Interactions and reversal processes in CoCrTa/CoCrTaPt thin films

Switching behaviour and intergranular interactions have been studied in CoCrTa/CoCrTaPt double layer thin films sputtered on polished and textured substrates. From the combination of a low noise and a high coercivity alloy, a high quality thin film has been obtained with very good properties for high density magnetic recording media. Coercivities higher than 2 kOe, uniform switching and a reduction in the intergranular exchange coupling have been observed from the hysteresis loops, remanence curves and ΔM(H)) technique. Also, it is shown that circumferential texturing of the substrate results in preferential magnetic properties along the texture lines such that there is an apparent reduction in interactions perpendicular to the texture direction