Correlation Imaging of Magnetic Recorded Patterns and Grain Structures of Perpendicular Magnetic-Recording Media

摘要

An observation technique to image polycrystalline and magnetic structures at the same sub-micron area of perpendicular magnetic-recording media has been developed. The granular grain structures and magnetically recorded bit patterns were imaged by transmission electron microscopy and magnetic force microscopy, respectively. The small guide marks fabricated on a disk sample with a focused ion beam apparatus were used for aligning the images with each other. By applying this technique to analyze the magnetically recorded CoCrPtSiO thin film layers of a hard disk medium, the correlation between the positions of the clustered grains and the percolation of the magnetic bit patterns could be discussed.