Ultrathin ion-beam carbon as an overcoat for the magnetic recording medium

A diamond-like carbon film of 20 [Angstrom] deposited by the ion-beam method demonstrated good wear and corrosion protection on a magnetic medium. No wear or high stiction was observed after the contact-start-stop (CSS) test terminated at 20 000 cycles. The corrosion tests on the medium indicated that an ion-beam carbon overcoat, as thin as 20 [Angstrom], provides better corrosion protection than a 50-[Angstrom] sputtered carbon overcoat. The carbon deposition ion energy influenced the overall magnetic performance of the recording medium. Magnetic defects and media noise increased with increasing carbon deposition ion energy. Index Terms--Carbon overcoat, corrosion, ion-beam method, magnetic recording, tribology.