Mechanical strength and wear resistance of 5 nm IBD carbon overcoats for magnetic disks

A micro-wear scan technique has been used to evaluate the tribological prop erties and adhesion strength of ion beam deposited (IBD) CHx CHxNy, and spu ttered CHx overcoats on magnetic recording disks. IBD carbon films with N c ontent of 0-21% were deposited using different power conditions. High resol ution SEM was utilized to determine the failure mechanisms and critical loa ds. The critical load increased with the deposition power and the nitrogen content in the films. The latter trend was somewhat surprising since the ov ercoat density and hardness decreased with nitrogen concentration.