Abstract: Method and apparatus for treating the surface of a magnetic disc to remove surface asperities and loosely bound material. The disc is alternatively treated by contact with a pair of moving belt-like tapes, a pair of flying heads, and second contact with the belt-like tape, with the disc carried at a fixed position for rotation in a vertical plane throughout, but rotated at a higher speed during the intermediate flying waffling step. The first and/or second tape-treatment steps can be used to apply a lubricant film to the disc surface.

Abstract: A baffle for use in achieving a substantially isotropic grain structure in a crystalline layer which is sputtered onto a substrate by moving the substrate linearly, and without rotation, in a front-to-back direction below a sputtering target. The baffle has front and back shields which are adapted to limit deposition of sputtered material onto the moving substrate substantially to substrate regions which directly underlie the target. A pair of strips in the baffle are constructed to effect substantially symmetrical sputtering of material onto the substrate surface from opposite target side directions, to produce an isotropic crystal structure during early phases of film deposition.