Silicon nitride gradient film as the underlayer of ultra-thin tetrahedral amorphous carbon overcoat for magnetic recording slider

Wang, Gui‐Gen; Kuang, Xu-Ping; Zhang, Huayu; Zhu, Can; Han, Jiecai; Zuo, Haibin; Hong-yan, MA

doi:10.1016/j.matchemphys.2011.07.077

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Historically, overcoat thickness reduction on both components has been enabled by denser carbon, as well as smoother underlying surfaces for the magnetic medium (disk) and RW elements (head). Head carbon has evolved from sputtered to plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD) to filtered cathodic arc (f-CAC) carbon [36][37][38][39], which increased the density, sp 3 /sp 2 ratio, and hardness [40]. On the disk side, f-CAC technology has not yet been made manufacturable [41,42], mostly because of particle and deposition rate challenges, and most if not all disks shipped today are coated with some sort of PE-CVD deposited amorphous carbon overcoat.…”

Section: Astc Hdi Roadmap To 4 Tb/in 2 and Major Research Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Head-Disk Interface Roadmap to an Areal Density of Tbit/in²

Marchon

Pitchford

Hsia

et al. 2013

Advances in Tribology

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This paper reviews the state of the head-disk interface (HDI) technology, and more particularly the head-medium spacing (HMS), for today's and future hard-disk drives. Current storage areal density on a disk surface is fast approaching the one terabit per square inch mark, although the compound annual growth rate has reduced considerably from ∼100%/annum in the late 1990s to 20-30% today. This rate is now lower than the historical, Moore's law equivalent of ∼40%/annum. A necessary enabler to a high areal density is the HMS, or the distance from the bottom of the read sensor on the flying head to the top of the magnetic medium on the rotating disk. This paper describes the various components of the HMS and various scenarios and challenges on how to achieve a goal of 4.0-4.5 nm for the 4 Tbit/in 2 density point. Special considerations will also be given to the implication of disruptive technologies such as sealing the drive in an inert atmosphere and novel recording schemes such as bit patterned media and heat assisted magnetic recording.

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Section: Astc Hdi Roadmap To 4 Tb/in 2 and Major Research Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Head-Disk Interface Roadmap to an Areal Density of Tbit/in²

Marchon

Pitchford

Hsia

et al. 2013

Advances in Tribology

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“…Furthermore, in applications involving prolonged exposure to an elevated temperature, such as a HAMR magnetic head, oxidation, delamination, sp 3 → sp 2 rehybridization (graphitization), and carbon diffusion into the substrate may compromise the reliability of the data storage device. Accordingly, an underlayer can be extremely beneficial not only for preventing carbon diffusion, especially if the intermixing layer of the a -C film cannot fulfil the role of a diffusion barrier, but also for acting as an adhesive and anti-corrosion layer that can effectively bond the a -C film to the substrate and prevent corrosion on the metallic substrate 26 , 33 – 35 . However, none of the former studies investigated the thermal stability and, particularly, the diffusion characteristics of a -C films in the presence of an adhesion underlayer under conditions of prolonged heating.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal stability and diffusion characteristics of ultrathin amorphous carbon films grown on crystalline and nitrogenated silicon substrates by filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition

Wang

Roy

Komvopoulos

2021

Sci Rep

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Amorphous carbon (a-C) films are widely used as protective overcoats in many technology sectors, principally due to their excellent thermophysical properties and chemical inertness. The growth and thermal stability of sub-5-nm-thick a-C films synthesized by filtered cathodic vacuum arc on pure (crystalline) and nitrogenated (amorphous) silicon substrate surfaces were investigated in this study. Samples of a-C/Si and a-C/SiNx/Si stacks were thermally annealed for various durations and subsequently characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). The TEM images confirmed the continuity and uniformity of the a-C films and the 5-nm-thick SiNx underlayer formed by silicon nitrogenation using radio-frequency sputtering. The EELS analysis of cross-sectional samples revealed the thermal stability of the a-C films and the efficacy of the SiNx underlayer to prevent carbon migration into the silicon substrate, even after prolonged heating. The obtained results provide insight into the important attributes of an underlayer in heated multilayered media for preventing elemental intermixing with the substrate, while preserving the structural stability of the a-C film at the stack surface. An important contribution of this investigation is the establishment of an experimental framework for accurately assessing the thermal stability and elemental diffusion in layered microstructures exposed to elevated temperatures.

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“…In the present study, a DLC film was combined with the thermally stable Si-N system [24] [25] to improve more the heat resistance of the original film. A sputtering-plasma based ion implantation (PBII) hybrid process developed in our laboratory [26] was employed in conjunction with Si 3 N 4 to prepare DLC/Si-N composite films, and the heat resistance and other properties of these films were assessed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deposition and Thermal Stability of DLC/Si-N Composite Films Synthesized Using a Sputtering-PBII Hybrid System

Melih¹,

Yamada²,

Watanabe³

2019

MSA

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Diamond-like carbon (DLC) is a metastable amorphous material that exhibits unique properties. However, there are many limitations regarding the use of this material due to factors such as its tribological characteristics at high temperature and limited thermal stability. In this study, the thermal stability and tribological properties of DLC/silicon-nitrogen (DLC/Si-N) composite films were investigated and compared to those of pure DLC films. All the films were synthesized using a combination of radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering and plasma-based ion implantation (PBII) (a so-called sputtering-PBII hybrid system) which is newly developed by us. A high purity silicon nitride (99.9%) disk was used as the target, applying an RF power in the range of 500 -700 W and a negative pulsed bias voltage of 5 kV to the substrate. An Ar-CH 4 mixture was used as the reactive gas. The CH 4 partial pressure was varied between 0 and 0.15 Pa, while the total gas pressure and total gas flow were fixed at 0.30 Pa and 30 sccm, respectively. The structures of the resulting films were characterized using Raman spectroscopy, while the thermal stabilities were assessed using thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) and friction coefficients were obtained via ball-on-disk friction tests. The results indicate that the DLC/Si-N composite films produced in this work exhibit improved thermal stability relative to that of pure DLC owing to the presence of thermally stable atomic-scale Si-N compound in the carbon main flame networks. A DLC/Si-N film containing approximately 11 at.%Si and 18.5 at.%N shows good thermal stability in air over 800˚C up to 1100˚C, together with excellent tribological performance at 500˚C in air. Overall, the data demonstrate that DLC/Si-N composite films offer improved thermal stability and superior tribological performance at high temperatures.

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Silicon nitride gradient film as the underlayer of ultra-thin tetrahedral amorphous carbon overcoat for magnetic recording slider

Cited by 14 publications

References 35 publications

The Head-Disk Interface Roadmap to an Areal Density of Tbit/in²

The Head-Disk Interface Roadmap to an Areal Density of Tbit/in²

Thermal stability and diffusion characteristics of ultrathin amorphous carbon films grown on crystalline and nitrogenated silicon substrates by filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition

Deposition and Thermal Stability of DLC/Si-N Composite Films Synthesized Using a Sputtering-PBII Hybrid System

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Silicon nitride gradient film as the underlayer of ultra-thin tetrahedral amorphous carbon overcoat for magnetic recording slider

Cited by 14 publications

References 35 publications

The Head-Disk Interface Roadmap to an Areal Density of Tbit/in2

The Head-Disk Interface Roadmap to an Areal Density of Tbit/in2

Thermal stability and diffusion characteristics of ultrathin amorphous carbon films grown on crystalline and nitrogenated silicon substrates by filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition

Deposition and Thermal Stability of DLC/Si-N Composite Films Synthesized Using a Sputtering-PBII Hybrid System

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The Head-Disk Interface Roadmap to an Areal Density of Tbit/in²

The Head-Disk Interface Roadmap to an Areal Density of Tbit/in²