Adsorption of water on lubricated and non lubricated TiC surfaces for data storage applications

摘要

In this work we have studied the adsorption of water on TiC-coated quartz crystals to evaluate the use of TiC as a potential candidate for overcoats on magnetic media, It was observed that at room temperature the amount of adsorbed water onto thick sputtered TiC films, up to 20 nm in thickness, was similar to the amount of water adsorbed on standard amorphous 1.0-5.0 nm thick CH{sub}x films, which are currently used as protective overcoats on magnetic media, The sputtered TiC lubricated with Fom-blin ZO{sub}3 in Vertrel XF solution also shows similar amounts of water adsorption as compared to unlubricated CH{sub}x films. The amount of water adsorbed on TiC and CH{sub}x films was measured in-situ by a quartz-crystal microbalance apparatus in an ultra-high vacuum chamber.