Reactive sputtering process for recording media

Claim 1

A method of making a ferromagnetic recording medium comprising the steps of: (i) coating a non-magnetic substrate material with a magnetic layer comprising a cobalt/chromium alloy having an atomic ratio of cobalt to chromium between about 75/25 and 90/10 by sputtering said alloy onto said substrate; (ii) after sufficient thickness of the cobalt chromium alloy has been coated onto the substrate, introducing a gas selected from the group consisting of a hydrocarbon, nitrogen, ammonia, and oxygen into the sputtering process in order to deposit a layer of cobalt and chromium reaction products with such gas and operating the sputtering process under the following conditions: (a) film growth rate of at least 50 Angstroms per minute; (b) conditions of sputtering set to fully react the cobalt and chromium being sputtered with the gas; and (c) final thickness of said layer of cobalt and chromium reaction products being between about 40 and 300 Angstroms; (iii) coating the layer of reaction products of cobalt and chromium with a lubricant useful for lubricating recording media.

Claim 2

A method of making a ferromagnetic recording medium comprising the steps of: (i) coating a non-magnetic substrate material with a magnetic layer comprising a cobalt/chromium alloy having an atomic ratio of cobalt to chromium between about 75/25 and 90/10 by sputtering said alloy onto said substrate; (ii) after sufficient thickness of the cobalt chromium alloy has been coated onto the substrate, introducing a gas selected from the group consisting of a hydrocarbon, nitrogen, ammonia, and oxygen into the sputtering process in order to deposit a layer of cobalt and chromium reaction products with such gas and operating the sputtering process under the following conditions: (a) film growth rate of at least 50 Angstroms per minute; (b) conditions of sputtering set to fully react the cobalt and chromium being sputtered with the gas; and (c) final thickness of said layer of cobalt and chromium reaction products being between about 40 and 300 Angstroms; (iii) coating the layer of reaction products of cobalt and chromium with a lubricant useful for lubricating recording media.

Claim 3

A method of making a feromagnetic recording medium comprising the steps of: (i) coating a non-magnetic substrate material with a magnetic layer comprising a cobalt/chromium alloy having an atomic ratio of cobalt to chromium between about 75/25 and 90/10 by sputtering said alloy onto said substrate; (ii) after sufficient thickness of the cobalt chromium alloy has been coated onto the substrate, introducing a gas selected from the group consisting of a hydrocarbon, nitrogen, ammonia, and oxygen into the sputtering process in order to deposit a layer of cobalt and chromium reaction products with such gas and operating the sputtering process under the following conditions: (a) film growth rate of at least 50 angstroms per minute; (b) conditions of sputtering set to fully react the cobalt and chromium being sputtered with the gas; and (c) final thickness of said layer of cobalt and chromium reaction products being between about 40 and 300 Angstroms; (iii) coating the layer of reaction products of cobalt and chromium with a lubricant as follows: coating the reaction product layer from step (ii) with a primer layer comprising a dilute solution of a polymerizable phosphorylated monomer or oligomer containing at least one aromatic, cycloaliphatic or hetero atom moiety, said solution being in a common organic solvent; drying the first layer; coating over the first layer a second dilute solution of perfluoropolyether monomer having the formula Q(R.sub.f).sub.k C.sub.a F.sub.2a -Z wherein Q comprises a polymerizable group attached to R f , which represents a plurality of randomly distributed perfluroalkylene oxide repeating units which may be branched or straight chain structures represented by the formula (C a F 2a O) in which a of each unit is independently an integer of 1 to 4, k is the number of such units having a value of from 1 to 300 such that the segment R f has a number average molecular weight of 500 to 20,000, and Z is selected from -OC a F 2a+1 and Q; drying said perfluoropolyether; and polymerizing the dried primer and perfluoropolyether coatings.

Claim 4

A method of making a feromagnetic recording medium comprising the steps of: (i) coating a non-magnetic substrate material with a magnetic layer comprising a cobalt/chromium alloy having an atomic ratio of cobalt to chromium between about 75/25 and 90/10 by sputtering said alloy onto said substrate; (ii) after sufficient thickness of the cobalt chromium alloy has been coated onto the substrate, introducing a gas selected from the group consisting of a hydrocarbon, nitrogen, ammonia, and oxygen into the sputtering process in order to deposit a layer of cobalt and chromium reaction products with such gas and operating the sputtering process under the following conditions: (a) film growth rate of at least 50 angstroms per minute; (b) conditions of sputtering set to fully react the cobalt and chromium being sputtered with the gas; and (c) final thickness of said layer of cobalt and chromium reaction products being between about 40 and 300 Angstroms; (iii) coating the layer of reaction products of cobalt and chromium with a lubricant as follows: coating the reaction product layer from step (ii) with a primer layer comprising a dilute solution of a polymerizable phosphorylated monomer or oligomer containing at least one aromatic, cycloaliphatic or hetero atom moiety, said solution being in a common organic solvent; drying the first layer; coating over the first layer a second dilute solution of perfluoropolyether monomer having the formula Q(R.sub.f).sub.k C.sub.a F.sub.2a -Z wherein Q comprises a polymerizable group attached to R f , which represents a plurality of randomly distributed perfluroalkylene oxide repeating units which may be branched or straight chain structures represented by the formula (C a F 2a O) in which a of each unit is independently an integer of 1 to 4, k is the number of such units having a value of from 1 to 300 such that the segment R f has a number average molecular weight of 500 to 20,000, and Z is selected from -OC a F 2a+1 and Q; drying said perfluoropolyether; and polymerizing the dried primer and perfluoropolyether coatings.

Claim 5

A method of making a ferromagnetic recording medium comprising the steps of: (i) sputtering a low coercive force magnetic material layer onto a non-magnetic substrate; (ii) coating the low coercive force magnetic layer with a magnetic layer comprising a cobalt/chromium alloy, having an atomic ratio of cobalt to chromium between about 75/25 and 90/10 and coercive force at least 5 times that of the lower coercive force layer, by sputtering said alloy onto said low coercive force magnetic layer; (iii) after sufficient thickness of the cobalt chromium alloy has been deposited, introducing a gas selected from the group consisting of a hydrocarbon, nitrogen, ammonia, and oxygen into the sputtering process in order to deposit a layer of cobalt and chromium reaction products with such gas and operating the sputtering process under the following conditions: (a) film growth rate of at least 50 angstroms per minute; (b) conditions of sputtering set to fully react the cobalt and chromium being sputtered with the gas; and (c) final thickness of said layer of cobalt and chromium reaction products being between about 40 and 300 Angstroms; (iii) coating the layer of reaction products of cobalt and chromium with a lubricant useful for lubricating recording media.

Claim 6

A method of making a ferromagnetic recording medium comprising the steps of: (i) sputtering a low coercive force magnetic material layer onto a non-magnetic substrate; (ii) coating the low coercive force magnetic layer with a magnetic layer comprising a cobalt/chromium alloy, having an atomic ratio of cobalt to chromium between about 75/25 and 90/10 and coercive force at least 5 times that of the lower coercive force layer, by sputtering said alloy onto said low coercive force magnetic layer; (iii) after sufficient thickness of the cobalt chromium alloy has been deposited, introducing a gas selected from the group consisting of a hydrocarbon, nitrogen, ammonia, and oxygen into the sputtering process in order to deposit a layer of cobalt and chromium reaction products with such gas and operating the sputtering process under the following conditions: (a) film growth rate of at least 50 angstroms per minute; (b) conditions of sputtering set to fully react the cobalt and chromium being sputtered with the gas; and (c) final thickness of said layer of cobalt and chromium reaction products being between about 40 and 300 Angstroms; (iii) coating the layer of reaction products of cobalt and chromium with a lubricant useful for lubricating recording media.