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Developing an (Al,Ti)N x C y Interlayer to Improve the Durability of the ta-C Coating on Magnetic Recording Heads

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Abstract

In this study, a new surface pre-treatment technique has been developed to improve the durability of the ultra-thin tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) coating for magnetic tape drive read/write heads. In this technique, prior to the deposition of an 8-nm ta-C overcoat, a 2-nm thin TiN interlayer was deposited on the heads surface and bombarded with energetic Ar+ and C+ ions. X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy results revealed that this surface pre-treatment technique would lead to the formation of an atomically mixed (AlTi)N x C y interlayer which can chemically bond the interlayer to the overcoat and substrate. The effect of this atomically mixed interlayer on the wear resistance of the ta-C coating was investigated using ball-on-flat tests as well as a functional tape drive tester. According to the ball-on-flat test results, the application of the (AlTi)N x C y interlayer was able to improve the wear life of the ta-C overcoat by up to 3.3 times as compared to that of the conventional ta-C coating. The results of the wear tests in a real head/tape interface were in agreement with the ball-on-flat results, and showed that while the conventional ta-C film was completely removed from the head surface, the ta-C film with (AlTi)N x C y was able to protect the head surface for wear tests of about 1.6 million meters.

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Acknowledgments

This research was partly funded by the Information Storage Industry Consortium (INSIC) TAPE Program and the Singapore NRF under CRP Award No. NRF-CRP 4-2008-6. The authors thank Dr. Robert Raymond of Oracle America Inc. for providing the heads and Mr. Douglas Johnson of Imation Corp. for providing the SDS tape transport system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Block EA, #07-08, Singapore, 117576, Singapore

    Ehsan Rismani & Sujeet K. Sinha

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, Block E4A, #05-03, Singapore, 117576, Singapore

    Reuben Yeo

  3. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, Block E4, #05-45, Singapore, 117576, Singapore

    Hyunsoo Yang & Charanjit S. Bhatia

Authors
  1. Ehsan Rismani
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  2. Reuben Yeo
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  3. Sujeet K. Sinha
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  4. Hyunsoo Yang
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  5. Charanjit S. Bhatia
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Correspondence to Charanjit S. Bhatia.

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Rismani, E., Yeo, R., Sinha, S.K. et al. Developing an (Al,Ti)N x C y Interlayer to Improve the Durability of the ta-C Coating on Magnetic Recording Heads. Tribol Lett 50, 233–243 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-013-0115-0

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