Collaborative Research: SGER: Development and Tribological Evaluation of F-DLC Films for Magnetic Recording Applications

拟议的为期一年的探索性合作研究的主要目标是开发、表征、建模和优化氟化类金刚石碳涂层，作为磁记录磁盘驱动器中的耐磨涂层应用。西南研究院团队的主要工作重点将是开发一种薄的、无针孔的具有“自润滑”特性的大衣。由于目前的磁盘使用全氟化氢碳润滑剂来保护碳涂层的磨损，我们的方法将是开发本质上类似于DLC的硬涂层，它模拟氟化烃润滑剂的行为，而不需要在DLC涂层上局部应用润滑剂。本研究的目的是开发一种沉积工艺，以便获得超薄(~1 nm)的硬质、致密和自润滑的薄膜。加州大学圣地亚哥分校的团队将通过执行启动/停止和加载/卸载测试并优化这些薄膜的摩擦学性能来研究和优化上述薄膜的摩擦学性能。将使用其他先进的磨损评估方法，如表面反射分析和在超声波激励下的纳米硬度测量。使用传统技术提高磁存储以达到1Tbpsi数量级的面密度变得越来越困难。在达到5 nm的磁间距时遇到严重问题，这是实现1Tbpsi的存储密度所需的。对于达到5 nm的磁间距要求，具有自润滑性且不需要局部涂抹1 nm厚度的润滑膜的薄耐磨碳涂层至关重要。如果成功，这项研究对磁记录行业的影响将是巨大的。

The main objective of the proposed one-year exploratory collaborative research is to develop, characterize, model and optimize fluorinated diamond-like carbon overcoats for application as wear-protective overcoats in magnetic recording disk drives. The main focus of the Southwest Research Institute team will be to develop a thin and pinhole-free overcoat with "self-lubricating" properties. Since present-day disks use per-fluorinated hydro-carbon lubricants for wear protection of the carbon overcoat, our approach will be to develop hard coatings, DLC-like in nature, which simulate the behavior of fluorinated hydrocarbon lubricants without the need for applying the lubricants topically on the DLC coatings. It is the intent of this research to develop a deposition process so that an extremely thin (~1nm) hard, dense and self-lubricating film can be obtained. The University of California at San Diego team will investigate and optimize the tribological properties of the above films by performing start/stop and load/unload tests and optimizing the tribological properties of these films. Other advanced methods of wear evaluation will be used such as surface reflectance analysis and nano-hardness measurements in the presence of ultra-sonic wave excitation.The advancement of magnetic storage using conventional technologies to reach areal densities of the order of 1Tbpsi is becoming increasingly more difficult. Serious problems are encountered in reaching a magnetic spacing of 5nm, which is required for achieving a storage density of 1Tbpsi. A thin wear-protective carbon overcoat that is self-lubricating and does not require a topically applied lubricant film of 1 nm in thickness is of utmost importance in achieving the magnetic spacing requirement of 5 nm. If successful, the impact of this research on the magnetic recording industry will be enormous.