IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Magnetic Recording Topical Conference Wednesday Sessions
       Session MR+MI+AS+SE-WeM

Paper MR+MI+AS+SE-WeM5
Effect of Humidity on Lubricated Carbon Overcoats

Wednesday, October 31, 2001, 9:40 am, Room 110

Session: Magnetic Recording: Tribology & Integration
Presenter: N. Shukla, Seagate Technology
Authors: N. Shukla, Seagate Technology
A.J. Gellman, Carnegie Mellon University
R. Veerdonk, Seagate Technology
X. Ma, Seagate Technology
J. Gui, Seagate Technology
Correspondent: Click to Email
A quartz crystal microbalance has been used to measure contaminant adsorption on magnetic data storage media under controlled conditions. This apparatus has been developed to make measurements of contaminant adsorption at the level of 0.1 ng/cm2 with a time resolution on the order of seconds. Initially we have measured humidity uptake on amorphous carbon overcoats coated with lubricants. We have been able to estimate the amount of water adsorbed on lubricated carbon overcoats at room temperature and at moderate humidity levels (~ 25% RH ). Adsorption and desorption is fast indicating that equilibrium with ambient humidity is reached on timescales of minutes, much faster than the timescales for fluctuations in ambient humidity. We have also studied water adsorption on different types of lubricants deposited at different thicknesses. Interestingly, the amount of water adsorbed on lubricated and unlubricated carbon overcoats is similar suggesting that water adsorption is primarily dependent on the properties of the carbon. We have studied the bonding of water on carbon overcoats and also studied bonding of lubricants on carbon overcoats.