Overcoats and Lubrication for Thin Film Disks

Abstract

Metallic alloy thin film media and ever decreasing head-to-media spacing make severe demands on storage devices. Decreasing head-to-media separation is critical for high storage densities but it also leads to increased slider-disk interactions, which can cause slider and disk wear or even head crashes. Wear can also occur when drives start and stop when the slider contacts the disk at relatively high speeds. The reliability and durability of thin film disks, which provide much higher areal density than conventional oxide disks with particulate media, are achieved by the use of very thin overcoat materials and surface lubricants. This article summarizes the approaches taken in the industry to enhance the tribological performance of magnetic media, with special emphasis on the basic understanding of the processes occurring at the slider-disk interface.The continuous rise in the demand for storage capacity at a competitive price is the prime motivator of the changes we have seen in the data storage industry. It is clearly stimulating the present move away from particulate media, which has long dominated all fields of data storage, i.e., tape, rigid, and flexible disks, to the thin film storage media. Particulate storage devices use magnetic media formulated by dispersing magnetic particles, usually iron oxides, in an organic binder. In thin film storage devices, the storage medium is a continuous magnetic film, usually a cobalt alloy, made either by sputtering or by electroless plating.