Film deposition apparatus for magnetic recording medium

An apparatus for depositing a tetrahedral amorphous carbon thin film for a magnetic recording medium, comprising:

• a film deposition chamber;
• a plasma beam formation portion connected to the film deposition chamber for supplying a plasma beam to the film deposition chamber to form the tetrahedral amorphous carbon thin film on a substrate with a magnetic recording layer thereon;
• a substrate holder rotatably arranged in the film deposition chamber for removably holding the substrate;
• a tilting member for continuously changing an inclination angle formed by a normal line to a surface of the magnetic recording layer of the substrate and a plane orthogonal to a direction of incidence of the plasma beam;
• a rotating member for rotating the substrate about a rotation axis of the substrate holder;
• and
• a control member for rotating the substrate holder with the substrate thereon and operating the tilting member to continuously change the inclination angle from a minimum inclination angle to a maximum inclination angle according to an increase in film thickness of the tetrahedral amorphous carbon thin film being formed by the plasma beam formation portion,
• wherein the minimum inclination angle is more than 0° and less than 10°, and the maximum inclination angle is less than 80°.