Laser irradiation effect on the damage of lubricant films

In contrast to conventional hard disk drives that work in an ambient condition, Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) technology works by applying a highly focused laser beam to heat hard disk media up to around 400 °C. Under the HAMR condition, relevant hard disk components, including lubricant film, need to be extremely thermally stable. This paper studied the HAMR laser effect on the damage of our synthesized lubricant film together with a commercial lubricant Z-Tetraol for comparison by using an x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and a time of flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The results revealed that our lubricant showed better laser resistance and thermal stability than the commercial lubricant.