as thin as possible and still continuous, as opposed to an assembly of islands.Nucleation and growth of ultrathin films is a field of intense research. For carbon, it is well known that films that are rich in sp 3 (diamond) bonds should be grown in a kinetic mode at low temperature (less than 200°C, preferably room temperature), with film-forming carbon atoms or ions having an energy of about 100 eV. This energy is optimized for subplantat...

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“…Properties such as sp 3 content, hardness, Young's modulus, density, and stress have a maximum when ions have a kinetic energy of about 100 eV [6,[58][59][60]. While in most experiments the energy could be manipulated by substrate biasing, the second generation twist filter system had a permanently grounded, rotating substrate holder.…”

Section: Synthesis and Properties Of A-c Films Synthesized By Fimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For carbon, it is well known that films that are rich in sp 3 (diamond) bonds should be grown in a kinetic mode at low temperature (less than 200°C, preferably room temperature), with film-forming carbon atoms or ions having an energy of about 100 eV. This energy is optimized for subplantation film growth of diamond-like carbon [4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Widely used are hydrogenated diamond-like carbon (DLC or a-C:H) [11], nitrogen-doped amorphous carbon (a-C:N) [12] or amorphous carbon nitride (CN x ) [13][14][15], hydrogenated carbon nitride (CH x N y ), hydrogen-free amorphous carbon (a-C) [16], silicon-doped amorphous carbon (a-C:Si) or silicon carbide (SiC) [17], and metal-doped amorphous carbon (a-C:Me) [18]. Amorphous carbon films (a-C) that have more than 80% tetrahedral (sp 3 ) bonding are referred to as tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) [7,9,19], or sometimes even as "amorphous diamond." [20,21] There are large variations even within each class of materials, depending on the method and parameters of deposition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ultrathin diamondlike carbon films deposited by filtered carbon vacuum arcs

Anders¹,

Ryan²,

Fong³

et al.

Proceedings ISDEIV. 19th International Symposium on Discharges and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum (Cat. No.00CH37041)

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This work was supported through the CRADA BG98-084 (01) ABSTRACTUltrathin (< 5 nm) hard carbon films are of great interest to the magnetic storage industry as the areal density approaches 100 Gbit/in 2 . These films are used as overcoats to protect the magnetic layers on disk media and the active elements of the read-write slider. Tetrahedral amorphous carbon films can be produced by filtered cathodic arc deposition, but the films will only be accepted by the storage industry only if the "macroparticle" issue has been solved. Better plasma filters have been developed over recent years. Emphasis is put on the promising twist filter system -a compact, open structure that operates with pulsed arcs and high magnetic field. Based on corrosion tests it is shown that the macroparticle reduction by the twist filter is satisfactory for this demanding application, while plasma throughput is very high. Ultrathin hard carbon films have been synthesized using Sfilter and twist filter systems. Film properties such as hardness, elastic modulus, wear, and corrosion resistance have been tested. Index Terms: diamond-like carbon, cathodic vacuum arc, macroparticle filtering, magnetic storage, carbon overcoats 3 I. INTRODUCTIONUltrathin (< 5 nm) hard carbon films are used as protective overcoats on hard disks and readwrite heads. The tribological properties of the head-disk interface are not only of mechanical but also of chemical nature: the overcoat should protect the magnetic layers against wear and corrosion [1, 2]. The areal density of information stored in disk drive products increased at an amazing rate of over 65% for many years rate, and continues to accelerate to even greater rates [3]. To accomplish this, the "magnetic spacing" between the magnetic layers of the disk and read/write sensor of the head must continue to decrease. The magnetic spacing includes the overcoats, lubrication, and the fly height. Thinner overcoats allow the read-write head to be closer to the magnetic layer of the disk, and hence, the size of individual bits on the disk to be smaller. As we work toward an areal density of 100 Gbit/in

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Diamond-like carbon applications in high density hard disc recording heads

Cited by 119 publications

References 7 publications

Effect of Substrates on Film Hardness Measurements of Nanometer Thick Amorphous Carbon Films

Effect of Substrates on Film Hardness Measurements of Nanometer Thick Amorphous Carbon Films

Ultrathin diamond-like carbon films deposited by filtered carbon vacuum arcs

Ultrathin diamondlike carbon films deposited by filtered carbon vacuum arcs

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