McDermott Will & Emery LLP
Ultra-thin, corrosion resistant, hydrogenated carbon overcoats by combined sputtering and PECVD
A method of forming a layer of a hard, abrasion, and corrosion-resistant hydrogenated carbon (C:H) material on a substrate surface comprises steps of:(a) providing a vacuum chamber including a carbon sputtering target in the interior space thereof;(b) providing a substrate in the chamber interior space, a surface of the substrate the sputtering target;(c) supplying the vacuum chamber with at least one hydrocarbon gas and at least one inert gas at separately controllable flow rates and applying a sufficient negative potential to the carbon target to generate a plasma in said interior space to deposit a layer of the C:H material on the substrate surface by a process comprising simultaneous sputtering of the carbon sputtering target and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of carbon and hydrogen from the hydrocarbon gas, wherein:step (c) includes separately controlling the flow rates of each of the hydrocarbon and inert gases such that the amount of C atoms in the C:H which are contributed by the PECVD component of the process is less than about 50 at. %.Embodiments of the invention include utilizing the C:H material as a protective overcoat layer for magnetic and magneto-optical recording media.
Seagate Technology LLC
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Wen Hong Taesun Ernest Yao-Tzung Roger Chung Yuang
Liu Kim Shih Shih