STRUCTURAL PROPERTY COMPARISON OF NEW AND USED DIAMOND-LIKE CARBON/TITANIUM DOUBLELAYER FILMS.

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) based films are usually applied to devices as protective coating in devices demanding excellent mechanical properties in order to improve tribological performances. In this work, DLC/Ti double-layer thin films were deposited on a moving part of Heads Gimbal Assembly (HGA) tester and were put in the operation for 1000 h. Comparison of structural properties of the newly deposited and after full operation samples was investigated. Surface morphology was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used for examining chemical composition of films. Moreover, the structural properties were studied by near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The results show a good tribological performance of the film as there was no significant difference between the new and used sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]