Electrical property investigations of carbon, lubricant, and alternative overcoats of magnetic discs using mercury probe

This paper describes the results on the electrical properties of carbon, lu bricants, and alternative overcoats of magnetic discs using mercury probe. Our data show that resistivity of the carbon overcoat is highly dependent u pon carbon composition and process condition, For DC-magnetron sputtered ca rbon, C:H carbon has much higher resistivity than C:H:N carbon. On the othe r hand, ion beam deposited carbon has higher resistivity than sputtered car bon. This effect is more pronounced for C:H:N type carbon, The DC break-dow n voltage of carbon overcoat is a function of film thickness, Thicker carbo n has a higher break down voltage, Z-dol lubricant is nonconducting and has very low break-down voltage. Resistivity of SIN and AIN overcoats on Al an d glass substrates is also reported.