DEVELOPMENT OF HARD CARBON COATINGS FOR THIN-FILM TAPE HEADS

Major problems in thin-film recording heads are pole tip/gap recession in the inductive head and scratching/smearing, electrical short, electrostatic charge build up, and corrosion of the MR stripe in the MR heads. Wear of head structure can be minimized by depositing a hard carbon coating over the entire ABS including the head structure. In this study, we have deposited carbon coatings on Ni-Zn ferrite and Al2O3-TiC substrates and dummy heads by various deposition techniques and characterized for mechanical and tribological properties, Ion beam carbon coatings on Ni-Zn ferrite and cathodic are carbon coatings on Al2O3-TiC heads exhibit most wear resistance compared to other coatings in a tape drive test.