Patent ID: 7952982

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a data storage device, the method comprising: providing a data storage medium; chemically modifying the data storage medium such that it has a halogen atomic concentration at its surface; placing a scanning probe adjacent to the data storage medium such that the scanning probe is capable of touching the data storage medium; enclosing the data storage medium and the scanning probe in an enclosure; and causing the enclosure to have a relative humidity of at least approximately 40 percent, wherein: chemically modifying the data storage medium comprises fluorinating the data storage medium by exposing the data storage medium to a plasma comprising sulfur hexafluoride; and exposing the data storage medium to a plasma comprising sulfur hexafluoride comprises: placing the data storage medium in a plasma chamber; introducing a sulfur hexafluoride gas into the plasma chamber; and exciting the sulfur hexafluoride gas using an RF power source.