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 properties and adhesion strength of ion beam deposited (IBD) CHx, CHxNy, and sputtered CHx overcoats on magnetic recording disks. IBD carbon films with N content of 0-21% were deposited using different power conditions, High resolution SEM was utilized to determine the failure mechanisms and critical loads. The critical load increased with the deposition power and the nitrogen content in the films. The latter trend was somewhat surprising since the overcoat density and hardness decreased with nitrogen concentration.