Development of Low Flying Height Thin-Film Disks

The disks textured with alumina slurry have been found to show better glide performance than those textured with diamond slurry. Carbon protective layer sputtered under a low argon pressure also improves the tribological property of the disks, leading to their enhanced durability. The disks textured with alumina slurry and sputtered with C protective layer under a low Ar pressure have exhibited good performance both for the glide test at flying 2 mu in. and for the CSS cycle test at flying 3 mu in. The disks fabricated have shown the recording density of 45 KFCPI at resolution of 64.1% and flying 2 mu in., which is 1.5 times higher than the value of 30 KFCPI at flying 4 mu in. Disk structure consists of lubricant layer, protective layer (C), magnetic layer (Co--12Cr--2Ta), under layer (chromium), and aluminum base alloy or glass substrate.