Christopher L. Platt

Carbon Overcoat Loss From the Surface of a Heat Assisted Magnetic Storage Disk due to Laser Irradiation

A pump-probe experimental technique that incorporated a 527nm wavelength pump laser and a 476nm probe laser was applied to a magnetic storage disk having a magnetic layer comprised of a FePt alloy and coated with a hydrogenated carbon overcoat (COC). The pump laser power was systematically increased while sweeping the applied field with an electromagnet to observe the temperature dependent magnetization, which is proportional to the change in the polarization of the reflected beam. In this way the laser power required to heat the media to the Curie temperature (Tc) was determined, with the Curie temperature of the media determined from a separate magnetometry measurement. Such a single point laser power-to-media temperature calibration allowed the determination of the media temperature over a small laser power range near Tc. The carbon over-coated FePt media was then irradiated for varying durations at temperatures pertinent to a Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) device [1]. The COC surface topography and carbon bonding structure within each irradiated zone was probed with AFM and micro-spot Raman. A subtle, systematic temperature and duration dependent change in the COC was observed. With increasing temperature and duration, the Raman D-peak became increasingly pronounced, signaling an increase of the sp2 (disorder) content in the film in the irradiated region. At incrementally higher temperatures, the loss of the carbon overcoat becomes apparent as a shallow depression in the COC film in the irradiated area. A clearer picture of the possible sensitivity and kinetics of the loss of COC on the HAMR media surface was obtained by measuring its loss over a range of irradiation temperatures and durations. The activation energy and COC loss rate were obtained and a possible mechanism for COC failure-loss was discussed within the bounds of the operating HAMR device [2].© 2013 ASME

Atomistic Frictional Properties of the C(100)2x1-H Surface

Density functional theory- (DFT-) based ab initio calculations were used to investigate the surface-to-surface interaction and frictional behavior of two hydrogenated C(100) dimer surfaces. A monolayer of hydrogen atoms was applied to the fully relaxed C(100)2x1 surface having rows of C=C dimers with a bond length of 1.39 A. The obtained C(100)2x1-H surfaces (C–H bond length 1.15 A) were placed in a large vacuum space and translated toward each other. A cohesive state at a surface separation of 4.32 A that is stabilized by approximately 0.42 eV was observed. An increase in the charge separation in the surface dimer was calculated at this separation having a 0.04 e transfer from the hydrogen atom to the carbon atom. The Mayer bond orders were calculated for the C–C and C–H bonds and were found to be 0.962 and 0.947, respectively. σ C–H bonds did not change substantially from the fully separated state. A significant decrease in the electron density difference between the hydrogen atoms on opposite surfaces was seen and assigned to the effects of Pauli repulsion. The surfaces were translated relative to each other in the (100) plane, and the friction force was obtained as a function of slab spacing, which yielded a 0.157 coefficient of friction.