Abstract: A thin film structure comprising a protective layer structure having at least two different compositions of carbon and nitrogen with the surface of the protective layer having the lowest nitrogen content is disclosed. The protective layer structure of the invention is preferably used over the magnetic material in a thin film magnetic disk. In the protective layer structure of the invention, the durability of a relatively high nitrogen content CNx material is improved by the addition of a surface sublayer of CNx with a relatively low nitrogen concentration. The resulting protective layer structure provides superior durability to either of the thin film compositions used alone achieving a synergistic result. The protective layer structure of the invention has the additional benefit of decreasing the polar surface energy and therefore, improving the corrosion resistance of the film structure.

Abstract: A magnetic recording device having (a) a housing, (b) a disk positioned in the housing or a motor, (c) a motor associated with the disk operable for rotating the disk at a selected rotational speed; (d) a head supported on a slider for a magnetically reading data from or magnetically writing data to the magnetic layer on the disk; (e) an actuator positioned in the housing and connected to the slider for moving the head across the disk; and (f) a liquid or solid, volatile base positioned in the housing to prevent the formation of polymeric deposits.

Abstract: The invention relates to an improved high performance magnetic recording device. The recording device comprises a magnetic recording disk, a slider having a transducer for reading or writing data on the disk, a motor operable to rotate the disk at speeds greater than 7000 RPM and an actuator connected to the slider to move the slider across the disk. The trailing surface of the slider is coated with a low surface energy film to prevent build up of droplets of liquid contaminants.