Effect of RuCoCr-oxide intermediate layers on the growth, microstructure,and recording performance of CoCrPt-SiO_2 perpendicular recording media

摘要

The crystallographic growth, magnetic properties, microstructure, and recording performance of CoCrPt-SiO_2 perpendicular magnetic recording media on RuCoCr type of intermediate layers were systematically investigated. Excellent Co (00·2) crystallographic texture with dispersion △θ_(50) as low as 3.2° could be obtained on the RuCoCr as the grain isolation layer, whereas the △θ_(50) on the pure Ru grain isolation layer was 3.9°. Upon injecting oxygen into the RuCoCr layer via reactive sputtering and at high sputter pressures, grain center-to-center distance as small as 5.9 nm with a distribution of about 13% was achieved. The △θ_(50) deteriorated on the RuCoCr-oxide type of intermediate layers, however, it remained comparable to that on the pure Ru layers. Signal-to-noise ratio also increased on the RuCoCr-oxide grain isolation layers due to the decreased grain sizes. The effectiveness of the RuCoCr-oxide type of intermediate layers toward grain size reduction and in improving the performance of perpendicular magnetic recording media is discussed.