A cross-section TEM study of the microstructural evolution of CoPtCr/Cr thin films and the effect on magnetic properties

Author

Parker, M.A. ; Johnson, K.E. ; Hwang, C. ; Bermea, A.

Author_Institution

IBM Storage Syst. Products Div., San Jose, CA, USA

Volume

27

Issue

6

fYear

1991

fDate

11/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

4730

Lastpage

4732

Abstract

The authors study the mechanism underlying the dependence of magnetic properties on Cr underlayer thickness in the CoPtCr/Cr system. A novel procedure was utilized to prepare cross-section transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimens from actual recording disks to examine the influence of grain size, grain boundary morphology, crystallographic texture, and interfacial structure on the magnetic properties. The changes in crystallographic texture were followed by elongated probe micro-diffraction (EPMD) and selected area diffraction (SAD). Magnetic properties can be explained as a result of the lessened in-plane c-axis orientation, larger grain size, and wider intergranular separation

Keywords

chromium; chromium alloys; cobalt alloys; ferromagnetic properties of substances; grain boundaries; grain size; interface structure; magnetic recording; magnetic thin films; platinum alloys; sputtered coatings; transmission electron microscope examination of materials; CoPtCr-Cr thin films; EPMD; cross-section TEM; cross-section transmission electron microscopy; crystallographic texture; elongated probe micro-diffraction; grain boundary morphology; grain size; in-plane c-axis orientation; interfacial structure; intergranular separation; magnetic properties; microstructural evolution; recording disks; selected area diffraction; Chromium; Crystallography; Disk recording; Grain boundaries; Grain size; Magnetic force microscopy; Magnetic properties; Magnetic recording; Morphology; Transmission electron microscopy;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.278929

Filename

278929