Figure 1

Schematic representation of the substrate and fabrication process of FCVA deposited carbon in sample S-3.

(a) Current commercial hard disk media with magnetic layers, commercial COC and lubricant, (b) Ar⁺ ion etching of commercial media to remove the commercial COC and lube, (c) commercial media after removal of commercial COC and lubricant, (d) 1^st level carbon modification of etched commercial media at C⁺ ion energy of 350 eV using FCVA and (e) 2^nd level carbon modification of media at C⁺ ion energy of 90 eV using FCVA.