Nanostructure, structural stability, and diffusion characteristics of layered coatings for heat-assisted magnetic recording head media

Matlak, J.; Rismaniyazdi, E.; Komvopoulos, K.

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-27688-4

Title: Nanostructure, structural stability, and diffusion characteristics of layered coatings for heat-assisted magnetic recording head media

Journal Article · Thu Jun 28 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27688-4· OSTI ID:1624406

Matlak, J. ^[1]; Rismaniyazdi, E. ^[2];

^[1]

Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Western Digital Co., San Jose, CA (United States)

The intense laser heating in heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) has been a major hindrance to HAMR technology from becoming commercially viable. Thermal damage of the near-field transducer (NFT) and write pole (WP) embedded in the trailing edge of the magnetic head due to failure of the protective carbon overcoat after prolonged heating at an elevated temperature are major obstacles. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to develop an effective coating method for HAMR heads. This was accomplished by introducing a new class of layered coatings consisting of ultrathin amorphous carbon (a-C) overcoat, adhesion (SiN) layer, and buffer (NiCr or TaO_x) layer sequentially deposited onto Au and FeCo base layers to mimic the layer stacking of NFT and WP elements, respectively. The structural stability of the a-C overcoats and diffusion characteristics of each comprising layer under conditions of heating at 350°C for 30 min in an Ar atmosphere were investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). For most stacking configurations the HRTEM/STEM and EELS results generally revealed some layer intermixing and minute carbon atom rehybridization in the heated a-C overcoats. The findings of this investigation suggest that further optimization of the developed layered coatings can provide a viable solution to thermal damage of HAMR heads.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1624406

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Vol. 8, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 9 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (26)

Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording Rottmayer, R. E.; Batra, S.; Buechel, D. IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 42, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1109/TMAG.2006.879572	journal	October 2006
Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording Kryder, M. H.; Gage, E. C.; McDaniel, T. W. Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 96, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2008.2004315	journal	November 2008
A HAMR Media Technology Roadmap to an Areal Density of 4 Tb/in$^2$ Weller, Dieter; Parker, Gregory; Mosendz, Oleksandr IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 50, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1109/TMAG.2013.2281027	journal	January 2014
Structural stability of hydrogenated amorphous carbon overcoats used in heat-assisted magnetic recording investigated by rapid thermal annealing Wang, N.; Komvopoulos, K.; Rose, F. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 113, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4792521	journal	February 2013
Head–Disk Interface Materials Issues in Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording Marchon, Bruno; Guo, Xing-Cai; Pathem, Bala Krishna IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 50, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1109/TMAG.2013.2283068	journal	March 2014
HAMR Recording Limitations and Extendibility Wang, Xiaobin; Gao, Kaizhong; Zhou, Hua IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 49, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1109/TMAG.2012.2221689	journal	February 2013
Coverage and properties of a-SiNx hard disk overcoat Yen, Bing K.; White, Richard L.; Waltman, Robert J. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 93, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1543136	journal	May 2003
The role of microstructure in the high temperature oxidation mechanism of Cr3C2–NiCr composite coatings Matthews, S.; James, B.; Hyland, M. Corrosion Science, Vol. 51, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.corsci.2009.02.027	journal	May 2009
High temperature oxidation studies of detonation-gun-sprayed Cr3C2–NiCr coating on Fe- and Ni-based superalloys in air under cyclic condition at 900°C Kamal, Subhash; Jayaganthan, R.; Prakash, S. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Vol. 472, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2008.04.087	journal	March 2009
Carbon Overcoat Oxidation in Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording Pathem, B. K.; Guo, X. -C.; Rose, F. IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 49, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1109/TMAG.2012.2236645	journal	July 2013
Oxidation behavior of diamond-like carbon films Wang, Da-Yung; Chang, Chi-Lung; Ho, Wei-Yu Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 120-121 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0257-8972(99)00350-3	journal	November 1999
Thermal stability and oxidation properties of magnetron sputtered diamond-like carbon and its nanocomposite coatings Zhang, Sam; Bui, Xuan Lam; Li, Xiaomin Diamond and Related Materials, Vol. 15, Issue 4-8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diamond.2005.12.005	journal	April 2006
Diamond-like amorphous carbon Robertson, J. Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports, Vol. 37, Issue 4-6 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-796X(02)00005-0	journal	May 2002
Thermal stability and relaxation in diamond-like-carbon. A Raman study of films with different sp3 fractions (ta-C to a-C) Kalish, R.; Lifshitz, Y.; Nugent, K. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 74, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.123971	journal	May 1999
Ultrathin amorphous carbon films synthesized by filtered cathodic vacuum arc used as protective overcoats of heat-assisted magnetic recording heads Matlak, J.; Komvopoulos, K. Scientific Reports, Vol. 8, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27528-5	journal	June 2018
Deposition of hydrogen‐free diamond‐like carbon film by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition Park, Kyu Chang; Moon, Jong Hyun; Jang, Jin Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 68, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.116648	journal	June 1996
Hydrogenated amorphous carbon films prepared by plasma‐enhanced chemical‐vapor deposition Chou, L. H. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 72, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.351631	journal	September 1992
Comparison of deposition methods for ultra thin DLC overcoat film for MR head Akita, N.; Konishi, Y.; Ogura, S. Diamond and Related Materials, Vol. 10, Issue 3-7 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0925-9635(00)00487-8	journal	March 2001
Ultrathin diamond-like carbon films deposited by filtered carbon vacuum arcs Anders, A.; Fong, W.; Kulkarni, A. V. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol. 29, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1109/27.964472	journal	January 2001
Ultrathin carbon coatings for magnetic storage technology Robertson, J. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 383, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-6090(00)01786-7	journal	February 2001
Thermal Stability of Ultrathin Amorphous Carbon Films for Energy-Assisted Magnetic Recording Wang, N.; Komvopoulos, K. IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 47, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1109/TMAG.2011.2139221	journal	September 2011
Direct-current cathodic vacuum arc system with magnetic-field mechanism for plasma stabilization Zhang, H. -S.; Komvopoulos, K. Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 79, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2949128	journal	July 2008
Synthesis of ultrathin carbon films by direct current filtered cathodic vacuum arc Zhang, H. -S.; Komvopoulos, K. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 105, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3098254	journal	April 2009
Subplantation model for film growth from hyperthermal species Lifshitz, Y.; Kasi, S. R.; Rabalais, J. W. Physical Review B, Vol. 41, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.41.10468	journal	May 1990
Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording Rottmayer, B.; Challener, W. A.; Hohlfeld, J. INTERMAG 2006 - IEEE International Magnetics Conference https://doi.org/10.1109/intmag.2006.375599	conference	May 2006
The Role of Duty Cycle of Substrate Pulse Biasing in Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc Deposition of Amorphous Carbon Films Xie, J.; Komvopoulos, K. IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 51, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1109/tmag.2015.2464380	journal	December 2015

Cited By (2)

Ultrathin amorphous carbon films synthesized by filtered cathodic vacuum arc used as protective overcoats of heat-assisted magnetic recording heads Matlak, J.; Komvopoulos, K. Scientific Reports, Vol. 8, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27528-5	journal	June 2018
Using structural phase transitions to enhance the coercivity of ferromagnetic films Need, Ryan F.; Lauzier, Josh; Sutton, Logan APL Materials, Vol. 7, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5118893	journal	October 2019