This book presents the latest research in ultrathin carbon-based protective overcoats for high areal density magnetic data storage systems, with a particular focus on hard disk drives (HDDs) and tape drives. These findings shed new light on how the microstructure and interfacial chemistry of these sub-20 nm overcoats can be engineered at the nanoscale regime to obtain enhanced properties for wear, thermal and corrosion protection which are critical for such applications. Readers will also be provided with fresh experimental insights into the suitability of graphene as an atomically-thin overcoat for HDD media. The easy readability of this book will appeal to a wide audience, ranging from non-specialists with a general interest in the field to scientists and industry professionals directly involved in thin film and coatings research.

Provides a concise literature review at the start of each chapter to help readers quickly familiarize themselves with the subject matter Includes 90 figures and illustrations to aid the reader's understanding of the data and conceptspresented Offers a special chapter on graphene to give readers a sneak peek into its exciting potential as an atomically thinprotective overcoat Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Inhalt
Introduction.- Overview of Amorphous Carbon Films.- Overcoat Fabrication and Characterization.- Optimization of Ultrathin Carbon Overcoats on Hard Disk Media.- Development of a Protective Sinx/C Bilayer Overcoat for Hard Disk Media.- Wear-Durable Protective Overcoats for Functional Tape Heads.- Graphene as a Protective Overcoat for Hard Disk Media.- Conclusions and Future Work.