Surface Analysis of Media/Head Interactions in Information Storage Systems

Abstract

In both rigid and flexible magnetic recording systems a lack of knowledge of the tribology of the head/medium interface is a critical limiting factor in the development of dynamic magnetic storage technology. Considering the surface specificity of the interactions involved and the diminishing sensor dimensions, this knowledge can only be gained by the use of modern surface analytical instruments with high spatial and elemental/mass resolutions, high sensitivity, high depth resolutions and imaging capabilities. The techniques which have, over the course of time, been shown to be most effective in the study of practical surfaces are Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) and scanning probe microscopy- atomic force, magnetic force etc. The capabilities of these techniques will be discussed, through examples of their use in studies of head media interactions for tape and hard drive applications.