A magnetic recording medium that includes a substrate, an insulation layer applied onto a surface of the substrate, and a magnetic layer applied onto the insulation layer. The insulation layer is made from a redox-corrosion-inhibiting material. In one embodiment, the insulation layer inhibits redox corrosion by inhibiting electron transfer through the insulation layer (e.g., inhibits electron transfer between the substrate and the magnetic layer).

A carbon film forming method, that introduces a raw material gas including carbon into a film forming chamber, ionizes the gas by using an ion source, accelerates the ionized gas, and radiates the ionized gas to a surface of a substrate to form a carbon film on the surface of the substrate, includes forming the carbon film while rotating a first magnet, which is provided on the opposite side of the substrate across a region in which the raw material gas is ionized so as to be eccentric and/or inclined with respect to a central axis connecting the center of the ion source and a position corresponding to the center of the substrate held by the holder, in a circumferential direction.

A method for making a magnetic recording medium, including providing a substrate, forming a magnetic layer on the substrate, applying filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) deposition to form a film on the magnetic layer, and performing nitridation on the film formed by the FCVA deposition.

A magnetic disk of is provided, the magnetic disk having at least a magnetic layer, a carbon protective layer, and a lubrication layer sequentially provided on a substrate. In an embodiment, the lubrication layer a film formed by a lubricant having a perfluoropolyether compound A having a perfluoropolyether main chain in the structure and also having a hydroxyl group at the end and a compound C obtained from a reaction between a compound B expressed by: [Chemical formula 1] CF.sub.3(OC.sub.2F.sub.4)m-(OCF.sub.2)n-OCF.sub.3 [m and n in the formula are natural numbers.] and aluminum oxide.

A magnetic recording medium includes a nonmagnetic substrate and at least a magnetic layer, a protective layer, and a lubricating layer provided on the nonmagnetic substrate. The magnetic recording medium is characterized in that the lubricating layer is formed of a lubricating agent represented by general formulas (1), (2) or (3), in which substituents R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, and R.sub.4 in the lubricating agent represent organic groups, at least one of the substituents R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 at the end part of the lubricating agent and the substituents R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 contain a plurality of functional groups, and the shortest distance between the functional groups is a distance of three or more atoms, preferably five atoms. The magnetic recording medium may be used for a heat assisted recording method in which the temperature of the magnetic layer reaches 150 C. to 200 C. The magnetic recording medium is characterized in that the amount of the lubricating agent volatilized in the lubricating layer is less than 10% of the initial layer thickness.

Systems and methods for applying electric fields during ultraviolet exposure of lubricant layers for hard disk media. One such method involves inserting a magnetic medium into a chamber, the magnetic medium including a lubricant on an outer surface thereof, and applying an electric field and an ultraviolet radiation to the lubricant within the chamber. Another such method involves inserting a magnetic medium into a chamber, depositing a lubricant on the medium within the chamber, and applying an electric field and an ultraviolet radiation to the lubricant within the chamber.

A deposition apparatus comprises a target unit, an anode unit into which electrons emitted from the target unit flow, a striker configured to come into contact with the target unit to render the target unit and the anode unit conductive, so as to cause arc discharge between the target unit and the anode unit, a striker driving unit configured to drive the striker in one of a direction toward the target unit and a direction to retract from the target unit, a power supply unit configured to supply power to the target unit and the anode unit, and a control unit configured to control the striker driving unit and the power supply unit. The control unit supplies the power to the target unit and the anode unit after bringing the striker into contact with the target unit.

The magnetic tape device includes: a magnetic tape; and a servo head, in which the servo head is a TMR head, the magnetic tape includes a non-magnetic support, and a magnetic layer including ferromagnetic powder, a binding agent, and fatty acid ester on the non-magnetic support, the magnetic layer includes a servo pattern, full widths at half maximum of spacing distribution measured by optical interferometry regarding a surface of the magnetic layer before and after performing a vacuum heating with respect to the magnetic tape are greater than 0 nm and equal to or smaller than 7.0 nm, and a difference between a spacing measured by optical interferometry regarding the surface of the magnetic layer after performing the vacuum heating with respect to the magnetic tape and a spacing measured before performing the vacuum heating is greater than 0 nm and equal to or smaller than 9.0 nm.

The magnetic tape device includes: a magnetic tape; and a servo head, in which the servo head is a TMR head, the magnetic tape includes a non-magnetic support, and a magnetic layer including ferromagnetic powder, a binding agent, and fatty acid ester on the non-magnetic support, the magnetic layer includes a servo pattern, full widths at half maximum of spacing distribution measured by optical interferometry regarding a surface of the magnetic layer before and after performing a vacuum heating with respect to the magnetic tape are greater than 0 nm and equal to or smaller than 7.0 nm, and a difference between a spacing measured by optical interferometry regarding the surface of the magnetic layer after performing the vacuum heating with respect to the magnetic tape and a spacing measured before performing the vacuum heating is greater than 0 nm and equal to or smaller than 9.0 nm.

A magnetic disk of is provided, the magnetic disk having at least a magnetic layer, a carbon protective layer, and a lubrication layer sequentially provided on a substrate. In an embodiment, the lubrication layer a film formed by a lubricant having a perfluoropolyether compound A having a perfluoropolyether main chain in the structure and also having a hydroxyl group at the end and a compound C obtained from a reaction between a compound B expressed by: [Chemical formula 1] CF.sub.3(OC.sub.2F.sub.4)m-(OCF.sub.2)n-OCF.sub.3 [m and n in the formula are natural numbers.] and aluminum oxide.