Thermal‐ and electron‐stimulated chemistry of a cyclotriphosphazene lubricant on a magnetic disk with a hard carbon overcoat

The thermal and electron induced decomposition of a bis(4‐fluorophenoxy)‐tetrakis(3‐tri‐ fluoromethylphenoxy)cyclotriphosphazene(code‐named X‐1P) lubricant on a magnetic disk are studied by temperature‐programmed desorption spectroscopy, electron‐stimulated desorption, and Auger electron spectroscopy. X‐1P decomposes on the surface with a threshold temperature for dissociation at ∼570 K, ∼100 K lower than the thermal decomposition temperature of fluid molecules. Electron impact also damages X‐1P molecules. Depending on the electron energies, dissociative ionization and dissociative electron attachment are both likely mechanisms for the electron‐induced dissociation. The cross section for the dissociative electron attachment by 3 eV electrons is roughly 9×10⁻¹⁸ cm². For both 8 and 25 eV electrons the cross sections are larger.