AVS 51st International Symposium
    Thin Films Monday Sessions
       Session TF-MoP

Paper TF-MoP8
Water-incorporation in Reactively Sputtered Carbon Nitride Coatings

Monday, November 15, 2004, 5:00 pm, Room Exhibit Hall B

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: B.L. French, College of William and Mary
Authors: B.L. French, College of William and Mary
Z. Yang, College of William and Mary
B.C. Holloway, College of William and Mary
Correspondent: Click to Email
Carbon nitride is a candidate material for tribological/passivating overcoat layers on magnetic recording media due to its low friction coefficient, thermal stability, and high hardness. However, carbon nitride coatings are susceptible to damage from water in humid environments, resulting in an increase in friction coefficients, permeation of water to the underlying coating or delamination if sufficient stress is induced. In the present study carbon nitride coatings were prepared by DC planar magnetron sputtering. The working gas composition and pressure were systematically varied to manipulate coating morphology and composition. After growth, the deposition chamber was back-filled with air at a relative-humidity of 35% while stress in the coating was monitored in real-time with a laser-based wafer-curvature measurement system. The stress evolution during these experiments will be used to understand mechanisms of water-interaction with the coating and discussed in the context of existing models of water incorporation in thin films.