Recording media having protective overcoats of highly tetrahedral amorphous carbon and methods for their production
US7544397B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 6, 2004 |
| Grant date | Jun 9, 2009 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 6, 2024 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10T428/31678
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The invention provides systems and methods for the deposition of an improved diamond-like carbon material, particularly for the production of magnetic recording media. The diamond-like carbon material of the present invention is highly tetrahedral, that is, it features a large number of the sp3 carbon-carbon bonds which are found within a diamond crystal lattice. The material is also amorphous, providing a combination of short-range order with long-range disorder, and can be deposited as films which are ultrasmooth and continuous at thicknesses substantially lower than known amorphous carbon coating materials. The carbon protective coatings of the present invention will often be hydrogenated. In a preferred method for depositing of these materials, capacitive coupling forms a highly uniform, selectively energized stream of ions from a dense, inductively ionized plasma. Such inductive ionization is enhanced by a relatively slow moving (or “quasi-static”) magnetic field, which promotes resonant ionization and ion beam homogenization.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.