Chung-Hee Chang

Thermal annealing effect on FeCoB soft underlayer for perpendicular magnetic recording

We study the noise performance of amorphous FeCoB soft underlayers (SULs) with radial magnetic anisotropy. 200 nm thick FeCoB films are sputter deposited and optionally postannealed for 8 s at different annealing powers. The correlation of SUL read-back noise with the magnetic and structural properties is studied using spin stand testing, in-plane magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements, magnetic force microscopy, and x-ray diffraction. The effects of annealing to achieve low read-back noise are examined. It is found that as-prepared films show large dc noise associated with stripe domains due to stress-induced perpendicular anisotropy. Thermal annealing reduces the internal stress and the films become magnetically anisotropic in the radial direction. The SUL-induced dc noise drops to the electronic noise floor. dc noise is found to decrease with an increase in annealing power until the films start to crystallize.

Study of stacking faults in Co-alloy perpendicular media

Stacking faults (SFs) and fcc-phased grains are studied by electron diffraction in perpendicular media. Co-alloy compositions, such as CoCrPt, CoCrPtB, are compared on different underlayers and deposition conditions. It is found that CoCrPtB alloys tend to have greater amount of SFs and fcc grains than the CoCrPt alloy. Underlayers as well as low deposition rate and base pressure help to reduce the amount of SFs and fcc phase.

Perpendicular media: alloy versus multilayer

Properties and performance for alloy and multilayer perpendicular recording media designs utilizing a soft magnetic underlayer are compared. Among samples considered here, grain size and grain size dispersion are more highly refined for alloy media deposited at high substrate temperature, and are beginning to approach those now available in longitudinal recording. Multilayer media made at ambient temperature typically sacrifice film density and surface smoothness for interface quality. Although microstructural development and the manufacturing process for multilayer media are less mature versus alloy, multilayer media remain attractive due to their high anisotropy potential and the ease with which H/sub n/ and H/sub c/ can be controlled. For thermally stable alloy media made on a pilot production sputtering machine, a spin-stand areal density of 61 Gb/in/sup 2/ has been demonstrated at 350 Mb/s data rate with an on-track bit-error-rate reference level of 1e-6. Using the same media, a working perpendicular drive has been demonstrated at 32 Gb/in/sup 2/ and 500-800 Mb/s data rate.

Influence of oxide on the structural and magnetic properties of CoPt alloy

Perpendicular recording media consisting of isolated CoPt magnetic grains separated with a nonmagnetic oxide grain boundary can be prepared by sputtering a Ru interlayer and then cosputtering CoPt with an oxide material, with low adatom mobility. The oxide material moves into the grain boundaries and isolates the magnetic grains. An increase in the oxide volume fraction in the magnetic layer does not affect the saturation magnetization but significantly reduces the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of magnetic grains. This may impose a limit on the areal density capability of this media design since media with smaller grains will require a larger oxide volume fraction that will reduce magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the CoPt based magnetic grains.

Magnetic force microscopy of skew angle dependencies in perpendicular magnetic recording

Magnetic force microscopy measurements of perpendicular media with a CoCr-based hard layer and a CoFe soft underlayer has been made to investigate skew angle effects. The recorded tracks were produced using a focused ion beam made single pole head with a track width of approximately 400 nm and a gap thickness of approximately 1 μm at a 25 nm flying height. Magnetic force microscopy images of tracks recorded at write currents above and below the saturation value of approximately 100 mA turn were studied at different values of the linear density, 20–100 kfci, at zero skew angle as well as −15° and +15°. Calculated perpendicular recording fields versus the distance down the track, and across the track, near the trailing pole edge was performed using three-dimensional boundary element modeling and compared to the results from the microscopy data. Drawbacks and possible solutions to the skew angle problem for perpendicular recording are discussed.

Magnetic film thickness effects on the recording performance of perpendicular media

This paper reports on a systematic study of the effect of magnetic film thickness on the recording performance of perpendicular double-layered media. We found that the signal-to-noise ratio of the media decreases with increasing film thickness. This is mainly caused by the poorer head field gradient that results from the increased gap between the pole surface of the head and the top of the soft underlayer of the media. A theoretical study confirms the experimental findings.