A FACILE APPROACH OF FABRICATING ULTRA-THIN WEAR RESISTANT SI/SINx/C OVERCOATS FOR MAGNETIC TAPE RECORDING HEADS

摘要

The findings in this work highlight the outstanding properties and performance of the fabricated ultra-thin Si/SiN_x/C overcoat in wear protection of the tape head. While providing a low magnetic spacing, the designed overcoat was able to protect the AlTiC surface throughout the duration of the tribological wear tests, which were performed on flat AlTiC substrates and coated commercial tape heads. The simplicity of this fabrication technique for pulsed DC sputtering of carbon gives it an added advantage over FCVA deposited carbon for it to be easily adopted and integrated into existing manufacturing processes.