Ultra-Thin Silicon Carbon Nitride Film: a Promising Protective Coating for Read/Write Heads in Magnetic Storage Devices

Ultra-thin amorphous Si–C–N films, down to 2nm, have been synthesized by MW-ECR, plasma enhanced unbalanced magnetron sputtering. The friction coefficient of the film is only 0.11, determined in dry friction tests against the GCr15 ball at a load of 400 mN for 20 min. The films exhibit good protection against corrosion when they are immersed in a more severe corrosion environment of 0.1 mol/L oxalic acid for 12 h compared to the usual conditions (0.05 mol/L, 4 min) used in current computer industries. These good properties can be attributed to the smooth, dense and pore free structure of the film. These indicate that the Si–C–N film synthesized by the present technique may be a promising protective coating for read/write heads and other magnetic storage devices.