Study of lubricant adsorption and head smear on graphene films

Abstract

In recent years, the demand for hard disk drives (HDD) has been growing in the midst of a huge amount of information handled with the development of AI and deep-learning. In particular, a demand for HDD for data centers is growing, and capacity of HDD is required. Currently, there is concern that diamond-like carbon (DLC) overcoats will be destroyed by high temperatures in thermally-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). To solve this problem, we considered using graphene as a protective layer. In this study, we investigated the adsorption amount and surface structure of lubricants on DLC, graphene, UV-treated graphene, and heat-treated graphene using ellipsometer and Raman spectroscopy. We also investigated the heat resistance of graphene. As a result, it was found that UV treatment and heat treatment of graphene increased the amount of lubricant adsorption. We also found that the heat resistance of graphene changes greatly depending on whether it is UV treated or not.