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 20000 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.