Soft error rate results of thin film media on glass substrates

A study has been conducted to determine the effect on soft error rate, SER, of depositing thin film media on amorphous glass substrates. Glass substrates were precoated with several materials to facilitate heating the substrate to the temperature required to maintain the film's characteristics and to prevent the surface contamination from reacting with the underlayer and the magnetic layer. The soft error rate was studied at a range of linear densities, varying from 85 to 125 KBpi, as a function of the precoat process, in-situ and ex-situ, and the precoating materials used, NiP, Ti, C. It was found that the soft error rate, as well as the signal to noise ratio, degraded dramatically in media that were not precoated. However, no clear distinction was found in terms of the best SER performance among the elements considered as precoats. Soft error rate results measured on glass disks were compared to data obtained on NiP/AlMg disks, both textured and polished.