Title :
Role of oxygen incorporation in Co-Cr-Pt-Si-O perpendicular magnetic recording media
Author :
Zheng, M. ; Acharya, B.R. ; Choe, G. ; Zhou, J.N. ; Yang, Z.D. ; Abarra, E.N. ; Johnson, K.E.
Author_Institution :
MMC Technol., San Jose, CA, USA
fDate :
7/1/2004 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
The effect of oxygen incorporation on the crystallographic, magnetic, and recording performance of perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) oxide media was investigated. The media were prepared by dc-magnetron sputtering of CoCrPt-SiO2 targets in an Ar/O2 gas mixture. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) detected Cr-O peaks in the sputtered film, whereas no strong evidence of SiO2 is seen. Moderate oxygen incorporation in the film (∼15 at%) promotes Cr-O formation in the grain boundary and results in a dramatic increase of coercivity Hc and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). However, as the O2 content is further increased, oxide incorporates into the core of the grains, resulting in decreased Hc, magnetization and SNR.
Keywords :
cobalt alloys; gas mixtures; grain boundaries; perpendicular magnetic recording; photoelectron spectroscopy; silicon compounds; sputter deposition; Ar; Ar-O2; CoCrPt-SiO2; PMR oxide media; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; crystallographic performance; dc-magnetron sputtering; decreased magnetization; gas mixture; grain boundary; increased coercivity; magnetic performance; oxygen content; oxygen incorporation; perpendicular magnetic recording media; recording performance; signal-to-noise ratio; sputtered film; Argon; Coercive force; Crystallography; Grain boundaries; Magnetic films; Perpendicular magnetic recording; Spectroscopy; Sputtering; X-ray detection; X-ray detectors; Oxide media; oxygen content; perpendicular recording; recording performance;
Journal_Title :
Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TMAG.2004.832167
