Laser-assisted mechanical texturing of magnetic media

Mechanical texturing is the dominant technique for texturing magnetic media and is widely used in current hard disk drive manufacturing processes. Thi s technique possesses the advantages of easy operation and low cost. Howeve r, it has an inherent disadvantage since mechanical texturing leads to jagg ed profiles randomly generated on hard disk surfaces, which precludes its f urther use in low-fly-height cases. A laser-assisted process working at nea r-threshold fluences for mechanical texturing was proposed to buff the irre gular profiles of mechanical textures formed on Ni-P disk surfaces using a KrF excimer laser (lambda = 248 nm, tau = 23 ns). This process, based on se lective melting of the Ni-P surfaces due to inhomogeneous deposition of las er energy, was found to be capable of improving the surface characteristics of mechanically textured Ni-P disks. VSM and XRD analyses demonstrated tha t magnetic and structural properties of the Ni-P surfaces would not be affe cted in a detrimental way so as to influence the recording features of the magnetic media after laser buffing.